Extending up to the neighbours side of house?
Discussion
55palfers said:
There has to be sufficient space left for your neighbour to gain access for maintenance on his property.
Painting barge boards, roof issues, etc.
Party wall Regs may be a challenge too.
No there doesn't.Painting barge boards, roof issues, etc.
Party wall Regs may be a challenge too.
Also the Party Wall Act is designed to facilitate construction works, not hinder them.
If my neighbour built right upto the side of my house, preventing me from accessing that side of my house, or the guttering etc, then I'd be pretty pissed off. But I guess that the problem when owning a house that is built right on the boundary line with the neighbours house. Ideally you want a path down the side of your house to enable access, but that doesn't usually happen.
Thanks for the responses so far. Just a few points / queries:
I'm not sure why the neighbours would be pissed off, they might, but they may not. Any works will improve their neighbouring house which is significantly 'letting the side down'. 'IF' I were to purchase I would run the plans by them first, listen to their thoughts and go from there.
Still not getting the comment from 'right to light'? There or no windows on the side of the neighbours house, any extension would be set back from the front of their property. Could someone clarify?
I would keep the properties separate, and thats why I posted really, to see what the distance needs to be.
Some comments about just buying another, houses in the condition we hope to achieve after renovation works will be significantly more expensive to buy. Oh, we're buying to live in it, not to make a profit.
Thanks again OP
I'm not sure why the neighbours would be pissed off, they might, but they may not. Any works will improve their neighbouring house which is significantly 'letting the side down'. 'IF' I were to purchase I would run the plans by them first, listen to their thoughts and go from there.
Still not getting the comment from 'right to light'? There or no windows on the side of the neighbours house, any extension would be set back from the front of their property. Could someone clarify?
I would keep the properties separate, and thats why I posted really, to see what the distance needs to be.
Some comments about just buying another, houses in the condition we hope to achieve after renovation works will be significantly more expensive to buy. Oh, we're buying to live in it, not to make a profit.
Thanks again OP
You generally are allowed to build right up to your boundary, the party wall act is in place to facilitate this. It will need PP and it will have to be set back. To me it still looks too narrow, if that gate is 900mm and the fence 1000mm then your looking at a room internal dimension of 1600mm, as even if it goes right up against next doors gable wall you still lose 300mm for the cavity wall, the old saying you couldn't swing a cat comes to mind, you probably need to go and measure the width as anything less than 2400 and your wasting your time money. The neighbour will be pissed off, they nearly always are if your building right up the border, their condensate pipe from the boiler runs along that wall so just little things like that can cause all sorts of conflict. I buy and sell houses for a living, I would never buy a house and build right up to the border as I know the hassle that it can bring, and I wouldn't even be living there.
Edited by Little Lofty on Sunday 21st January 13:30
Little Lofty said:
You generally are allowed to build right up to your boundary, the party wall act is in place to facilitate this. It will need PP and it will have to be set back. To me it still looks too narrow, if that gate is 900mm and the fence 1000mm then your looking at a room internal dimension of 1600mm, as even if it goes right up against next doors gable wall you still loose 300mm for the cavity wall, the old saying you couldn't swing a cat comes to mind, you probably need to go and measure the width as anything less than 2400 and your wasting your time money. The neighbour will be pissed off, they nearly always are if your building right up the border, their condensate pipe from the boiler runs along that wall so just little things like that can cause all sorts of conflict. I buy and sell houses for a living, I would never buy a house and build right up to the border as I know the hassle that it can bring, and I wouldn't even be living there.
Thanks LL for the constructive response. I'll see if I can nip round there and measure the width (its unoccupied).I'm a town councillor and sit on our Planning Committee. We'd have no problem in allowing that from a planning p.o.v. however the visuals from the front would play a part and of more concern would be Building Control ensuring the neighbours drain is re-routed and your drains are managed in accordance with best practice
LeadFarmer said:
If my neighbour built right upto the side of my house, preventing me from accessing that side of my house, or the guttering etc, then I'd be pretty pissed off. But I guess that the problem when owning a house that is built right on the boundary line with the neighbours house. Ideally you want a path down the side of your house to enable access, but that doesn't usually happen.
