Advice Please As I'm Getting No Help

[Zumbagirl]

Hello, the house adjacent to me has been bought and the owner has turned it into an HMO. He has turned it from a 3 bedroom into a 5 bedroom. He applied to build a 6m extension which myself and the other neighbours objected to as it was going to be so imposing and it was refused by planning on the grounds that it would take away light from my garden from 11 am onwards and I would lose visual amenity. He then went on to build a 3m extension which is acceptable, I have no problem with that. We have had constant building noise for over two years; lorries coming and going, ruining the grass verges. Now, without even mentioning to anyone he has decided to build, for want of a better word...... bungalow, half way down the garden. It's an L shaped structure made out of bricks with three windows in it. It looks just like a one bedroom bungalow.It's so imposing and he's not even put the roof on yet! If he puts a pitched roof on it I'm going to lose all visual amenity, precisely why he was refused the extension. He told another neighbour that it's going to be a gym/storage but I don't believe it as he has an empty double garage for storage. I believe he is going to put more Tennant's in there. I'm so fed up of the noise and having builders looking at me all day thru my patio doors. I have a 2m high fence and this building is way higher. I contacted planning and they said when they came out in September and inspected the ground work there were no breaches, this is now November and no further inspection has taken place. Surely this size of structure can't be permitted development? It's looking right into my garden, it has three windows. I've completely lost any privacy as well as visual amenity and I'm sure when the roof goes up I'll lose light too. I'm hoping to downsize in a couple of years but now I'm so worried this has devalued my home. The last two years have been so bad that the neighbours on the other side of him have sold up and moved before this structure went up. I'd really appreciate any advice as I'm so unhappy and worried this will devalue my home. These are family homes and this guy seems to want to turn the house into a hotel. Thanks

[NellieMay]

If you read my long list from the Planning Portal, it tells you exactly what measurements have to be observed. 2.5m to eaves. Max 4m roof height. Also other information about the poditioningbof the building.

[NellieMay]

Positioning!

[Zumbagirl]

@woofgang this guy is sneaky, he has six houses all over town, 5 of them HMOs and he told me this one is in his sons name....I bet the others are in his other kids and his wife's name. When he first bought it, he let all the neighbours think him and his wife and daughters were moving in but it became apparent this wasn't the case. He has never informed any of the neighbours in advance of any work being carried out and we all had a miserable summer for the last two years as we couldn't sit in our gardens because of the noise. The neighbours on other side of him had to sell up and move as they'd just adopted a little baby boy and it looked so bad when social services came to visit as the noise was deafening. It's affected the whole street but only me and the other side have to look directly at this monstrosity in the garden

[Zumbagirl]

@nellie may thank you I'll take a look

[Zumbagirl]

Thanks @davebro it's definitely higher than 2.5m. I think I need to contact building control as well. I was led to believe that they're part of planning but I've just found out they're not

[NellieMay]

I feel so sorry for you Zumbagirl. Please contact the council. Have you anone who can help you with this - if not go to citizens advice they can help you tackle this problem.

[NellieMay]

Also, if your neighbour has joined his roof to the house next door, he should have had permission from the neighbour. It's a legal obligation under the Party Wall Act.

[THECORBYLOON]

Have you thought about contacting your local councillor to see if they can get things moving?

[jackthehat]

NellieMay gives excellent advice about how to approach the Planning Department; they are the Council Department with responsibility for determining whether the erection of a structure is *legal* or not (according to 'any' of the guidelines in operation).
Building Control are the department who make sure that the building in built in accordance with all current rules and regulations.

Either of them can insist that your neighbour stops work until the status of the building is determined.

Whereabouts in the country are you?

[Barsel]

THECORBYLOON The OP has said she has already got her MP involved in it.

[The Builder]

A can of worms Zumba :o(

Yes, the sizing and dimensions may well be within PD Rights. (Permitted Development). NellieMay has given excellent chapter and verse on this.

The "remote" building seems to be the issue.
An extension may be up to 8 metres measured from the original building. But... how far is the "bungalow" from the building?

Perhaps he's classing it as a "Granny Annex". An important court case decided that a Granny Annex can be built, BUT... it must be "incidental" to the use of the main house. In short, it can be lived in, but only by family members.
The case of HMOs is not mentioned, but it would seem that an HMO would not be in order in that case.

Anyway, to help you.
None of us know the actual details "on the ground".
I would strongly recommend you hire a Planning consultant. They are often ex-planning officers.
I've used them several times. Think of it as trying to run a fair sized business without an accountant........ you could miss out on so much.

There will be expense, but a decent Consultant would give you an initial assessment for a fee (or maybe free), then they could give you some idea of likely costs.

This, as you say, could affect you greatly. The value of a house is considerable. It would be money well spent, if only to remove doubts.

I'm sorry I can't make it all go away for you, but who knows, there may be a solution.

[NellieMay]

Barsel, her local councillor, as Corbyloon says, is a better bet than her MP. He can get her the info she needs from the council offices.

[THECORBYLOON]

BARSEL, I know that but the Councillor is a member of the Council and is likely to have better access to the officials involved in the matter.

[Barsel]

I stand corrected. Apologies.

[NellieMay]

Snap :o)

[The Builder]

I should also add that, under the revised PD rights (May 2019), there is a proviso known as "neighbourhood consultation scheme".

This imposes certain conditions on what can be done under PD rights.
This should be looked into.

[Canary42]

In the long term, don't vote tory next month - they're looking to relax the planning laws.

[Bazile]

//Also, if your neighbour has joined his roof to the house next door, he should have had permission from the neighbour. It's a legal obligation under the Party Wall Act.//

Joined in what way ?

[Zumbagirl]

@The Builder the "bungalow" is more than 8 metres from the original building but as our houses are staggered it's closer to mine. On looking today, I now believe that he has taken up more than 50% of the garden with his extension included so this is something I will look into as well. Yes I think I will need to invest in a Planner because I really don't think it will stop here. That's very interesting about the neighbourhood thing, a lot of the neighbours are upset too so I'll find out more. If he intends to put Tennant's in there he will need a license. At present he only has 4 but I found out that more than 5 and you need a license which a planning officer has told me he's unlikely to get as they take the parking situation into account. This street is bad for parking and most of us have off road parking. He has off road parking for only two cars. If he doesn't get a license, it's a £20k fine. He also had a go at me as he said myself and the other neighbour cost him £6k due to his planning application for his extension being rejected. The bungalow, I noticed earlier when I took a photo has different coloured bricks, a large patch half way down, he obviously got them cheap! There are 4 windows not 3 as I thought. I'm going to go to citizens advice and planning at the council tomorrow as well and I'll sit there until planning sees me!

[Zumbagirl]

I live in sussex