Neighbour being a nightmare for our extension

[user1482314700]

Hello everyone,

I have been taking advice from mumsnet for years! Although I have joined today, I just search any issue I have and see what all the lovely people here have said.

Today I needed specific advise thats why I created my own account. I don't even know if I am posting it correctly.

Right so here I go, after saving for years and taking loan out of bank, we were so excited to extend our house and one of the next door neighbour has created a big scene. He first signed up with one of those surveyors who send you letter by taking details from the council website. So I requested them to come to an agreement within ourselves, which he agreed.

He then started various demands like if you involve building regs I will not go ahead with the surveyors, which we did, then he said no I need a party wall agreement, which we got but in the end after 6 months he now wants a surveyor. Which again we have agreed.

But due to christmas and new year its going to be on hold until next year and then hes going away for a few months. My question is where do I stand? I have done everything to get his consent but he just doesnt want our work to get started. It's been a total nightmare and has given me so much stress, I am on the verge of breaking point and don't know what to do?
What happens if I just start the work? He has wasted my time and money and just seems to be changing his mind all the time.

Many thanks in advance and please give me some advice.

Ah to move forward if you serve the party wall notice which you can do yourself from online, if he doesn't reply within 14 days for any reason it's deemed a dispute, so you just appoint a surveyor and they decide everything and make an award. Then you can go ahead.

Is your extension going to have an impact on him and his house/garden? I understand that this is your dream but having lived next door to two neighbours who did extensive work, it is quite disruptive to live through the building period (noise, mess) and the finished results did impinge on our privacy a bit.

It sounds like he's doing everything he can to stop the extension. Is it really more important than a good neighbourly relationship? Is there any possibility of moving instead?

If it is an extension that does need a party wall agreement then of course he is getting a surveyor (as I understand it you have to pay for the surveyor for your side and one for his) . That's how it is worked out.

The alternative is to do an extension that does not sit in a party boundary, or impinge on his boundaries, make sure the guttering does not overhang his land, etc.

He may not have known or understood the process in the first place and thought building regs (and of course you should be getting your extension approved by the bufjng regs department) but actually as the builders of the extension, you should have sorted all this out (getting the party wall surveyor etc) .

Anyone having an extension up against their boundary would be likely to check that you have planning permission (and comment if it affects them ) or are building within permitted development, and would get a surveyor if it is on the boundary.

Making sure the party wall agreement is as it should be will prevent problems if he ever sells his house, or wants to do his own extension.

As a PP explained, the surveyor is independent and if he doesn't object, you can go ahead.

It doesn't actually sound as if your neighbour is being difficult, just businesslike.

It is horrible having building work going on next door, dust, noise, unsightly, no privacy as their are always workers looking in, etc. so give your neighbour some sympathy.

But I hope your extension goes well and you enjoy it once done. Good luck!

If he's going away anyway, isn't that the perfect time to do the work? Would he be appreciative of that fact?

Your neighbour could be being entirely reasonable. That you have saved etc is not relevant: if your extension has an impact on him - and it WILL - then he has a right to interrogate it. You sound as though you are very impatient with him, and don't understand why he might be bothered.

Is it really more important than a good neighbourly relationship? Is there any possibility of moving instead?

It is pretty extreme to suggest moving and not doing the extension because the neighbour doesn't want it to happen.

Just go through the due process with the party wall act OP and relax your ideas on timeframe.