Dispute over new loft conversion

[The Natural Philosopher]

if its an inch plane it off.

[Tim Watts]

It's a semi or attached house? Sorry, I missed that.

[Bert Coules]

It's a semi detached bungalow.

[DJC]

Usually the fence is owned by one or the other and sits on the owners land, so the outer face of the fence would be the boundary.

[Kipper at sea]

Is it the window or the soffit or fascia that causing the overhang. Is the loft roof a flat roof or pitched tiled.

[michael adams]

How does the dormer align with the one metre extension to your rear wall?

Assuming the neighbour didn't object to the extension

If you go to the bottom of your garden, and taking advantage of the 6-8 inches offered by the positioning of the fence can't you take a photo or series of photos one of which will be exactly at right angles to the back of your house ? Including both the extension as it abuts your back wall and the dormer window. Ideally you won't want any of the one metre side wall of the extension visible, but neither will you want the extension obscuring any of the back wall. And then blow them up on the 'puter and draw a vertical line aligned with the side of the extension and see how this aligns with the side of the dormer. If the dormer does or doesn't encroach should then be evident from the photo, and is worth establishing before proceeding further (in the event that it in fact does). In the event that it doesn't then print out the photo and show it to the neighbour or even invite him to take his own photo and check for himself.

michael adams

....

[Bert Coules]

I have tried that but the result isn't as clear-cut as I would have liked, partly because I can only get such a picture from the farthest point of the garden and at that distance, even with computer-aided enlargement, it's not easy accurately to mark the exact line of the border.

But I'll persevere. Thanks for the thought.

[Bert Coules]

There isn't a window in the side wall of the dormer. If there is an overhang it's caused by the decorative/protective cladding which was used instead of tiles. This stuff:

The loft roof is flat.

[Roger Mills]

Can you post some photos - with a link here - so we can get a better idea of what's what?

[Tim Watts]

That's tricky - I would consider legal advice asap. If it's overhanging the centre of the party wall line, it's likely to cause problems.

But first, measure it...

[michael adams]

If you choose an arial view in Google Streetview, assuming the two bungalows are identical in area then assuming this post dates the metre extension having been built, a screen capture and subsequently measuring and drawing lines should give some idea if how close the extension actually comes to the boundary.

Basically you first need to establish the facts. It might also be worth pondering, although not by asking him direct, how exactly the neighbour is so sure of "his" facts.

michael adams

...

[The Natural Philosopher]

well you can rip that lot off, tack some mesh and render...

[Brian Gaff]

Sounds like a job for a plumb line to me. Gravity seldom lies. However, whatever the outcome, you do not really want to have a neighbour with the hump next door so why not simply ask them what the remedy for them would be? Presumably they had the opportunity to view the plans before work started. If its not in accordance with those plans both of you have some grounds to bring back the builder and ask what gives. Brian

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bert Coules escribió:

A laser level, aimed vertically, on the party wall, at night?

Should be pretty definitive

[Robin]

You are not the first to have done that. And you can't serve a notice after the work has been done.

Where work has caused physical damage to a neighbour's property the Party Wall Act process can be used by agreement among the parties to sort it out. But I don't think that's much use to you at this stage - the more so as I assume that if you have encroached then a physical solution (ie rebuilding) is something you'd only want to contemplate after exploring legal routes such as a acquiring a "flying freehold".

The only suggestions I feel able to offer are:

a. if you seek a surveyor's advice on whether or not the work has encroached it might be worth engaging one who also works as a party wall surveyor; and

b. if you phone the RICS helpline (024 7686 8555) you should get some free advice - albeit of course advice which might involve engaging a RICS surveyor in addition to, if not instead of, a solicitor ;)

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Bert Coules escribió:

Try and resolve it amicably, because neighbour disputes have to be declared when selling a property and may adversely affect your ability to sell.

[Chris Hogg]

Can your neighbour tell just by looking that the window overhangs the boundary if you can't? Has he done some very careful measurements? Is that boundary so precisely defined on some plan somewhere? How do either of you know that it's not his boundary that has been encroaching on your property for the last umpteen years but you've not noticed or complained?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A plinth or whatever round the top of the window?

If the window goes right up to the boundary, the 'roof' to that window might well overhang into next door.

[Terry Casey]

You'd just love an extension that's been built near me!

Two identical pairs of semidetached houses. In the gap between the two, one has built an extension with a garage at ground level and bedrooms over.

I happened to glance at it the other night and something struck me as wrong. It is obvious that the new end wall exactly flanks the boundary line, so no problem there but the edge of the roof and guttering, etc. overhang the boundary line by several inches!

The extension was obviously built some time ago but, apart from any other consideration, I wonder what would happen if the neighbour wanted to build a mirror inage extension on his side of the boundary!

[Robin]

That depends on what if any legal rights the first to build obtained for the "trespass" of the gutters over the adjacent land. But very possibly there would be no particular difficulty as the new Party Wall Act notice/agreement could cover the current gutter being replaced by a valley gutter, and with the apportionment of the capital cost and the responsibility for maintenance/repair.