Neighbour building huge shed...help

fivefour

Hey guys,

I was just looking for some advice. I recently moved into a relatively new housing estate and the neighbours at the back of our house have started to built a huge shed-like structure at the end of their garden, at the back fence.

The shed is about 12 ft tall (but their back garden is raised higher as the gardens are sloped so the structure looks even bigger from our side) and looks TERRIBLE (grey bricks and shabby looking). It literally covers our whole back garden fence and is all we see from our sitting room window which is towards the back of our house. Moreover, the structure will also block all sun light (we only get it at the end of the garden normally)and means we will have no sun in summer in the back garden...

Can anyone let me know if we have a case to object to the structure? Everyone who sees it comments that it was devalue our house as it looks awful and i'm worried about this,

Thanks,

BryanF

fivefour wrote: »

Hey guys,

I was just looking for some advice. I recently moved into a relatively new housing estate and the neighbours at the back of our house have started to built a huge shed-like structure at the end of their garden, at the back fence.

The shed is about 12 ft tall (but their back garden is raised higher as the gardens are sloped so the structure looks even bigger from our side) and looks TERRIBLE (grey bricks and shabby looking). It literally covers our whole back garden fence and is all we see from our sitting room window which is towards the back of our house. Moreover, the structure will also block all sun light (we only get it at the end of the garden normally)and means we will have no sun in summer in the back garden...

Can anyone let me know if we have a case to object to the structure? Everyone who sees it comments that it was devalue our house as it looks awful and i'm worried about this,

Thanks,

take pictures, approx measurements and contact your local authority planning department. excessive height/ oversized structure is a better argument than devaluation, scroll down to schedule 2 for details of exempted development

if your not happy to do this yourself, get an architect or arch tech/ engineer in to help
best of luck

Mellor

Bryan, pretty big assumption that the guy is goign the route of exempt delevelopment. If its outside the limits of ED, then there's a chance that he has planning (I am aware that this may not be the case either).

OP, first of all check has the structure got planning.
If it has, then roughty measure to see if it is built in accordance with approved plans.
If it hasn't, then check if it is within the limits of exempted development, posted above.

If it is over the size of what ever one of these is applicable then, contact the local council.

D500B

is it an option to simply ask him to sink it lower into the ground - won't be so high then.

If he/she is agreeable then could save everyone and lot of time/money.

PS could also out some ivy etc on it once it is a bit lower.

Of course the the guy is a knob after you've been reasonable then you can object away without feeling guilty

BryanF

Mellor wrote: »

Bryan, pretty big assumption that the guy is goign the route of exempt delevelopment. If its outside the limits of ED, then there's a chance that he has planning (I am aware that this may not be the case either).

OP, first of all check has the structure got planning.
If it has, then roughty measure to see if it is built in accordance with approved plans.
If it hasn't, then check if it is within the limits of exempted development, posted above.

If it is over the size of what ever one of these is applicable then, contact the local council.

great whoppers of assumptions including that the OP would be more inclined to get the planning department to do the planning search on his/her behalf:)

Mellor

D500B wrote: »

is it an option to simply ask him to sink it lower into the ground - won't be so high then.

If he/she is agreeable then could save everyone and lot of time/money.

PS could also out some ivy etc on it once it is a bit lower.

Of course the the guy is a knob after you've been reasonable then you can object away without feeling guilty

not realy possible considering it already built

Carlow52

fivefour wrote: »

Hey guys,

The shed is about 12 ft tall (but their back garden is raised higher as the gardens are sloped so the structure looks even bigger from our side) ....

For what it is worth I fell foul of the ED height rule with Dublin CoCo back in 1982 as the ED height was measured from his side, he was 9" lower than me so I had to take a row of blocks off.

OP time is of the essence here if the job is still in progress so u need to get down to the CoCo asap.

If it gets finished in the current climate CoCos seem more focussed on charging fines for breaches and then more planning fees for retention than forcing reduction / removal.

I have a neighbours window in a new extension 450 mm from my garden wall. The planning app showed a meter.

CoCo says if I object he will get retention so why be ar$ed

picorette

Fivefour, if the building is approx. 12 feet which is 3.5 metres, it may well be within the exempted development guidelines (4m for a pitched roof structure). Anyway check his development against the guidelines and if you have any doubt, contact the Building Control section of your local authority, who will ask you to put something in writing. One thought is that if it is blocking the sun / view in your garden so much, you may have a small back garden, and if he does similarly, he may have infringed the requirement for 25 square metres open space to remain.

If you do contact Building Control, they will initiate an investigation. Chase up their progress regularly, as they are more likely to act quickly if they know someone is on the case.

If you do in the end, find out that it is legal, then it is time to come up with some creative planting. There are many properties with similar situations, 3/4 metre walls and it is not an insurmountable problem. You could even build your own shed / garden room....