Need to place scaffolding on neighbours land to build extension

[GiveHerEffervescence]

That they firmly objected to during the planning process. How do I approach them? Any tips / suggestions? The extension is a small one, but is 2 storey.

I don't think you can force them to , I don't think building an extension is covered by the Act.

You can obtain a Court Order to gain access to neighbouring property in order to carry out maintenance on your own if necessary - not sure about this though. Charm offensive? Payment?

Oo dear, that's a tough one. I have no idea how you're going to get round that because if your neighbours vehemently opposed your plans they're going to love the opportunity now to scupper them!

Would it be worth offering to rent their land from them for a while? How long will the scaffolding need to be up? You could pay them an amount per week while it's there, might soften the blow a bit?

Ask your builder if the extension can be built from the inside (ie without going on their land). If it can, and only as a last resort, point out that the extension is going to be built anyway and if they won't allow access , they will be staring at two storeys of unrendered blockwork. Try charm and payment first though!

I had a brief chat with a party wall surveyor. He said, I can gain access to place scaffolding and complete the work by going through the party wall process but it can get q expensive. He thought around £2000 if the neighbour does everything in the most uncooperative way. However, I would rather it happens in a more relaxed and friendly manner, which will not only save money but hopefully stop everyone getting really stressed by it all. I would also rather pay neighbour a reasonable amount to 'rent' her land than go through surveyors.

Has your building work started? If so you could wait until you get to the scaffolding stage and then go and speak to them. Hopefully they will have got over the initial disappointment of it going ahead and (providing you and your builders have been excellent, tidy, polite and respectful) realise that it will not be as bad as expected, and realise that to refuse you permission would just make the whole process longer for you all.
I'm certainly not saying to do that, it's just through our ignorance how ours panned out, but we didn't need to go on their land we just overhung by a bit.

If they objected vehemently, I suspect you have an ice cube's chance in hell of getting them to agree to have your scaffolding on their land.

Are they allowed to totally say no?

www.sheeleyassociates.co.uk/news/access-to-neighbours-land-the-basics/

Just read that they could refuse and you can't force access. Apparently you don't have rights to scaffold for an extension, only maintenance of existing.

Hope they agree, do you have a plan if they say no entirely?

I'd really advise getting a party wall agreement in place - if you don't, and things go wrong/they say they go wrong, then you're liable...

You might have to review your plans and give yourself a metre or so inside your boundary to allow the builders to work and for future maintainance. the party wall only applies to properties already build, not new developments.

To be fair, many neighbours don't want a two storey extension build up to the boundary, I know I wouldn't and I would refuse, just as your neighbour has

*Party Wall Act
*properties already built

I agree you may have to modify your plans. In their place there's no way I'd allow scaffolding on my land.

The ground floor footprint is staying the same, we are just building a v small first floor extension above it. The wall of the ground floor forms part of their garden wall.

If t neighbours won't allow it then you have to treat it like you live next to a steep drop.

The wall can be built from your side with a technique my builder called "hand over brick" but they cannot finish the pointing as they have no access to the outside of the wall, they just build from the inside.

So they can scrape off the excess mortar but some it will land in your neighbour's garden unless they do something to prevent it but they cannot then point it, so it does not look as neat as finished brick work should.

But that is all down to your neighbour. Allow scaffold look at a neat wall, don't allow scaffold look at poor mortar work.

To be fair if it is their garden then the scaffold erection etc will have builders walking on it. I personally would offer to pay them some compensation.

Are you on good terms generally with your neighbours? Did you show them plans and talk to them before you submitted your planning application? If so, you probably stand a better chance of them agreeing to have scaffolding on their property even if they objected to your plans - but definitely sweeten your negotiations with the offer of some financial compensation.

I would think if the brickwork and mortar was not up to a certain standard without the scaffolding you would be contravening the planning application.

Your only option is to rely on the goodwill of your neighbours even any still exists between you. A sizeable offer for the inconvenience may help, somewhere between £300 to £500 also helps compensate for the disruption as well.

Try to imagine if you were them? Would you agree to this?

Your first floor extension may be small to you in footprint, but it actually may have a drastic effect to their light / view from the garden, and possibly their kitchen also.

Unless you're renting the space off of them, there is no real reason for your neighbour to agree. They don't gain from this extension in any way.

The fact that they were against you building the extension also makes me think that they may not accept any compensation money. It would have to be much more than £500 for me to agree on something that will permanently affect the enjoyment of my garden and the light in my kitchen.

Question: Do you know what issues your neighbour had with your extension during the planning process? Perhaps if you could address some of these points you may be able to get some movement from next door?

I once objected to a near neighbour's planning permission because they had not considered how the work would impact the use of a shared driveway and the future parking at their property. They are pretty selfish with their current parking habits as it is. It wasn't sufficient grounds for permission to be refused.

I was polite and reasonable, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they really had not even considered how the builders would construct up to their boundary without closing access on the shared driveway. Where builders would put skips and so on. In the end we had to tactfully pointed out that part of their property had been "acquired" by repositioning a fence some years ago by a former owner, which was clear from a copy of the deeds we had in our possession. The work still has not gone ahead.

Sorry, but you really should have considered this before going through the expense and effort of getting planning permission, and whoever drew up the plans should have pointed this out.

Approach them but don't expect them to be helpful. The building next to us was converted into a dwelling and we were quite clear that they would not be accessing our land or placing scaffold on it to carry out any works. The reasons were twofold. My children play out in the garden daily and it wouldn't have been safe for them, and they wanted to place it directly in an area where we grow food.

You do need to be prepared that they won't let you place the scaffold on their land and what impact this will have on your build.