Can they really put scaffolding on my property?

[2Cats1Dog]

One of the flats above us (leaseholders like us) have got permission from the freeholder to convert their loft and to do this they need to put scaffolding on our property, which would mean months and months of misery for us. Surely, they can't be allowed to do this??? I mean, it's not like it's necessary maintenance work, it's purely to improve their flat, it's not essential work! Has anyone else been in this situation? Help please!

Did you object at planning application stage?

We are just coming to the end of an extension on our house - build wise we are into month 5 but the scaffolding was only up for 5-6 weeks.

This was partly because scaffolding is pricey and a certain amount of pressure from the scaffolder who was on a tight time schedule and needed to move onto another job

So hopefully it might not be as long as the entire build :)

We had a really big loft extension done. It took 12 weeks which I was told was long for a loft.

There must have been planning which you must have seen and could object to

I think OP may be getting a rough ride here. It’s all well and good saying she should be neighbourly but that’s a bit tough to take when you’re habing someone’s building work imposed upon you.

It also doesn’t follow that the time you’re told a job will take equals the time it actually does. My neighbour told me his scaff would be up 3 weeks to repair his roof. It was actually 8 months and he knocked half the house down before rebuilding it and replacing the roof.

8-9 months sounds ages!! Our loft conversion and full re-roof is projected to take 2 months - 4 quotes all with that timescale! Are you sure they didn’t say 8 to 9 weeks? 😂

My friend's neighbours have been building a 1st floor extension and a ground floor extension for almost a year. It's having a whole new roof and lots of changes to the original. She says it's very noisy and very dusty, and they've not finished yet. These past couple of weeks have been bad because the plastic sheeting around the scaffolding has mostly come loose and flaps all night, keeping them awake (even though they've double glazing), and in the wind is incessantly noisy. Parking has been a nightmare as they're often parked over their drive or too close for them to reverse out. They've dropped hints at the builders but I say she has been far too nice about it. You'll need to be firm with your neighbours as to making sure it doesn't affect light at your windows too much, that you're not inconvenienced for parking etc.

Francis I think it’s fair to say not everyone has or will have the same experience as you. We didn’t, and not as a consequence of our attitude or actions.

There are loads and loads of threads on here saying that it’s not always possible to be accommodating and charming when the other party behave like a bunch of wankers.

Flats near to me have had scaffolding wrapped all around them for over two years. Work finished months ago.
It's not the scaffolding that folk don't like, it's the loss of light from the blue safety netting that comes with the scaffolding.

Our scaffolding was up 3 months. Our builders were traipsing up as down as day. After they had removed the rubble they didn't really come down.

They were also very quiet!

It's not actually very noisy for 80% of the work. I worked from home quite happily through ours with no disruption.

I don’t believe the timescale. They won’t need scaffolding for all of the build either. It’s only to do the structural stuff.

We had neighbour's scaffolding all along the back of our small town garden when they had a loft constructed (their house is perpendicular to ours, the side of their house forming the end wall of our garden).
It lasted about 10 weeks and was a complete pain - crap falling from the scaffolding and lack of privacy with builders working overhead all summer. I'm not keen to let them back in for future work!

What kind of animals do you have op ? When we built our extension our lovely neighbours let us put the scaffolding in their side garden/drive. One of their cats loved it, we often found him lying on a low beam or actually inside the extension before the back wall was put up.

We were very grateful our neighbours allowed the scaffolding on their property. How are your neighbours generally ? Did they discuss anything with you beforehand .

sour grapes!!
get on with your LIFE not the LOFT.

Whilst I get that it's an inconvenience, they are entitled to do work to their flat if they wish if they've had permission from the freeholder, and unfortunately due to the nature of living in flats they can't really help the fact that it will influence the other flats in the building in some way. I think you need to try and be neighbourly and just grin and bear it for a while. I do think you would however to be reasonable to ask for some reassurances on not having noise first thing in the morning etc.

Just to say we looked into getting a loft conversion done once and we were told it would probably take 8 weeks, so I think it's really unlikely the scaffolding will be up for 8/9 months.

With a leasehold, what you buy is the right to live there for a fixed number of years. Nothing more. So if the freeholder has given permission, and p/p or building regs are complied with, that's the end of the matter.

@PickAChew "you seem so highly strung that the reaction of the animals is the least of your worries". Thanks for your pointless input. How about you keep your gob shut until you know what you're talking about?

@Catquest1 - thank you, I hope you're right!

Errr, OP you're the only one who can tell us all about it and you haven't.

@Bythebeach I wish we had read it wrong, but it does say 8-9 months. It's a big job they are planning. And the scaffolding and building work would completely affect living in our flat

Did you object at the planning stage?