Extensions and neighbours

[lightsandshapes]

Hiya

We live in a smaaaall house with one ds and my neighbours both sides live in biiiiiig houses. One with 2 dcs, the other a lady on her own. The one with dcs extended their house years ago. Both houses tower above us. We have considered extending and have had some plans drawn up. The neighbour with dcs has made it pretty clear they will object if we go ahead as it will block their study window, which has a tiny sea view. They have lovely views all around their house. I feel they are being very selfish.

I feel enraged about this. I would like another dc but we are tripping up over ourselves due to lack of space as it is.

What should I do? I should add that both neighbours are community counsellors.

Your neighbour cannot object based on a loss of view as this is not an accepted objection. Depending on how your house is sitting etc they could object based on a loss of light if the extension will significantly affect the light they have coming into their home.

I have never done an extension, but the general advice on here is to speak to a planning officer at the council before you even have plans drawn up. Discuss it with them and they can tell you for sure if your neighbours would have a leg to stand on. From what I've read though Happy is right, they can object about their loss of view, but it doesn't belong to them so won't be taken into consideration by the council.

We had exactly this situation, loss of view made no difference to planning. One set of neighbours sold up and another put up a big fence

Just stay polite, reasonable and understanding but don't be put off your plans. Good luck :)

Just go ahead and apply for permission anyway. It shouldn't make any difference as long as you're not blocking out lots of their light.

Our neighbour tried to use the lack of light as one reason (alongside losing his hair - I kid you not) for trying to block our extension . I wouldn't have minded had he not built a similar extension on his own house and blocked light from the neighbours on his other side.

We built a side extension onto our kitchen (Victorian terrace) and our neighbours objected on the grounds that they no longer had a view into our yard!
It was overruled.
We built it and after they moved our new neighbours built exactly the same extension.
The planners told us that neighbours' objections only matter if the extension significantly affects their 'enjoyment' of their property ie blocking light.