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 write this, sitting in my home office, my head spinning from the constant noise of heavy machinery, drilling, banging and vibrating coming from next door. They told us about the work but neglected to tell us about the risk to our very old boundary wall as their heavy plant machinery slowly and heavily drives closely to it. They neglected to tell us the depth of the work, the fact our garden (and pool) would be overlooked by workmen throughout the summer. The build will be going on all year - both of them leave the house to work whereas we both work from home so I feel that the impact sits solely on us. I understand why they want to build their extension but it feels selfish.

Why didn't you oppose the plans if your view is going to be compromised? Yes it's a pita when neighbours extend especially if they're not living there although hopefully with no residents the build will be much quicker than having to work around people.

That's just silly. We had a massive extension built and did live in the house while work was done, but that was before kids arrived. We had to climb a ladder to get upstairs as there was no staircase. We had no kitchen just a kettle in a downstairs loo. No bathroom at all at one point, just a toilet. And on more than one occassion stepped off the bottom rung of the ladder into several inches of water as the ground floor kept flooding until we added a drain. There was no way a family could be expected to put up with that.

So that's a definite disadvantage to WFH.

We did this, moved out for 6 months. Large downstairs extension and loft conversion. We did it because we wanted it a certain way, it cost more than buying it done. However, all our neighbours also have the same, so they understood it was temporary disruption for long term good neighbours and they had benefitted from similar work in the past. Helped our builders were great. We held a party to say thank you once we moved back in for the neighbours to have a nose around the works and to apologise for the disruption.

Renovations aren't always about making a house bigger.

The house we bought last year had had no work done on it since it was built 60 years ago and hadn't been lived in for 5 years. What were we supposed to do? The bathrooms were unusable and there was no cooker.

I blame Phil and Kirsty with their Love it or List it programme!

YABU. Just as you are not in a position to move, they may not be in a position to purchase something that fully suits their needs.

Buying a smaller house and extending it is much, much more cost effective and affordable than buying a bigger house.

We extended about 4 years ago as our family grew, we looked at selling and moving instead but couldn't afford to buy what we could build into our existing house. We also love the area and our neighbours and it's close to the primary school so we didn't actually want to move - but needed more space.

The disruption is annoying, but it's not forever and it's not the end of the world. Progress happens.

Really, did you type this on your phone, laptop, or iPad? Do you use a car, do you have nothing in your life that you have for the joy of or that has simply made your life easier. If you answered no to all this then you may have a valid point that isn’t completely hypocritical. People can have an extension to just leave it empty if they so wish. They’re putting good money into the pockets of hard workers. That extension will provide work for, bricklayers, window fitters, floor screeders, floor fitters, electricians, carpenters, plasterers and maybe even plumbers and decorators.

Trouble is putting on a big extension is often a lot cheaper than moving as when you move your scewed on stamp duty so I can see why people do it as they're families grow or their circumstances change.

We bought a house that’s had a big extension going from small 3 bed 2 story fisherman’s cottage to a large 5 bed 3 story house. (It’s a semi) was a bit of a renno project for us as looked like it had been used as an unofficial HMO. We’ve had builders on and off for about a year. 2 bathrooms redone, 1 bathroom taken out, woodburner install, walls knocking through etc.
our neighbours one side are brilliant (ajoining) but the other side is a nightmare.

nice neighbours we always inform them of work being done and they accept that the house needs updating. The other side is a massive battle axe that comes out to inspect everything and god forbid that anyone in a van parks opposite her garage (normal road with parking all the way along but she take offence to any trades people parking there. Her excuse is that she parks forward into her garage and reverses out 🤦🏻‍♀️

but we live in a popular fishing town and most properties in the area have had massive extensions and it’s just the way it is here.

in my last property (large 3 bed link detached) the neighbours said they were planning to build a large extension at the back which would have affected my light but I wasn’t going to complain (I sold before they did it) and the new owners are planning a big extension themselves.

moving house is EXPENSIVE and houses need to adapt to modern living. The reality is that anyone (well most) could stick a big extension on so something you should be thoughtful of when buying the property? Like don’t buy a house that backs onto a field then kick off when they stick 200 houses on it!

To be blunt:

Building work impacting your life is part and parcel of urban living. If you don't like it, that's understandable, but if you choose to live close to shops/schools/conveniences (as we mostly do) - that's one of the prices we pay.

A lot of people can't afford a house that's big enough so have to buy smaller and extend. It's often cheaper to extend than buy a house with an additional room.

