Neighbours putting up garden building & renting it out

[TroubledSoul]

Tom_C76 said:

No need to phone if all you want to do is check, all planning applications, whether approved or rejected, are on the council website. Beyond that, if you actually want the planners to act you're likely to need to email their enforcement team, as they tend not to have time to act on every breach unless pressed.

Yep it's called Public Access or something like that.

[E31Shrew]

Big article in the Sunday Times re Airbnb and sheds in gardens!

[C70R]

stair said:

I'm very much not a lawyer, but this is exactly my concern. I'd be happy to live & let live (as long as the tenants are considerate), but if there's some kind of legal clock running in the background I must report them

Why? You've just said they aren't affecting your life. Surely if that's the case, there's no need to report them?

[stair]

C70R said:

Why? You've just said they aren't affecting your life. Surely if that's the case, there's no need to report them?

Because the way things are right now isn't the way they will continue. If it gets to a point where they have de-facto permission for the building, and then they start moving troublesome tenants in I don't have a leg to stand on. Equally, if they move out and the new owners start bringing in bad tenants.

[hora]

So they lied to you for starters. But anyway, is there a negative impact on parking?

They should have applied for planning permission regardless. That's the whole point of a process especially if they have a commercial business with visitors built in a residential area.

If it's all above board they'd get retrospective agreement. If it's huge, light issues or just big then its out of order to their neighbours so tough on them for the lack of consideration or respect.

[BoRED S2upid]

If they haven't applied for planning they are on very dodgy ground indeed as the second you connect to the sewer they will be taking an extra council tax charge! Planning would likely be granted if their plot is large enough so I don't see why they wouldn't play by the rules. A house by us applied and was granted planning for 2 garden rooms and make a small fortune renting them out they are 4 star AA rated apparently.

[anonymous-user]

Report it to crimestoppers as a suspected brothel.

[pinchmeimdreamin]

Water pistol full of petrol and box of matches problem solved. (obviously attempt badly to tackle the fire with your garden hose to put them off the scent).


Job Jobbed

[anonymous-user]

C70R said:

stair said:

I'm very much not a lawyer, but this is exactly my concern. I'd be happy to live & let live (as long as the tenants are considerate), but if there's some kind of legal clock running in the background I must report them

Why? You've just said they aren't affecting your life. Surely if that's the case, there's no need to report them?

Just hope that when the big turds come your way they got the right building regs etc as they probably plumbed into your drain and think of the charity you are providing with your council tax to remove their excess sh!te etc etc

[rambo19]

Johnnytheboy said:

Keep it in the bank until they do anything to annoy you.

This, a 1000%

[Lakeland9]

Planning does not necessarily concern itself as to whether a disturbance or nuisance is being caused. The summerhouse itself almost certainly did not require permission. As planning is an area of the law with few laughs, we used to refer to these an an authorised garden erection. Oh, my aching sides. However, the use of the building as a residence is certainly unauthorised and a material change of use. It could be legitimised by time,but the period would be ten years.For unauthorised construction the period is normally four years except in cases of deliberate concealment as per the hay bale case referred to above.

Anyhow, the enforcement team at the LPA would be very likely to take steps to stop the use. In policy terms they would be keen to stop this. Of course the neighbour could apply to use his summerhouse for permanent residential purposes, but I wouldn't give much for his chances.

HTH

[Steve H]

Lakeland9 said:

However, the use of the building as a residence is certainly unauthorised and a material change of use. It could be legitimised by time,but the period would be ten years.For unauthorised construction the period is normally four years except in cases of deliberate concealment as per the hay bale case referred to above.

Question. Given that this is both a new building and a type of use that would need permission wouldn't the shorter time limit apply? Or would this only be the case if the new building would definitely require PP irrespective of the of use?

If you built a house in the middle of a field and started living in it surely they wouldn't be able to apply enforcement after (say) six years to stop the change from agricultural use as it hadn't been used for ten years but still have to allow the building to remain so long as it was used for agricultural purposes as it had been there for over four years?

