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?

I appreciate it's irritating but building noise is a risk you take with close neighbours. I don't think it's realistic to expect your short term convenience to be prioritised above the needs of their family. It's just one of those things! Yes, they can move, but so can you.

The arseholes that bought the house next to us had all the work done slowly over 3 years before moving in. During that time they:
Ripped down part of our fence and set fire to it on a bonfire.
Dug up part of my patio
Covered my house is dust / rubble
Sent us abusive emails and threatened our surveyor.

we now have a huge, ugly wall instead of what was a normal size fence with climbers on it.

But what is worse is these awful people live next to us... I can't imagine actively trying to piss off people I was then going to live next door to...

If they all died horrible deaths I wouldn't shed a tear.

Tough titties OP.
All you can do is due diligence with legal searches when you first purchase your property but then anything can happen after that. Some folk who buy lovely rural properties end up with A roads or electricity pylons running through their land.

Presuming they have all the correct permissions, then yes, you have to just suck it up.

We once lived next to someone who had building work done for 5 months. Years later, in a different house, we were the ones with builders in for 7 months. It’s life.

YABU.

Assuming you live in a city, noise and building work are just part of life.

In many parts of the country (London being one), it's more cost effective by a huge margin to buy a house and extend than buy one of the size you want long term. We spent £150k adding an extension and extra 2 bedrooms and bathroom to our house. In our area, buying something of this footprint would have cost an extra £300k plus all the stamp. We just didn't have the money.

And yes, it was just us at the time - we didn't want to start a family until our house was ready. When it was, we filled it with babies!

I'll turn this round and reverse it - if you don't want to be around views of other people's houses or city noise, why don't you move? You could go get somewhere nice and quiet in the countryside with a lovely view.

City life comes with some inconveniences (noise, building) and some massive benefits. You don't get one without the other.

BTW, we have spent the last many years since building work being the world's loveliest neighbors and we'll be in our home forever, which is a long time. We'll be looking out for all our neighbors when they are well into old age.

People are really selfish these days!

Not sure there’s much you can do but it sucks.

Are you my neighbour by any chance? 😂

We are doing a big build and frankly it's an inconvenience to me too but I literally have no other options. There's no house in my price range for what we will require for a family. The area we live in cannot be matched .

I get it's annoying and noisy, my builders work 9-5 only but once it's done they know there will be noore noise from me.

The irony is my neighbour did an extension years ago herself but has a problem with anyone else doing work.

Check they aren’t breaking any planning regulations. Near us they built a loft extension and went up too high and had to demolish it.

Did you look at the plans at the planning stage. Did you object on grounds of scale? It's a bit late to complain now if you had the opportunity to stop this earlier.

Our opposite neighbours built a 6 bedroom house on their land. We had 6 months of disruption in the form of contractor vehicles parking everywhere and anywhere. Sometimes across our drive. We now look at an ugly big house, whereas before we looked at trees. So yes, a pain, but it’s just one of those things. 🤷‍♀️

At least your builders are keeping to the working day.

So many builders seem to want to come at 7 am (and leave at 3, why?) and come on weekends and all sorts. My builders who did the loft extension couldn’t fathom why my neighbours weren’t keen (and therefore I wasn’t keen) on them coming every Saturday at the crack of dawn!

I wish there were a limit on the timescale of renovations, although realistically there probably can't be.

My NDN has been extending since what feels like the dawn of time, and they are nowhere near complete. The builders come and go, so it hasn't been continuous, but we never know when we are going to have drilling and banging from 8.00am until quite late. We did approve the plans, and get on with the neighbours, so wouldn't complain, but if there had been a 6 month limit it would have made life so much better for us.

I don’t see why it is selfish to having building work done on your home.

In loads of parts of the country this just isn't possible. In London a family house in an ok neighbourhood (not posh) will set you back over a million. Plus stamp. Where it is possible to buy a flat or a wreck or something for not much more than half that that needs updating and if you're willing to do the work. Renovating means people can have family homes in the areas they grew up in who otherwise couldn't afford to live there.

OP: AIBU?
Some posters: YABU
OP: No I’m not

…

It’s cheaper often to buy a house and pop an extension on / change the house than it is to buy a larger one. Also it can be so hard to find a house that fits all criteria, so why not pick location and then alter the size yourself!

They might be moving out due to having no kitchen / bathroom / plumbing / electrics etc rather than just noise.

It happened to us during Covid. Drove us nuts! But if i bought a house i would look to extend too. What can you do. Sometimes you just need the space.

All you can do is object at planning stage, and if the extension goes close to boundary, they will need party wall agreements in place. Where you can try to get some things in place around hours of work etc, if your neighbours are amenable. However, if they are like our horrific ex neighbours, they will be very put out that you requested party wall and then make your life hell and send you a bill at the end of it due to their half either surveyor being useless and making mistakes.

That's the time to do it. Loss of light sends the architect back to the drawing board. Loss of a view is a futile objection with our council. Being overlooked stands a chance especially balcony

You haven't said what objections you made during the planning process and consultation?

It’s not quite that easy though.
We bought a house last year which needed a full renovation. We lived elsewhere for 3 months while the work was being completed.
It meant the work got done much quicker that way.

We could only afford the house because it required work and that was budgeted into the purchase.

Maybe it was the same for your neighbours?

Yes! The neighbours builder was in my garden with zero permission at 9am on a Sunday!! Like wtf. All weekend from 9am - 3pm we had banging and drilling and all sorts. Come Monday the didn’t rock up till gone 10am and always left by 2pm. I’d rather a peaceful weekend.

Agree. We bought ours because it has amazing views but it isn’t big enough for us so we will be doubling the size of it. Fortunately we don’t have any near neighbours so no one to be annoyed about the disruption. The village mafia might object for the fun of it though.

You would have been consulted if there was an impact on your view that was over and above the allowable amount. Building work and home improvements are part of life and yes it inconvenient but it is tough.

also they may not have been able to find a house to meet there needs so they bought this knowing the can improve it. They may have wanted to be buy a certain school or family etc

It's annoying but you might just have to live with it. If they've got the relevant planning permission - and you should have been informed by the council and had the right to raise an objection at that stage, I got a letter when my neighbour build an extension (which was fine by me fwiw). If you haven't objected and they've got the relevant planning permission then you just have to suck it up, unfortunately.