Neighbours foundations

[lizzi]

My neighbour has just started his single storey extension at the back of his house (we are attached semis). He did show us the plans and got permission etc, and he is doing the work himself. Everything is fine with us, but today he has just started digging his foundations (his extension is coming out about 3 feet further than ours). I looked out the window and notice that he is on our patio drilling and digging down onto our patio! In other words, he has come over our side by about 3 feet long by about 1 foot deep (so he has actually encroached on our property by about 1 foot) to extend his foundations. Is this allowed legally without some sort of permission from us? I'm sure that the actual extension wall wont be on our side (hope not anyway!) but I'm so annoyed that he didn't even mention it or ask us. (I've been at home all day and he knows it) He is quite an arrogant man, so if I confront him about this, I want him to know that I know what I'm talking about! Can anyone help asap? Thanks!

[petal54]

try contacting citizans advice,they should be able to point you in the right direction,& hopefully,too,you can stay on friendly terms

[lizzi]

Thanks, I'll try that!

[terence7556]

what he is doing is wrong but to stop him short of a threat is hard or expensive, through the courts
google "party wall act"" and get some facts from there
in the meantime tell him to stop if you feel you want to, because you have not given him permission to come on your property

[The Builder]

He's obviously a discourteous plank Lizzi..............
Unless there are reciprocal rights over the two properties..............ie..you can each go on to the other's land for maintenance etc..............then , in law, he should ask your permission.
On a more practicable note.............ring the local district council, ask Building Control if you can speak to the Inspector dealing with the job, and tell him about it. In my experience, he'll be very interested................good luck

[buildersmate]

Terence is spot on.
Under no circumstances can he do this (except in the very unlikley event that he rights over your property to do this - The Builder's comments more generallly apply to rights to come onto neighbours land to maintain - not build new). Tell him to stop immediately.
Building Control will not (in my experience) want to get involved in what is a civil dispute between two neighbours.

[terence7556]

hi lizzi just remembered what happened in my case.
im in the middle of an extension and i used a party wall surveyor because my footings are within 600mm of my neighbours garage.
now the party wall act is an outline of how people should behave in this situation, having said that its not a lot of use for me because i did,nt want to damage my neighbours property, now or down the line. the act is for ******* like your neighbour who want to ride roughshod over behaving reasonably
im in the birmingham area and my surveyor told me its difficult to punish someone who ignores the rules (why does this sound familiar?) because a court in junction is so costly but with his knowledge and experience the cost is reasonable, so do you know anyone in your circle of friends or workmates who could help, perhaps a party wall surveyor
please be aware that you are delaying the unstoppable, because the extension will be built but it needs to be carried out in a way that is reasonable to you without damaging your home now or in the future
ps type in party wall act on this site
good luck

[lizzi]

Hi all! Thanks so much for all your advice. We did actually speak to the neighbour who said that it is on the plans for his wall to start just over my boundary line, and he said that if anyone needs to come over our side they would let us know instead of just helping themselves. He was courteous, so we felt we had to be as well, but this morning I went to the council for advice face to face. Very helpful people, saw planning dept, building control etc, who all said that it's now a civil matter. Offered me a look at the plans again, which I did, and what d'ya know? it is on the plans!! Planning man said not quite sure why they've done that but since I said at the time that the plans looked fine, it was all agreed. He said they didn't need any permission from us, specifically regarding encroachment on our land (by a bricks' width), on the other hand, they should have pointed this out to us on the plans, which they didn't. Moral of this story, don't agree to plans unless you have someone in the know looking at them with you!! Thanks again! X