Maybe OT, how to go about appealing against a neighbours planning application

[Fred]

Not all SPIF forms are the same, either that or they have become far more onerous in the last couple of years.

[Al Reynolds]

There is a standard practice guide for conveyancers, so most use the same SPIF. I imagine it is updated every time a solicitor is sued for not spotting something they should have done.

Al

[Mike]

Not necessarily. We wrote "unknown, please make you own investigations" on most sections. As indeed did the person who sold us our latest property. Really depends on how desirable a property is and the state of the market.

Agreed. Fill it at your own risk. There was no way our vendor could fill it in so their solicitor gave me an off the record phone call and told me where to go and look in the council archives and then to make a decision based on that. In the end they purchased an insurance against the problems being discovered and the sale went through. But it did take nine months.

[Lobster]

Did your form include the same sort of questions as mine, which I listed elsewhere in this thread? eg "Have you received any complaints about anything you have, or have not, done as owner?"

If so, how on earth can you answer 'unknown' to those?

David

[Al Reynolds]

I think this is my point. Al

[John Anderton]

Except, of course, that no one has any "right" to a view whereas they do have a right to light

The only person who can appeal an application once it is granted is the applicant (unless proper procedures weren't followed and that's a tricky path to take)

or if the planning committee (local councilors) don't like it.

See above, appealing once the application has been granted is *not* the best way of stopping this. Making ones views known to the planning officers/planning committee is.

I don't believe objecting to a planning application can be classed as a dispute and since all correspondence is with the council, *not* the neighbour, it isn't with them anyway.

It's not a dispute. Everyone is quite entitled to express their views on any planning application they like. Council planning departments regularly notify affected householders of relevant applications expressly so they can make their views known.

Cheers,

John

[Al Reynolds]

I didn't say they had a right to a view. I said that losing a view would represent loss of amenity, which is one of the things considered in planning applications.

*Very few* people have any right to light.

Hence why I said to get views known now. By appeal, I meant protest, not a specific process of appeal, so you are undoubtedly correct on this point. You can challenge a planning decision through the courts.

They still have to justify it through convention or the local plan etc. They can't *just* refuse it because they don't like it - they have to find (or make up) a reason.

In this case, the OP can use this to their advantage, by finding some way in which the neighbours plans contravene the local structure plan or local planning conventions. The planning department would have a hard time approving the plans then.

Which is why I suggested the OP should get their views known now.

I don't recall saying that objecting to a planning application represented a dispute, but there a several ways this situation could end up as a dispute between neighbours.

It probably will become a dispute if the OP starts invoking party wall act etc. Also, the neighbour will probably guess why their application has been refused (if it is) and may decide to start their own dispute.

A dispute is a dispute even if you don't start it.

In my post, I suggested commenting on the application regardless of anyhting else. I wasn't suggesting that commenting on a planning application represented a dispute, but several of the possible ensuing situations could easily result in a dispute.

The OP needs to consider all the possibilities. One of which is to go back to their neighbour and express their concerns. They may be able to sort it out between them. If this is not the case then there is a strong likelihood that this situation will result in conflict between the OP and their neighbour at some point, unless the OP decides it's not worth the grief and just lets them have their extension.

The decision about whether it's worth the grief or not depends on how bad it's actually going to be with a higher wall on their back yard.

Al