Families grow, needs change, lifestyles develop. Since Covid, and with the surge in WFH, people have given up a bedroom to become an office. If you don't have a spare bedroom, you might want to extend to have an office. Most affordable houses don't come with much downstairs other than a single living room and a kitchen. If you need more space, you have to carve it out.

I have lived next door to people building a massive fuck off extension and i have also built one. Whilst I was the 'neighbour', I pretty much sucked it up and made sure I understood their plans so that there would be no nasty surprises at the end. Whilst I was the 'builder' I made sure that my Project Manager was as considerate as possible - no noisy work on Saturdays. nothing on Sunday, constant communication with neighbours and we kept communication open with both sides.

I think you are being unreasonable and a bit NIMBY

@NoisyViewer - failing to see how my owning a phone or a laptop makes my neighbours lives a misery, tbh.

My point is that too many people think they can do whatever the fuck they like and make as much noise as they like in their homes and gardens with complete disregard for their neighbours - and the constant 'innovations' and new ideas for helping them do that just keep on coming. God forbid anyone can just use their garden for anything other than quiet enjoyment.

I've lived next door to two atrocious examples of 'party all year long in the garden' families and they were both absolute, loud, selfish nightmares I couldn't wait to get away from.

YABU to hold it against them, but I can see why you are annoyed about the noise and dust etc for the next 9 months. No one wants to live next to a building site.

Howevwr, people are entitled to renovate / extend their homes - in fact, I think people should be encouraged to do it, as it preserves the housing stock and keeps it all up to date. Down our lane, 3 of the 5 x 1930s bungalows have been updated - including sizable extensions. They are now an appropriate size for the plots of land they are on, and are a higher quality of housing (better layouts, better natural light, safer electrics, modern plumbing etc etc) for people to live in. The ones that haven’t been done are looking very sorry, and at least one of them will not be worth anything when eventually sold - it will need to be knocked down and replaced completely. It’s a NIMBY mindset to have that everything should stay the same so as not to inconvenience you!

By the time their building works are finished you'll be majorly brassed off then they'll be bemoaning that the neighbours aren't friendly or accommodating.

But you can’t stop people renovating homes! It’s annoying but it won’t last forever and it’s not worth falling out over in my opinion.

Whats the alternative? Nobody can extend their home without prior written agreement of every nearby house? That would be nonsensical, it’s their land and they can build on it if they want to. Different story if the building works are going on at night or they’re affecting your land with waste etc

not all renovations are big, so how would it be judged when they need to be forced to remain in their property, Answer, you can't, it's impossible,

the key thing is that there are planning laws in place in the UK which ensure any renovation complies with legislation, this includes maximum % the property owner is able to increase their house size footprint, checks to ensure natural daylight is not denied the affected neighbours, to some degree privacy considerations which invariably involves obscured glass, windows angles that mitigate against loss of privacy.

the time to contest an extension and express concerns is when the planning application is first advertised, giving affected households the opportunity to object. Objections should be on the basis of light loss, not because it will reduce property value of neighbours nor that a view is lost, Views are not protected in law, nobody has the right to a view, people do have a right to natural daylight and privacy. Once the application has been approved, it's set in stone,

why shouldn't people want to increase their house size, provided it complies with legislation.

that doesn't mean I can't express empathy to the OP for their situation, but it really isnt as simple as dont extend.

The village mafia might object for the fun of it though.

Nice. Spot the pleasant community minded incomers.

Would hate for your amazing views to become a new town, or a distribution centre, or a motorway.

Oh don’t be ridiculous! A legal requirement that would mean the work took much longer? Because each day the site would need clearing up, water, electricity, heating back on, instead of tools down and home.

Surely the least time the better for the neighbours and noise, dust etc.

It would be like a turkey voting for Christmas.

If the NDN had stayed it would probably take longer to complete the building work. I know its a PITA but its not forever.

And yes, sorry OP, there isn't much can you can do if it is permitted development or has planning permission. Worth checking it is within the guidelines/permission though. Some people do ... erm... test the rules.

I had this last year with a neighbour. The noise, mess and constant parking issues with the tradesman drove me to distraction - especially as I work from home. I even let them put scaffolding in our garden (it was up for about 6 weeks). Not once did they say thank you. It was disappointing to say the least. I only complained when the scaffolding was removed and the builders left a mess on my side. It was sorted quickly thankfully. There isn’t much you can do really unless you object in the first place.

Um what exactly do you think you need to gain out of the situation? No one extends their house for the neighbour’s benefit

Also party wall agreements.

@angelos02 did they have a Daylight Report commissioned for planning. The BRE have set certain criteria for protection of daylight/sunlight for habital room. This is also necessary for larger extension. This is the business I work for, so happy to offer any advice if you want to PM me