Neighbours putting up garden building & renting it out

[stair]

We're on pretty good terms with our neighbours. A little while back they told us that they would be putting up a wood framed "Summer house" in their back garden next to the fence with our garden for them to use as a study/office. They put up a pretty large building - I was a little surprised when I saw them plumbing it into the sewer system and putting in a toilet, but just shrugged it off.

Winding forward a few months, and it's pretty obvious now that they are acually renting the place out as a flat. It appears to be short leases - there are different people coming and going all the time.

Now I'm in two minds what to do. I know that it's illegal to use a building like that as a dwelling place without planning permission (which probably wouldn't be granted if they tried). On the other hand it hasn't caused us trouble at the moment (except a bit of noise, but nothing out of hand.)

What would people recommend? I can't afford to have a "Neighbour dispute" as it would affect our ability to sell our house when the time comes, so I'm reluctant to approach them directly.

Cheers

[stair]

spookly said:

Have you looked to see if they have listed it on Air BnB?

That might be what they've done... and would explain the quick turnover of multiple occupiers.

I did have a look a few weeks ago! Couldn't find it at the time, but we're near to a Uni campus, so it may be they have it listed there.

[stair]

ClaphamGT3 said:

If it's not causing any real disturbance, I would applaud their enterprise and get on with your life - at least they haven't put feral teenagers in it like one of our near neighbours did with their garden room!

Doing nothing has been my approach so far, so that makes sense.

I did read somewhere that if a place without planning permission stands without objections for a number of years it is deemed to have permission by default. Anyone know if that could apply in this case? That would change my approach if it did.

[stair]

Tom_C76 said:

Lurking Lawyer said:

stair said:

I did read somewhere that if a place without planning permission stands without objections for a number of years it is deemed to have permission by default. Anyone know if that could apply in this case? That would change my approach if it did.

Not my specialist field but I would imagine the clock you refer to can only start running once the planning authority has, or could reasonably be expected to have, knowledge of the infringement.

Pretty sure that was the crux of the case in the news last year about the guy who had built a bloody great castle-like house without planning permission but had "hidden" it behind a big wall of hay bales so it wasn't visible from the public highway. He was trying to run out the clock but the court was having none of it.

Yes, because he had actively sought to hide the building. But if this garden room/shed has been built in a garden without trying to hide it then the clock starts when it is built.

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

[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.

[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!

[stair]

mel said:

You say "next to the fence" but how next is it? Less than 1m, between 1m & 2m or 2m+? Also how high is it?
The Height is less likely to be an issue as most off the shelf garden buildings are designed to be kept within the bounds of permitted developments but the proximity to boundary and footprint could also have building regs implications.

It's less than a metre from the fence. Heightwise, I guess it's within the regs - it was an off-the-shelf building as you say.

[stair]

Swervin_Mervin said:

7795 said:

I'm aghast and happy ready this thread...

I'm aghast in the sense that this would worry anyone. If there is no noise, no disruption of any sort and it does not impact neighbours in any way (yet*), why would you bother or even want to report them? I find it near impossible to get my head around the thinking of why you feel you NEED to report this sort of thing. Have you spoken to other neighbours or even THE neighbour?

I'm happy to know that people like the OP exist; it would be boring if we were always the same!!

OP, why do you feel you need to report this at this time?

• if it impacts your life in a bad way, I can fully understand you taking steps to discuss with your neighbour and then if it is not rectified to your satisfaction, taking it further.

Staggering!!!!!!!

What if it starts to become problem once they're beyond the time limit for planning being able to do anything about it?

What if he wants to sell and the buyer's solicitor picks up that there's a dwelling house int he neighbouring garden without p/p, and that's used to either bargain the price down or pull out completely?

There are many reasons as to why he should do something about it now, rather than wait, several of which may not be an issue for others on here. Not least there's the principle of the fact that his neighbours lied to him and took advantage of his good nature.

Exactly this. I'm not a curtain twitcher or NIMBY, but what I'm hearing makes me understand that
a) there's a clock ticking becase I won't be able to complain after a certain date even if some nightmare tenants move in.
b) it will probably affect my ability to sell my house in future