Dispute over new loft conversion

I live in a semi-detached bungalow. My neighbour has complained that the dormer window of my new loft conversion overhangs the boundary between our properties because it hasn't been built in exact accordance with the plans.

I can't judge the position visually - the overhang, if it does actually exist,must I think be extremely small - but I'm uncertain as to the best way to proceed. The neighbour has asked that I raise the matter with both the builder and the architect and I'm quite willing to do so, but it seems to me that the architect isn't really involved and the builder is hardly the most unbiased person to pass judgement on the situation.

Isn't it up to my neighbour to prove his contention? If so, I assume this would take more than just his word on the matter and a visual inspection. I doubt the builder would accept anything less than an independent surveyor's report, and in fact neither would I.

But I'd be grateful for any comments. Many thanks.

Reply to
Bert Coules
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If the window overhangs the boundary presumably you have also encroached upon your neighbour's loft space?

I think he is just out to cause a nuisance.

Reply to
Mark Allread

That's possible, but it doesn't diminish the fact that his causing a nuisance could be, well, a nuisance.

He's claiming that the incursion over the boundary has affected both the value and the ease of reselling of his property.

Reply to
Bert Coules

How can a window overhang the boundary unless you have also gone into his loft space?

Reply to
Mark Allread

Get some light string and a weight. Fix the string with tape to the outside of the dormer (the point nearest your neighbour) and adjust the length so the weight is on the boundary line. Once it stops swinging If it falls on your side no problem, if it is on the neighbours side you have a problem. You don't need a surveyor at this time.

Reply to
Peter Parry

That certainly hasn't happened. But his contention is that it's the outer surface of the timber construction (Marley Cedral cladding) which is over the border.

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As I said, if the overlap *is* there it's pretty minimal. His argument seems to be that an inch (or even a fraction of an inch) is as good - or rather as bad - as a mile.

Reply to
Bert Coules

Thanks for the suggestion but that can't be done, I'm afraid. There isn't a clear vertical drop down from the edge (or even the rear corner) of the dormer because it's set back from the rear walls of both properties.

Besides, isn't it up to him to prove that there's an overlap, rather than to me to prove that there isn't?

Reply to
Bert Coules

I find this difficult without photo or plans but:

a. did you serve notice in accordance with the Party Wall Act?

b. what precisely did that specify as regards the alignment of the new window?

c. did the neighbour exercise the right to a Party Wall Surveyor (possibly shared with you) and if so what did the agreement at the end of that specify?

Reply to
Robin

Again, hard to judge without photos or plans but if the 2 houses started off as mirror images of one another a simple test is this.

Could you neighbour carry out *exactly* the same conversion as you (with mirror inversion) to *exactly* the same position on the party wall as you?

If not, then I suspect your builder may have gone beyond the centre line of the party wall and you need to see if you had permission to do so.

Reply to
Robin

That's a very interesting point. I shall take another look, bearing that in mind. Thanks.

Reply to
Bert Coules

Unfortunately, this wasn't done, initially because the neighbour declared that "we shouldn't be bothered with all that" and latterly (when I fully intended to send him at least an informal letter outlining my intentions) because it was simply overlooked.

Reply to
Bert Coules

Exactly. Can you draw a diagram of how the window and your two houses are arranged. How can either of you measure the exact position of the boundary line / party wall? Is the fence between you exactly on the boundary, and if so, is the boundary deemed to be half-way through the thickness of the posts, or along the line of the fence which is on one side of the fence posts.

If the boundary line is a half-way along a brick on the wall, how reliably can either of you measure the exact extent of your window by projecting lines back to this reference brick?

Reply to
NY

I might be able to put a photo online but I haven't yet sorted out a replacement for Photobucket; I'll see.

I think he's calculating the position of the boundary based on the distance between the two closest adjacent rear windows in our back walls. The window openings were 4.5 brick-widths apart, so the boundary is presumably at the

2.25 brick-width position.

This is complicated now though because the rear wall of my bungalow has been moved backwards into the garden by a metre and the new window openings are quite different. But photos exist of the old wall in place.

No. The fence, for some reason, is some 6-8 inches his side of the boundary (if the 2.25 bricks calculation is correct).

Until all this business started I never looked closely at the placing of the fence and automatically assumed that it accurately marked the boundary. I do wonder now if the builders made the same assumption and took the fence as a datum line for locating the newly-moved wall and therefore the dormer too. If so it doesn't necessarily mean that there is an overlap but it would place both wall and dormer closer to the boundary line than in the plans.

Reply to
Bert Coules

Can you hang a plumbline off the furthest point? Or use a plumb-laser off the ground?

How certain is the boundary?

Reply to
Tim Watts

He *might* be right if a potential buyer noticed it and questioned.

Flying freeholds (where they exist) cause no end of trouble.

Reply to
Tim Watts

If you did overhang the space by accident, either make the builder remedy (hard and expensive) or offer to buy a slither of land off the neighbour (at the builder's expense)?

The latter would be a solid solution *if* there was a breach.

You'd have to expect to pay the neighbour's legal costs too.

Reply to
Tim Watts

How long do you want this to drag on for? And do you like paying lawyers?

If he's right, you would do well to fix the problem asap (and offering to buy an inch of land off him or whatever the transgression is) would be a sensible solution.

Reply to
Tim Watts

That may have been a poor move - because now he's moaning.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Thanks for this and your other replies. Acquiring a sliver of land and therefore moving the boundary might actually be a workable solution, if he's right (and willing, of course).

Reply to
Bert Coules

But if your loft overhangs his side of the boundary and you move the boundary, won't that mean that his downstairs then extends onto your side of the boundary?

Either way, if upstairs doesn't match downstairs you may end up with a flying freehold, which conveyancing solicitors hate.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

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