The 1948 date is correct (or the date of construction if the property is more recent). PD restricts the total area of any extension(s) to less than 50% of the original 1948 curtilage (i.e. garden area) excluding the original house footprint.

If the proposed extension is between 3 and 6m deep from the original wall of the house then the owners need to get prior approval from the LPA and it will involve neighbour consultation, where you get a chance to object. If it’s under 3m deep then they don’t need prior approval. The height is also restricted to 4m or 3m within 2m of the site boundary.

Have a look at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/100806_PDforhouseholders_TechnicalGuidance.pdf
particularly pages 15-16.

If you look on the LPA’s website you can search the planning history for their property – if any extensions have been built in the last couple of decades records should come up.

i wonder how your neighbour felt when you built your monster extension projecting beyond his house dominating it ?

The drawing isn’t to scale (DUH!) and their smaller extension they want to demolish was constructed before ours and actually projects out further than ours already.

I think he probably needs a certificate of lawfulness for his extension (which is basically planning permission lite)

The Party Wall agreement (as defined in the Party Wall Act) is a civil matter between you and your neighbour.

The idea being is you (as the neighbour) gets the opportunity to review and agree what he is doing before he starts.

The close proximity to your property, and the depth of any foundations will definitely fall within the scope of the party wall act.

He should write to you (letter template from internet) and include a copy of the construction drawings of his proposed works – you then have the opportunity to review and comment.
I think your neighbour is obligated to pay for you to have a separate survey of the works if you want.
The letter should include a slip for you to sign and return to say you agree with the works.

I went through all this 2 years ago with our extension (which required us to remove a chimney stack that served both us and our neighbour)

Having put in an extension years ago I think neighbours can use the Party Wall Act to cause trouble and expense but not to stop anything from being built. Right to light isn’t likely to be an issue unless the extension blocks a window pretty directly.

fionap has it. It sounds highly likely that the extensions already built will have taken up the PD allowance – unless they are pre 1948. Therefore planning permission will be required in the normal way.

I suspect you may have a problem with the flue discharge though, as others have said. Unless it’s been like that for more than 12 years and no one has objected before – and written permission with the neighbours wasn’t received at the time. IANAL though.

PWA definitely protects your rights so that looks appropriate.
If you’ve windows in the end section then there’s a rule I think about their extension not projecting across a line drawn at 45deg from your window or something like that.
You also don’t want a tiny corridor as from a maintenance point of view that could be tricky to repoint etc even though less likely to be needed. I’d be after a 1m gap or to have it tie in with your wall.
I’d also be rerouting that flue.

Why not insert a window as close to the bottom right hand corner as possible or just extend yours even further? 😉

Ignoring the fact that your unhappy with the proposal if the new building goes up and your flue remains where it is your house will become a death trap. Needs 1 meter all the way around minimum!

The PWA is in the interests of the wall it doesn’t protect any rights as such Its there so that you and the other party can agree on the current schedule of condition of the affected wall (adjoining or within 3m of the proposed new build) and also schedule of the proposed works. If you both agree to not having a PWA then you can with a supporting agreement or if you choose you can get a survey done by either one appointed by you and another by the other party or a single surveyor agreed by both (ie you can appoint the surveyor and the other party can also use the same) it is all at the other parties cost and has fairly strict time limits. They cannot proceed until this is complete although many do and if needs be you can stop them temporarily. As for the %50 rule… well its more of a guideline and most planning depts these days are pretty flexible and if its within PD then it probably wouldn’t be an issue. The flue may well be a sticking point as it looks like it would fall foul of building regs and who would be liable would be anyone’s guess… If it were me id definitely get a PWA in place as if anything goes wrong with the build then you have the appropriate evidence (this should include their builders PLI) but other than this id say there isnt a lot you can do…

But of an update. I mentioned a PWA agreement to my new neighbour but they said they didn’t need one. We had a chat about their plans and I decided to leave it, but monitor the building works closely – pretty easy as I see it constantly so didn’t have to snoop. The builders are really good so I chatted with them a bit and helped them out a bit with access if they needed it.
We would have been able to see the new extension from our lounge but as it was PD there was nothing to be done about it now so I accepted that no problem. However the planners were keeping a close eye on the building works too it seems.
I came home last night to find that the side of the extension facing us had been moved back about 3 feet away from us. I asked the builders why and they said the planning officer came round and said they couldn’t build it as big as they were trying to as it would have blocked access down the side of the house where there is a little passageway.

The result is that we now can’t see any of the extension from our lounge and the effect on light in out garden will be much less.
I feel sorry for my neighbour as they now have a much smaller extension than they wanted but I’m happy I kept calm, knew my rights but let things slide when I realised being a pain just wouldn’t help matters. The result is that we aren’t affected as much as we feared and we have kept on good terms with them, which will help us and whoever buys our house in the future. 😀

They probably think you grassed them up to the planners 🙂

Yeah, expect dead, burning cats to be posted through your letterbox at regular intervals 🙂

Nice to hear that the system works!

Suprised the planners didn’t pick that up earlier.

If the neightbours had employed an architect for drawings I’d be fairly annoyed they hadn’t thought of it either.

ctk – Member
They probably think you grassed them up to the planners
POSTED 3 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

We objected to their original permission for a massive extension they asked for and that was fine, they know that.
When I had a chat with the neighbour she said the planning dept was keeping a close eye on it and had said their new smaller plans were fine so it must be annoying for them to have to change their plans again. They should know it doesn’t have anything to do wth us. Benefits us, yes, but I think they know we are innocent!

After planning consent for the Behemoth was denied, did they seek a Certificate of Lawfulness for the new extension? It’s not really necessary, but if they didn’t, I suspect Building Control grassed them up to the planning dept…

Dunno, the neighbour said that planning had checked the new plans and said they were ok. So either planning changed their minds OR they weren’t given the full story by our neighbours/their builders/architects I suppose. I suspect by the way my neighbours have after its probably one of the latter options.

Yeah, expect dead, burning cats to be posted through your letterbox at regular intervals

Live burning cats would be worse.

^ Just cats posted through the letter box would be bad enough, they would be all broken, dead and leaking if they had to be squeezed through

Best to use bonsai kittens for this sort of thing

I suspect Building Control grassed them up to the planning dept…

In most LA’s they seem to share the same office space, and funnily enough speak about the projects they are working on.
We had a neighbor in Sheffield that had built an extension with no Planning. When the Building Control officer came to sign our works off, he spoke to a colleague in Planning – and ructions ensued.
Pleased for you OP, seems a good outcome.

I find it bizarre that people build stuff with no planning, especially if the building works would affect others who are obviously going to grass them up.

Asking building control to check the construction but not bothering with planning is double bonkers!

There was a telly peogramme recently about this with some really nice big houses getting knocked down – and some odd ones

http://www.surreymirror.co.uk/Eric-Pickles-overturns-inspector-s-recommendation/story-26302259-detail/story.html