Builder neighbour wants to build a 2 bed on the end of our semis

[mogtheexcellent]

Hi I'm looking for advice.

Other half of our semi was bought by a builder who initially said they were going to knock down the garage and build an extension however they have no submitted plans for a 2 bed house. They were kind enough to knock and give us copies of the plans and mentioned we would have to be compensated as this would tun our house into an end of terrace and thus lower the value.

Any idea what we should do next? We are on the fence about the extension but I work in heritage planning so I know a bit about planning applications. I would say this application will be approved and apart from our house becoming part of a terrace and potential lowering of house value we are not really affected.

Anyone had any experience of this?

No experience, but I don't think I would be happy! It's not just the value, but somehow the ongoing status of living in a semi vs end terrace.
I suppose you'll have to get a proper surveyor / valuer to work out what your house is worth now and what it would be worth if an end of terrace. That would be the starting point for my negotiations with the builder neighbour. But don't forget that it will continue to be less valuable - house prices might not rise as much for a end terrace, so I think I'd want more that the difference in value at one set point in time.

Will becoming part of a terrace create any access issues, e.g., will the middle house require any new rights across your land? Do you have a mortgage? Will your mortgage company need to be notified as the value of their investment will drop?

Might be worth a chat with a solicitor sooner rather than later to see how these things could work.

Might be worth checking any covenants. We live in a semi and there is a covenant that prevents you doing this - you can extend (and we have) but you can't turn the extension into a separate dwelling.
Are you in a road of similar properties, and if so, has anyone else done what your neighbour intends to do? Lack of precedent may be a good thing planning wise. In your position I would not discuss it further with the neighbour until I had got legal advice.

I would tread carefully , although them paying you is very good , there is no obligation to do so. You might object and not be happy with the offer and still end up with the house being built.

This is all great advice thanks!

My dh has done this many times
As the pp says.. they are under no obligation to compensate you at all
And there is very little difference if any between a semi and an end of terrace
The only reason they would compensate you is if they needed access over your land... if they do then you hold a huge advantage because it might be that without the access they cant build it anyway. If this is the case you could ask for a lot of money as it's a ransom strip or plain refuse

Our planning department has a map that allows you to see all planning applications that have been made in the area by lighting up the map with red outlines for different years. I am not sure if yours has something similar rather than going property by property.

That way you can see if anyone close by has applied and what they applied to do and click into any similar ones. The main thing in your favour maybe is any access to the property ie putting in another driveway or dropped kerb.

We looked at the language used by the planning officers when they objected to planning applications and used those words in our own objection such as lack of parking, driveway visibility obstruction. Funnily enough the exact same extension application had been put in for another property, I quoted that objection and the planning officer who visited my house was the chap who I quoted.

I also looked at where planning had been granted to see why it had. HTH.