f*&%$ing neighbours ,won't let us put scaffolding up

[polly28]

We are wanting to put an extension up and have had all the relevant permissions granted but now our neighbours (thought they were quite reasonable before) are refusing us access to put up scaffolding.Does anyone have any exp of this or know what rights we have to put scaffolding up .

hi Polly- friend is in N. Wales. He's bringing the papers over here (if he remembers- if not I'll email him to remind him) some papers apparently where you have to fill in the blanks. I'll keep them here and then if you CAT me after tomorrow I'll post these papers to you.

thanks pixie-fish.

I was thinking about this ,are you sure we are legally allowed scaffolding if it's a new part of the house.I know we a re allowed access to that wall to maintain and repair,but what about an extension of that wall,and to build it ,not maintain and repair.

On our deeds it states we have rights of access to maintain the house but it's not relevant to a new build.

I really appreciate your help.thanks

Hi Polly 28, jumping in late here but do you have a copy of the party wall act 1996 explanatory booklet??

yes I have one thanks,have muddled my way throughit and now feel I could become a party wall surveyor myself

haha
ok, from what you've put here, you want to build up to the boundary line - am I right? if so, they can't stop you although they are entitled to claim compensation if necessary

technically we can do the build if the surveyor prepares an award to ensure everything is accounted for legally ie. state of the ground in their propert y now etc.this is in the process of being done but now our surveyor says they can refuse to give us permission to let the eaves hang over the boundary.Seems ridiculous to me.I thnk they will probably refuse to give us permission and we will then be back to stepping the build in so the eaves don't overhang.
It seems to me the party wall act is useless when it comes to the eaves.

waht is the point of drawing up the award,having rights if they can refuse to let us build because of the blo$£yEAVES.

yes I see your point - why do the eaves cross over the boundary?

Hi- sorry only just reread the thread- according to my surveyor friend you have the right to go on your neighbours land even if it is a new build- you do have to give warning etc but you are allowed- your surveyor should have told you all this you know. Hope this helps

Thanks pixiefish,

If that is the case then the surveyors haven't said this to us.Could they be just prolonging this debate to earn good money??

Both surveyors came round ten days ago to agree on a set of conditions .ie the state of their property before the build etc.
Their guy said to ours that a solution may be proposed that our builders use a mobile scaffold tower that would be brought back onto our property at the end of each day.We would of course do this even though it's ludicrous!

we are still waiting for a response from neighbours ,they have until thursday.If they don't respond we need to appoint a third surveyor .Great more money.

Personally i would like to sue them for wasting our money and time!

Polly 28, are you sure that you NEED scaffolding to do the project. It seems to me for a ground floor extension, it could be done without scaffolding, or at a minimum without scaffolding on the neighbors property. In any case, a mobile tower isn't a big deal...it's just a fancy word for a section of scaffolding on wheels. Check with your buiders, but it really shouldn't affect the price or the pace of work. Also, the stepping in of the wall is something that we tend to design into our projects as standard if there is even a sniff of trouble from the neighbors. It really doesn't make a great difference to the final outcome.

sofieames ,we have planning for a two storey extension .

we will only do a single storey extension if the twits next door don't allow scaffolding.

the builders are aware and willing to do anything to help us and can't believe the unreasonableness of our neighbours.

the cost I was moaning about is for the third surveyor

Party Wall Act right? You are all half-right in a way, but trust the surveyors, they know. Have a read through the book again and you'll see it clearly states the neighbours have to allow access to their land for works related to the foundations but after that it's down to them to allow access for anything else. If they don't want to they don't have to and that's about it. As for the eaves overhanging the boundary - are we talking an inch or a foot? It is their property after all and there is no vertical limit. Just shows that getting planning permission is no guarantee, although the council will happily take your money for the privilege. Good luck!

Well the neighbours are refusing to alloe the eaves to overhang.wankers!!

let me just explain that the eaves overhang already on the wall that is on the boundary and we just want to extend this by eight feet so the back of our house will be on the same level as theirs.there is no issue of them losing light.

They are now just being spiteful and there is nowt we can do.we could possibly fight more but it would cost a fortune.

We are waitng to here if they agree to the conditons the surveyor is putting in the award ,ie scaffolding tower etc.if not we will have to rethink.

I went round there the other day and demanded to know why they were being so unreasonable.I ahd just returned from a friends funeral to find out about the eaves thingy and it all seemd so ridiculous.

She slammed the door in my face .nice!

I don't understand how they can refuse the allow the eaves to overhang if the planning pernission has been granted - haven't they had their chance to complain? What a nightmare

i know,planning permission means nothing ,it doesn't give you any rights if you have to use scaffolding on neighbours land or the eaves thing.

they did not oppose the plans so we went ahead awith building reg drawings and approval,more money! And now they pull this one ..unbelievable.

So what happened in the end?