New Neighbours Building Works

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I’m looking for some advice regarding my property which I have recently purchased. It was built by Miller Homes in 2016. The house next door to me has just sold and my girlfriend overheard the new owners talking about their grand designs for it. These include:

Converting the integrated garage in to a room
Extending the front of the house to create a garage on the parking space
Building the garage to join on to my detached property
Building over a sewer pipe from my en-suite which runs on a strip of land to the side of my house
Building on/near a strip of land that belongs to me as my meters are on that side of the house
Building a rear extension that will cast shade over my patio area

Has anyone encountered similar issues? I know there are a number of restrictive covenants on the transfer document which prohibit most of the above plans. Who enforces these though? It sounded like they’re going to get on with the work asap from what was said. I can only assume that they are regarding it as being permitted development. Needless to say I’m slightly concerned but would rather have some facts to hand when hopefully they have the decency to discuss their plans with me.
 
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Are these leasehold or freehold? If leasehold then the leaseholder will usually actively enforce any covenants (or charge a lot of money to permit alterations). Freehold it gets a bit fluffier- a lot of these covenants are there to preserve the look of an estate during phased construction- once the developer has flogged all the houses they sometimes lose interest.
As for the rest, building at the front of the house will rarely be pd- if you see any activity (like foundations being dug) then get onto your local planning dept right away.
Attaching to your detached house- as long as it isn't a party wall (check your and neighbours land registry drawings) you can refuse to allow attachments to it.
 
my girlfriend overheard the new owners talking about their grand designs for it.

Wow. I'd be more concerned about the party wall soundproofing. o_O:cautious:

Are you a beneficiary of the restrive covenants that you mention?
 
You can go onto your local councils planning department website and there should be a local area map showing where permitted development rights have been removed.( especially if you are on a new build estate ) If so they will need approval for everything planned.
 
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Thanks for the replies

The properties were initially leasehold but the majority have now purchased the freehold.

The houses are not joined in any way currently with a one metre gap between them. Is there a minimum gap required between houses?

My girlfriend was in the back garden when they were discussing plans at the front of the house no soundproofing issues :D

The estate is 3 years old now and no other house has converted the garage which I suspect means that it isn’t permitted. I believe the garage and the drive count as the two required parking spaces but who enforces this regulation?

Finally does the 45 rule limited the size of the rear extension from the nearest window in a habitable room?
 
with the exception of the covenants. comments in bold

Converting the integrated garage in to a room - hard to stop this.
Extending the front of the house to create a garage on the parking space - probably wont get that approved at planning don't like this.
Building the garage to join on to my detached property - can't do that, its likely that you aren't built right up to the boundary but the boundary aligns with your roof
Building over a sewer pipe from my en-suite which runs on a strip of land to the side of my house - can't do that without permission from water company.
Building on/near a strip of land that belongs to me as my meters are on that side of the house - can't do that
Building a rear extension that will cast shade over my patio area - hard to stop this.

invite them round for drinks, get the subject on the things you wish you could have done with the house but can't because of THE RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS IN THE DEEDS AND THE HUGE RISK OF GETTING SUED ;)
 
They will require :
1. planning permission and the planning authority should consult you on the application as the neighbour.
2.Building regulations approval.
They should also notify you under The Party Wall Act for building on to your house.
Sounds like they should also seek permission from Miller Homes and you could express any concerns you have to Miller Homes as well as your own solicitor.
 
Garage - unless the drive is very long, they won't get permission for that as you need a certain distance (5m?) from garage door to road.

I'd get out there and plant some shrubs on the strip of land. I had this in my last house - I owned the land but no fence, it was next to neighbour's driveway. He wanted to pave my garden so he could get his fat arse and his fat wife out of their car easier. I said no. He was forever grumpy after that. I made the point of putting down some wood chippings so it didn't get so muddy and telling him I did this for him, so he didn't need to do anything.

Hopefully, your case is just a clueless neighbour talking about the things they think they can do, but really have no idea about. "Oh yeah. we're gonna build our extension and use the neighbour's house to support it cos that'd be cheaper".
 
in fairness, his gut was probably bigger.
 
I made an informal enquiry about development restrictions on the estate to the local planning department. Fortunately they sent me a copy of the planning decision notice for the development. Within this there is a condition no 19 which restricts garage conversions. So that's a big relief I guess building anything at the front isn't possible even if applying for full permission. It makes sense really as if everyone on the estate converted there'd be no where for anyone to park.

Hopefully they don't plan on building a monster rear extension to make up for it!

Thanks for the advice from everyone much appreciated and its certainly a weight off my mind.
 
I know some newer estates must maintain off-street parking to match house size / number of bedrooms. Don't know if this is a national thing or done at local level though. I do know a house in the village was refused planning permission to build a new garage on their driveway because there was not enough space. Funny, as they had a garage, but knocked it down to build a house (also without garage) that they sold.
 
You need to look at the deeds to see what works are allowed/not allowed.
as the houses are less than ten years old expect the developers to have a view on the neighbours plans.
 

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