Neighbours Garden Office

[Soontobesingles]

My neighbours have recently started having work done to add an office/summer house thing to their garden. No planning permission and it is absolutely massive - to the point it will put 1/2 my lovey sunny garden in shade. I have told them that it is too high and they need planning permission. Builders insisting they don’t as something to do with a slope in the garden but rules are about height from foundations. Anyway, I have said I will report if it isn’t sufficiently reduced and both neighbour and builders are going mad saying £1,000s already spent on materials and plans, labour etc. AIBU to say I don’t care an will report? My garden is my sanctuary and many of my plants will die if shaded year round.

Report ASAP.

They are CFers.

Report it and report back so we know what happens 😂

Party Wall Act?

we need a photo/diagram!

id report them and let someone official come to assess it

they will be asking you to keep the noise down next in your garden as they have to work and need the windows in the shed open (reminds me of an old thread on here!)

It will reduce your enjoyment of your garden and possibly reduce the price of your property. I would report it.

This

I can't unread it in my ChatGPT inner voice now 😅😅

I'd report it but be prepared for the council to be as effective as a chocolate teapot. Ask me how I know ....

@bizzylizzy87 I have to say I also thought this sounds like chatgpt. There is a theory called Dead Internet where eventually the internet will just be chatbots talking to each other, and we inch closer to that reality every time we get chatgpt to have a chat on a forum for us

Report. They don’t give a shit about how it affects you, so you be the same.

Probably why they thought they might get away with it. Building regs asap.

Report them. They can apply for retrospective planning permission if it's found to sit outside of PD.

Yep, nothing would happen in my area for sure. Too many breaches and too few inspectors.

This 💯

If it is counter to planning regs, legal house insurance may cover writing to the council and your neighbour to force them to conform. Our neighbours in a previous house were building a structure counter to regs, though they had planning permission ( bribed the inspector) . One letter to the council from the legal insurance barrister stopped it .

@bizzylizzy87

You’re posts come out as 100% AI written. You’re literally just copying what ChatGPT says and posting it here. What is the point?

It's 4.5m tall?! Jesus Christ no wonder you're angry. Something tells me that's not just an office.

Yep!

Watch The Feud on Channel Five!

That’s 1.5m above the permitted maximum height.
Take images with a tape measure and report to your local planners.

Theyll be told to lower it to the maximum allowable height.

both neighbour and builders are going mad saying £1,000s already spent on materials and plans, labour etc

That means they know it's too high. Otherwise they would have explained the regulations calmly and clearly to you. Report them.

The planning rules are online. The height is from ground level at the highest point, to the highest point of the building. It also can’t have more than one storey. Have they built it into a steep slope with a retaining wall on the high side? ( this won’t have been cheap). Do the gardens slope up or down from the house? 2m is a big drop across a 3 or 4m wide building.
Also bear in mind if plan area is more than 15m2 (I.e. 3m x 5m) and it’s within 1m of boundary they should have building regs approval too.

If it is higher than the house and perched on a slope it will look massive from below but might still technically meet the rules. House price, garden plants and shade don’t come into it unfortunately.

If their builders misadvised them, that's their problem. They can try to get the builders to pay any costs incurred if it's not permitted.

I found the local planning team extremely helpful in similar circumstances.

Yes I also thought this!

The height limit is 2m