Planning permission and my rights

[Neil]

My next door neighbour is planning some major alterations to his house. Most of this, i understand won't affect us but he wants to place a dormer on the back of his roof. Both of our houses have panaromic views from the attic rooms through velux windows which overlook the city. If he continues and puts this dormer in place, about 1/3 of our view will disappear unless we follow suit and also have a dormer.

My concerns are this: As it is the back of the building, is it likely that planning permission would be refused? Will the council care that he is blocking out part of the view from the neighbours house (namely us!) or does this simply not matter to them? (Admittedly, it is our attic room, but the room will eventually be turned into a bedroom)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[TP]

It would be preferable to resolve this potential dispute directly with your neighbour rather than via the planning process.

[Dave Slee]

Dormer on rear might not even need planning permission (check with council). Dormers on rear are more likely to be approved that dormers on front (no effect on the public street scene).

You do not have a 'right' to a view, and any objection based on those grounds has to be ignored by the council. By the same token, your neighbour can plant a tree and totally block your view, and you can do nothing to stop this.

I'm guessing that your velux rooflights are not original and were added to the house at some point - in which case the original house never had that view across the city anyway.

Best bet is for you to follow suit, as you suggest, then at least you will be no worse off view-wise.

Issues the council will consider (if it needs planning permission) are likely to be only: design/appearance, effect on privacy (velux rooflights are usually harder to look out of because they are in the slope of the roof, and often above the height at which a normal window would be placed).

[mrcheerful]

like he said, plus it may be very much cheaper to get both houses converted at the same time, as the scaffolding etc. will already be there.

mrcheerful

[N. Thornton]

plus this may be your one opportunity to do such work without your neighbour saying no.

Regards, NT

[Neil]

stop this.

Thanks Mr. Cheerful and TP - the house is probably worth a few thousand squids more because of the panoramic view - my concern is that any intrusion on the view may lose value off the property.

Anyhow, if he goes ahead and we can't stop him, we'll just have to join him. Anyone know the average cost of installing a dormer????

N