smoking shelter built onto our property wall to our detatched property

[valthorens]

have lived in our 3 bed detatched house for 14 years.
Our neighbouring property is a student house and is detatched, there are normally 6 students living here and at times over the years we have suffered noise.
last year a plastic roofed shelter was battoned with wood to our wall which runs down the side of our property and next doors wall...we were not informed formally of this from the landlord I just happened to be in when the man arrived to do the work and told me it was being erected to provide somewhere for the students to store their bikes.
It is being used as a smoking shelter and can be very noisy ,it sounds like they are in our house...... i have asked them to keep noise down but it continues.....we want to move and are reluctant to go to env health as then we have to declare it when we come to sell.........any ideas gratefully received.... i put a letter through the door for the landlord before they moved in as same thing happened with students before....... haven't heard anything

Surely if its attached to your wall, you can remove it? probably best to advise the landlord - give him reasonable notice and take it down preferably before this year's student turn up

They cannot attach anything to your property. Go to planning dept.

Unbelievable that you've put up with this for so long. I would have been out there at the time telling them they can't. Just remove it, they haven't got a leg to stand on.

Do you own or rent? They are trespassing by attaching anything to your wall , even if it is the boundary.

He's not complied with the party wall act, he isn't allowed to do this at all. Not only do you want it removed but tell him to make good the damage to your bricks....i.e. He needs to fill the holes with cement.

So they have attached it to your bought property? I can not belive you have allowed this from the start

They have no right whatsoever to attach anything to your wall.

How on earth did you allow bolts and drilling into your brickwork? Get them to remove it immediately and make good. It could cause damp, all sorts!

However, there is very little to stop them building a free standing wooden shelter as long as it does not encroach on your boundary. Such a structure does not need planning permission.

Just complain repeatedly to tne students and the landlord about noise.

But if you involve the plloice or law in that you would need to declare it if you wanted to sell your property.

I can't quite picture it. Are there two garden walls running between the properties and it's between that? Or is it up against your house?

If it's your house wall you need to take it down, why would he think he can attach something to it ?

If you were there when the workmanship was doing this why in earth did you let him continue? It's your house!!!??

Does the landlord who owns the house the students are in own your house too? It's not clear if you own your own house or if he does

The time to act was when the workman turned up, but you can still deal with this. Raising an issue which needs to be dealt with does not equal a dispute by the way. What the landlord should do is provide a proper freestanding shed for storage instead. Do you know which agents manage the place? If so go via them to contact the landlord.

The OP stated she is worried about having to declare a dispute when they come to sell therefore she owns her house.

Why on earth did you let them attach it to your house in the first place , just put a note through the door saying that you will be removing it in a weeks time , leave a contact number and then the balls in their court . You should be able to take it down without causing damage to it hopefully and just leave the bits leaning up against the side of their house .

Even if Op is a tenant & the LL owns both properties, can he really do this?

If both were used as student accomodation it would make sense-sort of!

Just seen your post wowfudge

In which case, if the Op owns, I can't make any sense of why the shelter was even attached, let alone allowed to stay!

Google the party wall act and then find yourself a local surveyor who specialises in acting on party wall disputes. Your neighbour can't just affix to your wall, assuming it is your wall.

Like everyone else here I'm absolutely astounded you allowed someone to attach a structure to a HOUSE YOU OWN. WTF? WHY? If the structure is in a shared passageway between yours and next doors their shelter can go over their half only, not yours. Anything overhanging your legal boundary is not allowed and you have every right to demand they remove it, even if it means you cutting it in half and returning the bits it to next door.

Write to the neighbour and demand it's removal within a reasonable timeframe (7 days at the most!) and then get on to your solicitor.

Thanks wow fudge I missed that bit about selling

Why have you let this drag on a year? You should have ripped it down straight away.

Total walk over.

Is it against the garden wall or the house?

Reread it and i assume garden wall as it said a wall that runs down the side of the property

Obviously it's too late to prevent the structure being attached, but the best way for the OP to deal with this is not by marching round there and removing it or by making threats to go round and remove it - that would be trespass and, if the shelter is damaged by the OP, potentially criminal damage.

The correct way to deal with it is to make contact with the owner of next door - check with the land registry by downloading the title register for £3 if necessary - and request the structure is removed from the OP's wall by X date and the wall made good. 14 days is sufficient to organise this. I would bet that the LL is totally unaware his tenants are smoking and socialising in the bike store and causing a nuisance to the OP.

Keep it simple and unemotional - point out nothing should be attached to the wall by the LL or his agents or tenants and the noise and smoke from the structure is also unacceptable.

Get it taken down ASAP, by writing to landlord and tell him to remove in 14days or you will remove and bill him. If you leave it then after a certain number of years they get a right to support or something similar