Help- neighbour seeking permission for new house next to ours

[Blueskies80]

Hi all,

Please be kind with me- first time posting here!

Our neighbours have just submitted for planning permission to knock down their garage and an existing side extension to build a four storey detached house! we got a huge shock as we knew they were submitting for planning for something but they had implied it was an extension.

We are in a detached 1930s house but the boundary of the property is the edge of the building, and the guttering is the furthest part.
They are a semi detached house and propose to build a skinny (~4m wide) tall house (3 storeys at front and 4 behind) by knocking down their garage and a small one storey side extension used as a store. This would be about 3 feet from our property (on their land). We are in s e London where prices have gone bananas recently so obviously it would sell quickly in future.

The proposed property would block light and affect our view of woodland at the front of the property, at the rear our conservatory would look out onto a brick wall and I think it would affect the amount of sunlight in our back garden too. We are also concerned it could affect the structural integrity of our property and concerned about the extensive disruption caused by ongoing construction works (up to a year was an estimate a builder gave me). It would also look very out of character with the other houses on the street.

We feel our neighbours have been off hand with us over the whole matter, since they gave no indication of the scale of the proposal, and at the same time they told us (on easter sunday with our kids playing around us) us that our boundary wall at the front was encroaching on their land when in fact it is in line with the edge of our house/boundary (and their planning permission plans show it in the right place where it currently stands).

They have told us that they could have objected to the council about our conservatory which was put up in 1989 according to our vendor, but we don't have any planning paperwork for this. I am concerned that if we run the argument to object that the proposal would mean our conservatory looks onto a brick walk that they will say well it shouldnt have been there.

I have spoken to one local resident and also the local residents association who are both against the development and will object. To add to this the yellow sign has not been displayed and the consultation only runs for another 2 weeks.

I wondered if

1. anyone has any experience on how to best argue a case to the planning officers and

2. whether anyone has any experience re whether we should seek a certificate of lawful development for the conservatory. I do have contact details for the previous owner so was thinking I could try to get him to certify that it has been there for more than 4 years (after which point I believe the council can't take enforcement action).

Thanks for reading and sorry this is so long. Any thoughts or help would be very gratefully received. X

If the buildings aren't statutorily listed or in a conservation area, if they nevertheless have some historic or architectural value look for a locally important buildings policy or similar in your Council's local plan. You can tie into this for extra planning clout. The National Planning Policy Framework also talks about 'non-designated' heritage assets i.e not formally identified but nonetheless with some significance.

Not wishing to disagree with PickledRadish, particularly as she's singled me out as being helpful (thank you!) but a word of caution on overdevelopment as a term. It is overused and often in a meaningless way. What you need to do is drill down into what the consequences of that overdevelopment are. Trying to get too much development on the site leads to what exactly. Examples could be that separation distances are too short leading to loss of privacy, not enough parking space is provided leading to highway safety issues, projections past neighbours are too great leading to overshadowing, the building will look cramped and obtrusive leading to harm to the street scene, etc etc. Planners have to identify harm and if there is no harm then an application will be approved.

Hope you manage to write your letter OP. Have a look at the other houses on your street, if the proposal is out of keeping with the character of the street then mention that. DH has had many clients refused planning for being out of keeping.

Parking is also an issue to keep in mind. Will the new development have a drive?

In terms if overdevelopment, 4 storeys sounds like a lot. If the other homes in the street don't have 4 floors then this may go in your favour.

I don't really know what I'm talking about but is it worth double checking if your house or their house has any covenants (restrictive covenants ?) that may affect your nieghbours planning application . (Sorry if I have used the wrong terms)

Also, if there are any trees in your nieghbours garden that you think might get the chop if the building work goes ahead but that you would like to see stay you could ask the council to consider a Tree Preservation Order (TPO)
A TPO means the tree can't be chopped down ( or lopped etc)

Not sure if this is valid or not but I'm sure I heard it somewhere:-

If the new house is to be detached from yours, will there be enough space between the two houses to allow maintenance work on the walls/guttering/roof to be carried out?

Some excellent advice and pointers already so I'm posting just to wish you well OP.

Thank you very much again!

I've written a letter and just checking it through before I send it off. Focussing on the overshadowing and loss of light, over development/ cramped plot, impact on streetscape and out of character, inability to maintain our property, loss of parking. Restrictive covenants was a good shout and this is being checked.
Have taken lots of photos to demonstrate where our house will be affected and will include.
Neighbour who is putting in application actually came round smiling and trying to be nice about it all, wanting to go through the plans etc told them that we would be writing and objecting!
Have spoken to more neighbours who will be objecting, and have been contacting planning officer and left a message outlining our concerns. Hopefully this will get squashed.

Good luck!

Hi all
Just to update you, our neighbours application for a new house was turned down.
Thank you all for help!

Congratulations, you must be very relieved