Advice 're Neighbours planned extension

[onedayiwillmissthis]

My neighbours have applied for planning for an extension. We are semi detached bungalows. The extension will be 4 metres deep. They wish to build right on boundary. Party wall? They tell me this would be in my best interests as I (or any future owner if my property) could build onto this wall.

I have no plans to extend, but may wish to move within next few years.

I am looking for any advice 're pro's and con's of their plans. Is it in my best interests to allow or should I insist they build their side of boundary?

don't forget if a building is up to boundary the foundations will be on your side - this could interfere with any drains running near your boundary etc

They need to apply for a party wall agreement before they can build anything. You dont have to agree.

Personally I would not want to buy a oroperty that had an extension right up to the boundary. How are they going to deal with maintenance?

Yes if they build to the boundary they might dig up your part of the garden too. I would take dated pictures of your garden and boundaries now and keep a record.

If you do a party wall agreement they will have to pay for Your party wall surveyor which doesn’t have to be the same surveyor as theirs.

You might well prefer your garden as it is, without a 4m neighbour's wall along it. Future buyers may well feel the same - I really can't see it being a selling point myself, and if it feels at all intrusive in your garden, it'll be a negative. Also it would be disruptive to you during the build.

My feeling is they are probably trying their luck to see if you are open to persuasion.

If you actually we're planning a 4m extension at some point, that's different.

As other have said- if there is a party wall agreement they have to pay for it.

We had an extension done a few years back and our foundations were deep enough and close enough to next door to warrant a party wall agreement as neighbours foundations were relatively shallow ( detached houses)

We are on good terms with them and agreed to use the same surveyor to do the report so it saved a bit. But we had to pay.

We were quite pleased that we had it done as there were quite a few photos of parts of their property that showed existing cracks in walls and floors. Without that evidence they could have claimed our building works were responsible for damage to their house at a later date.

If you say you want a party wall agreement they are legally required to do it and would not be allowed to go ahead without it.

Thanks for replies. Just had notification letter from council arrive in post inviting me to view plans & comment. I like my neighbours, and don't wish to cause a disagreement but neither do I wish to agree to something that will be to my detriment.

I have recently had my patio replaced and the fence between us (which is mine and in good condition) is supporting has some espalier fruit trees, one of which is less than 4 metres from rear of house so would be disturbed.

A party wall agreement...do they have to do this...or do I need to ask them to?

I thought you had to have a party wall agreement if you built with 3m of someone else's boundary but found this

www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works

It says you need one to build 'near or on' a boundary so they definitely need to do this. As a pp said I think they will have to pay for you to get a survey and rectify any mistakes.

Also you might find that as part of the 'notification' process from your local council they ask for various organisations to comment on the extension. In my area this includes drainage experts, environment experts, heritage experts (if it's an old building) but most importantly to you tree experts. The tree expert might support you that they're building too close to the trees.

In my area you can see all the information on who has objected, planning drawings, the opinions of the experts on my local council site. You might have this too. Check that the drawings include the trees and if they don't tell the planner at the council they're not accurate drawings.

I do think it's cheeky because you'll have a bloody ugly wall on your boundary and maybe gutters over it? Are they going to have to maintain them? Are you going to need permission to put a trellis there?

You might also complain about a loss of light depending on the position of the extension.

we actually asked our neighbours & they recessed the extension back into their property 3 ft precisely so foundations didn't interfere with our surface drains -