Neighbour extension plans and boundary line

[mommydragon]

Looking for some perspective here. We have owned a semi detached since 2007... in 2012/13 we built a side extension replacing an existing side extension along with a rear extension. Our plans and party wall drawings signed off by both party wall surveyors show our extension as built inside boundary.

Now my next door neighbour are planning to start an extension and their party wall surveyor has sent us notice but drawing show that our outer wall is actually into their boundary line and hence it has become a party wall and my neighbour will be using same wall for their outer wall and will be building only inner shell of their side extension.

The wall is around 11- 12 meter long so ineffect they will be saving on costs of building an outer wall. I am shocked and upset on so many levels. They don't speak to us... they are accusing us of encroachment onto their boundary. And secondly they haven't even requested us verbally.. the letter from their surveyor just said they will do this with a sense of entitlement.

Not a peep from them regarding encroachment while our works were going on and at the time they were tenants and property was owned by housing association. But they could highlight any concerns to council surveyor at the time as they were tenants. They have since bought property they have lived in. Their surveyor dropped off the notice just before Christmas holidays and my surveyor is not back until Monday... I am quite stressed about this as see big issues coming up. We have had issues twice regarding parking where they do not use their drive and always block our shared drop kerb. Have told them nicely but all I got was abuse. They haven't been doing this recently but probably because this has been their plan all along to capitalise on our outer wall.

Any thoughts as to what direction this could go in... we put in so much hard work into our house but this notice/ accusation has just made me so upset.

The issue could be were you to insist they are not entitled to use the wall that a second exterior wall is installed with minimal gap , creating an opportunity for water to collect and cause damp. The side return is probably within Permitted Development but would still need Buildings Regs approval. It does sound like sour grapes to attempt to block ndn from doing a similar extension to yours. Did they object to yours?

Chances are your objections would not have affected the outcome of the planning process anyway. However check online who the consultees were and what objections, if any, were raised at the time. If needs be complain to the Planning Officer assigned the application that you did not receive a letter although there should also have been notices displayed outside the property too and it does not sound as if you were unaware of the project.

This is not sour grapes on OP's part. OP insists that they built their extension entirely within their own boundary. They have a property that is not attached to their neighbours on that side.

They paid for that wall. Why should their house now become either semi-detached or terraced just because their neighbours don't want to build their own side wall?

It is right that there is a proper investigation into where the actual boundary lies. OP needs to get together all the documents from when their extension was built that caused them to believe they were building within their boundary. Correspondence with the HA at the time in which the HA presumably accepted they were building on their own land should be conclusive, and will bind the neighbour.

It's interesting that your DH feels building very close would cause no issue. It caused many issues in our case. I paid for my wall to be repointed before building started because it would be impossible to do it ever again.

As per my earlier post it caused huge Damo issues, maintainable challenges and impossibilities and debris became trapped between the houses.

When I sold my house all these issues were reflected negatively in its value, and my first buyers walked away after their survey highlighted the problems. Second buyers went ahead anyway as they realised the price had been lowered accordingly.

Due to the void space it would be better for them to physically be contected or a large enough space between them for maintance (due to issues highlighted). But my money is on the OP wanting her neibougers not to have a extention at all and since the OP has built right up to the boundary the OP thinks tje neigbours should not ether.

Though all issues caused if their is a void area will be down to both properties so the OP will not have come back against neigbours because it was her actions that caused the problems.

I know this post is a few weeks old but i should clarify planning permission is only the council saying whether that development is appropriate to the location, it says nothing about whether there are any other ownership issues or legal issues.
For example you can get planning permission to build a garage on someone else's garden if you want, but good luck actually building it.
Also be careful of the assumption this is done kind of land grab. Most of the time the person doesn't really know what's what and trust the architect or builder to draw up a proposal. And they vary in level of competency.
Make sure they are aware of the boundary position and make sure they know to serve party wall notice.
If the party wall notice is incorrect then you can appoint surveyors to get to the bottom of it. In our case we got a good architect and the neighbours were happy to sign, but the party wall process is designed for your situation.
If the neighbours start work before giving party wall notice, you can get your legal cover to apply for an injunction which would stop them trespassing. But ideally some communication would prevent it getting to that

Thanks for your input John... we have appointed our own surveyor and survey date has been arranged... have stopped posting on here for fear of outing.

Any chance you can get a window put into your wall to stop them using it? It could be a long thin one across the top for “light” so wouldn’t be a privacy issue as no-one would be able to see out of it, but they wouldn’t be able to use your wall- unless they want a window between your houses!

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I’m pretty sure that if they use your wall/party wall, then they have to pay you a sum of money - there is s formula for working it out.