General Planning Query
Discussion
Morning everyone.
We are looking to put an offer in on a property in Hertfordshire (Dacroum) and we want to extend the original garage and add a fourth bedroom on top of the garage. However our plans have been a little skewed as we discovered that the next door neighbor has installed a small letterbox window looking into the area where we want to extend.
I've read a few guides on the net all suggest we wouldn't be able to build an extension beyond that window...however some sites have also suggested that their window isn't legal either.
there is also glass bricks on the room above, so that could ruin the chances of extending on the first floor as well.
I've contacted a couple of local surveyors, but I just wanted to get some guidance from some people who may have experience in this.
It's very nerve wracking when we want to put an offer in and we dint know if we can build what we want to build.
Any replies would be greatly appreciated 🙂
We are looking to put an offer in on a property in Hertfordshire (Dacroum) and we want to extend the original garage and add a fourth bedroom on top of the garage. However our plans have been a little skewed as we discovered that the next door neighbor has installed a small letterbox window looking into the area where we want to extend.
I've read a few guides on the net all suggest we wouldn't be able to build an extension beyond that window...however some sites have also suggested that their window isn't legal either.
there is also glass bricks on the room above, so that could ruin the chances of extending on the first floor as well.
I've contacted a couple of local surveyors, but I just wanted to get some guidance from some people who may have experience in this.
It's very nerve wracking when we want to put an offer in and we dint know if we can build what we want to build.
Any replies would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Is the single storey building linking the two houses the back of your garage?
That would make it link detached, with their side wall on the boundary. If so, the window is not necessarily the issue. The real problem is that the extension would make it a terrace and most local authorities have policies in place to prevent this.
That would make it link detached, with their side wall on the boundary. If so, the window is not necessarily the issue. The real problem is that the extension would make it a terrace and most local authorities have policies in place to prevent this.
Have the neighbours already extended? (The verge overhangs are significantly different.)
If you own up to their wall then their verge, pipes, windowsill overhang your property. Even if you sort all of that out and pass planning I can't see it going down well with the neighbours so probably best find a different house
If you own up to their wall then their verge, pipes, windowsill overhang your property. Even if you sort all of that out and pass planning I can't see it going down well with the neighbours so probably best find a different house
From my experience with planning (and that's from living in Green Belt and wanting several extensions/garages/etc) you've almost zero chance of getting two stories right up to that boundary. I'd say the best you could hope for would be "posh shed" linking into the back of your garage and functioning as a workshop/office type extension, there'd be pretty much nothing your new neighbours could do about it (if it's low enough) as it'd be under development rights. But my advice would be if being able to build what you want is a deal breaker then move on and find something else.
Assume this is a link detached? Mostly been said but planning guidelines state 1m gap between boundary to reduce the terracing effect.
You can negotiate this down with good cause but this looks like a non starter.
It's hard to visualise properly with the plans and photos you've posted though.
You can negotiate this down with good cause but this looks like a non starter.
It's hard to visualise properly with the plans and photos you've posted though.
Thanks for the replies everyone. It's as we expected.
It's s valid point about the neighbours. I wouldn't want to find myself on one of the neighbours from hell programs.
Could we extend the garage to just before the window? The house ticks a lot of other boxes.
Sadly the garage in us current form isn't going to work...maybe a posh shed at the bottom of the garden is the way forward.
It's s valid point about the neighbours. I wouldn't want to find myself on one of the neighbours from hell programs.
Could we extend the garage to just before the window? The house ticks a lot of other boxes.
Sadly the garage in us current form isn't going to work...maybe a posh shed at the bottom of the garden is the way forward.
Elysium said:
Is the single storey building linking the two houses the back of your garage?
That would make it link detached, with their side wall on the boundary. If so, the window is not necessarily the issue. The real problem is that the extension would make it a terrace and most local authorities have policies in place to prevent this.
It's a linked detached and the link is the garages and the neighbours have extended up level with the edge of the garage and my initial thought was we could mirror their extension, but didn't realise their was windows until we viewed the house at the weekend. That would make it link detached, with their side wall on the boundary. If so, the window is not necessarily the issue. The real problem is that the extension would make it a terrace and most local authorities have policies in place to prevent this.
I had the same thing when looking at the house and did a little bit of research
Rights of light are separate to planning so the neighbour would have to take you to court to enforce it and you'd have to significantly reduce the light entering the room which is worked out by some crazy formula
Around here the planners give little weight to secondary windows or if the room is not a habitable room, you wouldn't expect a window like that to be the only window in a dining room but who knows.
As others have said planners don't like a terracing effect so may say there needs to be a 1m gap and hip roofs etc
Rights of light are separate to planning so the neighbour would have to take you to court to enforce it and you'd have to significantly reduce the light entering the room which is worked out by some crazy formula
Around here the planners give little weight to secondary windows or if the room is not a habitable room, you wouldn't expect a window like that to be the only window in a dining room but who knows.
As others have said planners don't like a terracing effect so may say there needs to be a 1m gap and hip roofs etc
zeewrath said:
Rights of light are separate to planning so the neighbour would have to take you to court to enforce it and you'd have to significantly reduce the light entering the room which is worked out by some crazy formula
I don't know about right of light but if we ignore that for a moment: if you set the new build back by say 750mm from the front elevation and got planning permission, served a PWeA notice and don't care what the neighbours say or how they feel then you could build right up to their brick wall, trim the window cill, bridge/move the sewer, join the rooves, remove the SVP pipe and cap it below ground leaving your neighbour to install an internal one. So, if the planners agree and there's no RoL issue then you're OK and all of the issues relating to the neighbour should have been considered when they built their extension so it's their fault.Given all that I'd still move on to the next house on your list or wait for another to come up. It doesn't have the appearance of a unique property.
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