Conversely they are doing just what you or a past owner of your house has done - so why should they not be allowed to have as big and identical a house as you just because you did it first. (Yes I’d personally be a big oh balls but I’d not have built mine so close (left 1meter beside the boundary of the house and neighbour will do the same so zero risk of any issues for access.
In Leeds this there is a housebuilders design guide published by the planning dept that asks for a 1m offset from the boundary, to prevent terracing. I had an application refused on this basis but then managed to negotiate a 600mm offset which meant I could just about squeeze a 2 storey side and front extension.
It tied into a previous extension and gave us a bigger entrance hall, downstairs wc, utility and 4thbedroom above.
Bit, it's narrow. So much so that I excavated down into the utility and made the bedroom above with a mezzanine bed deck. It's a study in using the space available, every last cm, to make a workable space.
For instance the walls are full fill cavity batts, saving 75mm on overall wall thickness and we removed the outer skin of the existing external (now internal) wall to gain another 150mm....it's the difference between it working and not.
Price to build it was about £125k less than moving so worth it. There were many sleepless nights over the tolerances to involved though and if my design would actually work in real life. Thankfully it did!!
There's just enough space to get a wheelie bin down the side which is essential really. The original design was right up to the boundary with a small garage allowing access into the back garden but the way we ended up is much better. A garage would be nice but I've got a big ass she'd in the back which is a decent compromise.
It tied into a previous extension and gave us a bigger entrance hall, downstairs wc, utility and 4thbedroom above.
Bit, it's narrow. So much so that I excavated down into the utility and made the bedroom above with a mezzanine bed deck. It's a study in using the space available, every last cm, to make a workable space.
For instance the walls are full fill cavity batts, saving 75mm on overall wall thickness and we removed the outer skin of the existing external (now internal) wall to gain another 150mm....it's the difference between it working and not.
Price to build it was about £125k less than moving so worth it. There were many sleepless nights over the tolerances to involved though and if my design would actually work in real life. Thankfully it did!!
There's just enough space to get a wheelie bin down the side which is essential really. The original design was right up to the boundary with a small garage allowing access into the back garden but the way we ended up is much better. A garage would be nice but I've got a big ass she'd in the back which is a decent compromise.
Edited by dave_s13 on Sunday 21st January 17:56
dave_s13 said:
In Leeds this there is a housebuilders design guide published by the planning dept that asks for a 1m offset from the boundary, to prevent terracing. I had an application refused on this basis but then managed to negotiate a 600mm offset which meant I could just about squeeze a 2 storey side and front extension.
It tied into a previous extension and gave us a bigger entrance hall, downstairs wc, utility and 4thbedroom above.
Bit, it's narrow. So much so that I excavated down into the utility and made the bedroom above with a mezzanine bed deck. It's a study in using the space available, every last cm, to make a workable space.
For instance the walls are full fill cavity batts, saving 75mm on overall wall thickness and we removed the outer skin of the existing external (now internal) wall to gain another 150mm....it's the difference between it working and not.
Price to build it was about £125k less than moving so worth it. There were many sleepless nights over the tolerances to involved though and if my design would actually work in real life. Thankfully it did!!
There's just enough space to get a wheelie bin down the side which is essential really. The original design was right up to the boundary with a small garage allowing access into the back garden but the way we ended up is much better. A garage would be nice but I've got a big ass she'd in the back which is a decent compromise.
I'm quite surprised Leeds Council haven't changed the name of your road It tied into a previous extension and gave us a bigger entrance hall, downstairs wc, utility and 4thbedroom above.
Bit, it's narrow. So much so that I excavated down into the utility and made the bedroom above with a mezzanine bed deck. It's a study in using the space available, every last cm, to make a workable space.
For instance the walls are full fill cavity batts, saving 75mm on overall wall thickness and we removed the outer skin of the existing external (now internal) wall to gain another 150mm....it's the difference between it working and not.
Price to build it was about £125k less than moving so worth it. There were many sleepless nights over the tolerances to involved though and if my design would actually work in real life. Thankfully it did!!