[Lakeland9]

Steve H said:

Lakeland9 said:

However, the use of the building as a residence is certainly unauthorised and a material change of use. It could be legitimised by time,but the period would be ten years.For unauthorised construction the period is normally four years except in cases of deliberate concealment as per the hay bale case referred to above.

Question. Given that this is both a new building and a type of use that would need permission wouldn't the shorter time limit apply? Or would this only be the case if the new building would definitely require PP irrespective of the of use?

If you built a house in the middle of a field and started living in it surely they wouldn't be able to apply enforcement after (say) six years to stop the change from agricultural use as it hadn't been used for ten years but still have to allow the building to remain so long as it was used for agricultural purposes as it had been there for over four years?

It's the longer period as the building itself is permitted development. The building in the field is unauthorised so the four year period would apply. The use is also unauthorised but the four year period covers it. The ten year period covers change of use only so where a building is used for an authorised purpose and then changes the LPA have a longer period to,take action.

[FGB]

Wait til they move in 20 Syrian "Refugees" then dob them in.

[dogz]

Question for me would be does this affect your properties value or future desirability when you come to sell

If I was viewing your house and saw the next door neighbour handing keys over to a couple and saying enjoy your stay, I'd run for the hills

Whilst it might not be a problem today it has the potential to be one so I'd get it sorted. If your neighbour has followed things correctly then no problem, if they haven't then it's their tough look out!

[stair]

Lakeland9 said:

Planning does not necessarily concern itself as to whether a disturbance or nuisance is being caused. The summerhouse itself almost certainly did not require permission. As planning is an area of the law with few laughs, we used to refer to these an an authorised garden erection. Oh, my aching sides. However, the use of the building as a residence is certainly unauthorised and a material change of use. It could be legitimised by time,but the period would be ten years.For unauthorised construction the period is normally four years except in cases of deliberate concealment as per the hay bale case referred to above.

Anyhow, the enforcement team at the LPA would be very likely to take steps to stop the use. In policy terms they would be keen to stop this. Of course the neighbour could apply to use his summerhouse for permanent residential purposes, but I wouldn't give much for his chances.

HTH

Fantastic reply - that's exactly what I wanted to know.

As you say, the building itself does not need planning as it's 1 storey wood construction etc. The issue is with the change of use.

[stair]

dogz said:

Question for me would be does this affect your properties value or future desirability when you come to sell

If I was viewing your house and saw the next door neighbour handing keys over to a couple and saying enjoy your stay, I'd run for the hills

Whilst it might not be a problem today it has the potential to be one so I'd get it sorted. If your neighbour has followed things correctly then no problem, if they haven't then it's their tough look out!

Good question. I suspect it could affect the desirability of our place. The building is fairly well hidden behind the fence, but their parking area looks like a hotel car park a lot of the time!

[bucksmanuk]

I built 500 sq.ft. of timber workshop at the bottom of my garden. It’s classed as a temporary structure. As it’s a fair size I wanted council paperwork to say all was OK. This I got with the following:-
I was informed in no uncertain terms off Bucks council that if I supply water to it, and especially if I install sewage pipes, then that would be a change of use and all sorts of problems will start.
I would expect the same in this case.

[surveyor_101]

bucksmanuk said:

I built 500 sq.ft. of timber workshop at the bottom of my garden. It’s classed as a temporary structure. As it’s a fair size I wanted council paperwork to say all was OK. This I got with the following:-
I was informed in no uncertain terms off Bucks council that if I supply water to it, and especially if I install sewage pipes, then that would be a change of use and all sorts of problems will start.
I would expect the same in this case.

Friends of mine did the same, so they have a camping toilet in there massive summer house at the end of garden and rented it to a relative. They have since moved out and now its a play room for their kids.

[mikeveal]

Johnnytheboy said:

Keep it in the bank until they do anything to annoy you.

This.
"Please make sure your tennants are more reasonable. Neither of us want me to call the council..."