If you have a big extension to your home, AIBU to think you should consider the impact on your neighbours?

[angelos02]

Neighbour is having a huge extension - so much so, we have found out that they are moving out for 6 months. It will have a huge impact on my life - noise, scaffolding etc. At the end of it I will have lost a huge amount of view - they will gain everything and the only person to be negatively impacted is me! So do I just have to suck it up as it is just the way things are now?

You are definitely not being unreasonable! It’s honestly so draining when a neighbour’s "project" becomes your daily headache.

I had this similar thing a few years back. The people next door basically added to the size of their house. For months, I couldn't even sit in my garden because of the dust and the constant shouting from the builders. Like you, I lost a massive chunk of my view.

I went from seeing trees to a brick wall. It really stings when they’re the ones getting the fancy new space while you’re the one dealing with the mess and the loss of light.

Sadly, if they’ve got the planning permission through, there isn't much you can do about the view itself, as councils don't really "protect" it. It feels totally unfair, but usually, as long as they follow the rules, we just have to grit our teeth and wait for the scaffolding to come down.

Did they actually talk to you about the plans before they started, or did the builders just show up one day?

Yes yabu but you know that.

for example where do you draw the line?

I’ve just moved because I bought a house next to a field. Then developers spent 5 years making huge amounts of noise, mess, parking chaos, lorrys , ruined the road as small lane wasn’t built for heavy goods vehicles. Building stop start because of the economy. Site a mess. Flooded. Overloaded sewage systems . Burst a drain and sprayed sewage in our back garden.

all the houses are £650,000 + so not even meeting housing needs.

I moved.

What about the planning process? Did you raise concerns then?

Providing they're not in breach of planning conditions then no, there's nothing you can do about it sadly. We no longer speak to our neighbours whose extension took months to build and whose builders decided they had the right to run their machinery over our front garden for ease of access when they were digging the foundations. We got on really well with those neighbours for over 10 years, but when we complained they basically shrugged and then told the builders to ignore us when we complained. There's something about renovations and house extensions that brings out the worst behaviour in some people.

They move out but you have to live with it is clearly a nasty situation you have my sympathy even if there’s fuck all you can do

@Polyestered No - I don't think I am BU. The most annoying thing is they've just moved in - if they wanted more room/space, why not buy a house that suits what you want rather than massively impacting the lives of those around you. I could understand if it was years down the line when there family gets bigger. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to move.

YABU.

Noise etc is just part of life. You might one day need loud building work done to your house. I’d absolutely put my foot down over any work that caused me specific problems like stuff across my driveway.

Blocking your view - I think you’re more reasonable here but obviously depends on the specifics. You aren’t guaranteed a lovely view, and all sorts of things can change it. But if your whole garden is now in the shadow of a massive brick wall then fair enough.

yiu see it all the time on the property board - we love this house, help us reconfigure it to give us more space and and and

In the last 5 years in the row of 7 houses I’m in, 5 houses have renovated and/or extended. The houses are on the older side.

Nobody ever complained in spite of many obvious downsides and disruptions, we were also thrilled to see the place being updated and upgraded and we get on great as neighbours.

Life is so up and down all of the time I think you have to take some of the downsides on the chin or it will be a miserable existence. Someone else doing up their home is definitely one of the things we take on the chin.

Mine too. It was built long before I lived here, no planning permission. It is only a problem if they decide to sell.
It blocks a lot of light. I would not mind it so much if she wasn’t a witch, complaining about birds landing on her extension, asking me to take down my bird feeder. It blocks her from looking over my wall so that is a bonus, she has to hang out the upstairs window for a good look in my garden. 👀

While I appreciate it's annoying YABU. Most people prioritise their own children/family needs over those of strangers. As long as proper planning is in place, and your own property is not damaged, plus work is not carried out at unreasonable times then they should not alter their plans for people they don't know (while showing appropriate consideration).

If it affects your right to light you do have a claim against them, but it’s better done during the planning stage. Effectively they should compensate you for the loss of light and you can arrange a consultant to assess this. I know it’s not fully at the heart of what you’re saying but it might be an option? You have my sincerest sympathy!

Did you get notification from the council with an invitation to comment or object? Not saying it would have made any difference but they can't just add a huge extension without going through the planning process. If they are building without approval they may well be in breach of regs and can be asked to remove the new build. You need to go online and see what has been applied for and approved, don't just accept it.

YABU. There's an impartial planning process to balance their right to improve their property and neighbours rights to quiet enjoyment of theirs.

Do they require planning permission? If so, you don't have to "suck it up", you can register your objections to the planning authority according the rules of the process.

I'm with you op. Just buy a house the size you want or move. Obviously household repairs are one thing but extensions are so disruptive for neighbours I think it is hugely inconsiderate.

You are definitely not being unreasonable. Sympathy from me

I’m not sure this is fair really, maybe there wasn’t a house that fit what they wanted and as long as they have the relevant planning permission they aren’t doing anything wrong. We’ve been both sides of this, the neighbours who extended and also the neighbours with building going on next door, it’s just part of life and the work isn’t ideal but it’s short term.

So oppose the planning position?

'YABU. There's an impartial planning process to balance their right to improve their property and neighbours rights to quiet enjoyment of theirs'

Council planning regs, like anything council related, are stupid. Disruption and noise pollution for neighbours whilst work is in progress should be a consideration but it isn't. Drainage too doesn't seem to bother the council, if a neighbour builds an extension it will have an knock on effect on garden drainage but the council do not care.

On what grounds?

This.

As I understand it, the current labour government are intent on making it easier than ever to build without scrutiny. For this reason it is imperative to use the planning process to object if you have good cause, because you won't be able to rely on the councils to stop poor developments.

Whether you are unreasonable or not very much depends on the planning application and whether you put in any kind of objection? Loss of light for example or overbearing structure. But this really does depend on whether they are doing full planning permission or they are doing permitted development and you think it's a big extension.

This happened to us but next-door-but-one, they had all the work done while living away somewhere else. Waltzed in last minute to a brand new renovation while we had to deal with the awfulness of the building works. It took 18 months.

Yup our neighbours tried this with zero planning permission. Zero building control. Zero party wall. Tried to land grab as well.

Epically failed however lucky for us as we did report them to every agency we could have kept video and photo evidence of everything.

Nothing says hi I’m your new neighbour like a fuck ton of noise and damage. Starts of the neighbourly relationship amazingly.