There's just enough space to get a wheelie bin down the side which is essential really. The original design was right up to the boundary with a small garage allowing access into the back garden but the way we ended up is much better. A garage would be nice but I've got a big ass she'd in the back which is a decent compromise.
Edited by dave_s13 on Sunday 21st January 17:56
dave_s13 said:
. Thankfully it did!!
To be brutally honest that front porch building extension doesn’t really match anything else in the houses. It is sort of plain and square, yet the bay windows and roofs have the hipped ends, or whatever they are called. It may well look totally different in the flesh though, photographs are like that. Why don’t the roof lines match up on the side extension? Looks like both the ridge and the gutter edge have something missing.
Roofline doesn't match as that's a planning requirement. Has to be lower and there has to be a set back from the original structure so it's subordinate. To be fair it's not gonna win any awards for architecture but it does look better in the flesh and it should mellow and blend in with a bit of weathering. The extra space is hugely useful and offsets the aesthetics. Some of us live in the real world and don't have the usual PH budgets.
And yes, the name of our road is unfortunate. It's not named after good old Jimmy though, obvs, there's a local family of the same surname that own a lot of land round here.
And yes, the name of our road is unfortunate. It's not named after good old Jimmy though, obvs, there's a local family of the same surname that own a lot of land round here.
dave_s13 said:
Roofline doesn't match as that's a planning requirement. Has to be lower and there has to be a set back from the original structure so it's subordinate. To be fair it's not gonna win any awards for architecture but it does look better in the flesh and it should mellow and blend in with a bit of weathering.
It is almost like they have specific regulations they insist on following, but not based on whether the appearance will benefit or not. It probably will all blend in with time and nobody will even notice. King Herald said:
It is almost like they have specific regulations they insist on following, but not based on whether the appearance will benefit or not. It probably will all blend in with time and nobody will even notice.
Yeah they do, I had to set this extension back even though there is no possibility of the next door neighbour building onto their boundary, so the terracing argument doesn't apply, they stick to the guidelines even when there is no reason to. It looks ok as it happens but it's a lot of extra work and cost to set them back, and you also loose valuable space.
Yep. Yours looks good.
I managed to negotiate the set back down from the guideline 1m to just 150mm.
They can be flexible if you put forward a reasonable argument.
There are also recent extensions on my road right up to the boundary where planning has been passed only after an (expensive) appeal.
Planning and building control are not completely black and white thankfully.
I managed to negotiate the set back down from the guideline 1m to just 150mm.
They can be flexible if you put forward a reasonable argument.
There are also recent extensions on my road right up to the boundary where planning has been passed only after an (expensive) appeal.
Planning and building control are not completely black and white thankfully.
That blends in very well, just as if it was original.
Our neighbour put an extension on top of his garage, looks okay, and I have long thought about it for our place. I estimate it would cost £35,000 but would not add anything like that to the value of the house. Plus it would be chaos while doing it. I’d rather spend that money moving into a detached place, but there’s only two of use here now, so....
Our neighbour put an extension on top of his garage, looks okay, and I have long thought about it for our place. I estimate it would cost £35,000 but would not add anything like that to the value of the house. Plus it would be chaos while doing it. I’d rather spend that money moving into a detached place, but there’s only two of use here now, so....
King Herald said:
That blends in very well, just as if it was original.
Our neighbour put an extension on top of his garage, looks okay, and I have long thought about it for our place. I estimate it would cost £35,000 but would not add anything like that to the value of the house. Plus it would be chaos while doing it. I’d rather spend that money moving into a detached place, but there’s only two of use here now, so....
It's not all about what it adds in value.Our neighbour put an extension on top of his garage, looks okay, and I have long thought about it for our place. I estimate it would cost £35,000 but would not add anything like that to the value of the house. Plus it would be chaos while doing it. I’d rather spend that money moving into a detached place, but there’s only two of use here now, so....
In my case the cost of the extension was at least £100k less than it would've cost to move to a house we actually wanted to live in. Our location is literally perfect for us at the moment so it made more sense to extend.
It's is a lot of disruption but you soon get over it. We've done 2 extensions on our house, the back has a part 2 story addition as well. You need a couple of years break before doings it again, a bit like having kids.
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