Estending a shared bounday extension

jimmycrackcorm

I was wondering if anyone can show some light on rights or tribulations of the following scenario.

We shared a normal wooden fence between ourselves and our neighbours. They asked us about building an extension where they could extend the defacto house shared wall inline out for the extension. Essentially half the extension wall is in their garden and half in ours. Basically a party wall.

We agreed because we wanted to be good neighbours but didn't realize at the time that it would cut way part of our property ( they made it sound like our side would be put back the way it was after building). Once they started to build, it became apparent that this wouldn't be the case but we just didn't want to be bad neighbours and tbh can live with the way it is.

Now FFW and we are also thinking of doing an extension. If it was a case of simply doing the same area as they did, then we would have a party wall to use and that would be fine. however, we want to build a short distance further than theirs. So the question is, have they set the precedent that we have a shared boundary that means our extra length can also take into account the equivalent shared area?

If we ask the same of us can they refuse based on the fact that they built on our side? There is no written agreement and a verbal agreement that was based on them promising that our side would be left the way it was which it is visibly not the case.

mrs.doubt.fire

Unfortunately verbal agreements are not worth the paper they are not written on as it then becomes a case of ''he said, she said''. Those situations can get nasty very quickly.

When you say they built on your side, do you mean they built on your property no matter how small, and over stepped the mark of the boundary between both houses/back gardens ? They can not do that! IF they did, it will cause problems for both you and them IF either or both of you later decide to sell up and move. However...I'm having trouble why any builder would just go ahead and build on someone else's land in the first place. Surely you saw them digging and laying the foundations and you knew it was on your side, you should have said something there and then.

Yes you were the good neighbor because you said nothing and let them do as they pleased, however they were not good neighbors as they took liberties and over stepped the boundary mark. Me thinks they will ignore you and not fix this in a nice manner.

mrs.doubt.fire

mrs.doubt.fire wrote: »

Unfortunately verbal agreements are not worth the paper they are not written on as it then becomes a case of ''he said, she said''. Those situations can get nasty very quickly.

When you say they built on your side, do you mean they built on your property no matter how small, and over stepped the mark of the boundary between both houses/back gardens ? They can not do that! IF they did, it will cause problems for both you and them IF either or both of you later decide to sell up and move. However...I'm having trouble why any builder would just go ahead and build on someone else's land in the first place. Surely you saw them digging and laying the foundations and you knew it was on your side, you should have said something there and then.

Yes you were the good neighbor because you said nothing and let them do as they pleased, however they were not good neighbors as they took liberties and over stepped the boundary mark. Me thinks they will ignore you and not fix this in a nice manner.

In fairness, it comes down to the neighbours, really.

I'm pretty much the OP's neighbour in this thread. I built an extension and (with permission, of course) I knocked the garden wall between properties and turned it into the wall on my house/extension.

I did it for two reasons, being that I hated the way when people didn't do this, there was always like a 6 inch dead gap between the house and party wall, and secondly because i wanted the floor space.


However, I fully expect that if the neighbour ever decides to extend, then my extension wall will also become their extension wall. Truth be told, I don't care if they extend further, so long as it doesn't mean demolition of my own (I realise the roof would be interfered with and we'd likely end up joining our roof to make a single large roof or such).


OP, talk to your neighbours. They likely won't care. A lot of people are very caught up in their property and get really wound up by small things, but a lot of people just want a quiet life and will do what they can to help out. Not everyone bought their house just so they could sell it. Many are happy to stay put until they're in a coffin, and your neighbour probably won't care if you extend out a mile down the road.

They'll just want to know how it'll impact them. The only thing you'll have to do is patch up and fix any damage done to their house (ie if you've to pull up their roof or break their gutter, etc.) but i presume (maybe wrongly) you'll have saved a few euro by being able to use the wall they already built for their extension.

Just tell them you're planning an extension of X size and give them a heads up. All smiles and sunshine. Don't go in ready for a fight. :P

jimmycrackcorm

Deleted User wrote: »

However, I fully expect that if the neighbour ever decides to extend, then my extension wall will also become their extension wall. Truth be told, I don't care if they extend further, so long as it doesn't mean demolition of my own (I realise the roof would be interfered with and we'd likely end up joining our roof to make a single large roof or such).

Just tell them you're planning an extension of X size and give them a heads up. All smiles and sunshine. Don't go in ready for a fight. :P

Pretty much this is the scenario. In all likelihood, they may give us the same leeway that we gave them. They were extending an existing room out and wanted to keep the same floor width all the way out.

If we were to build the same size extension then there would be absolutely no issue as basically, one wall would be in place and as a party wall, it wouldn't interfere with their roof. However, I'm still curious if there is some principle that once a party wall straddles part of the dividing line - does this mean the remaining dividing line is effectively the width of the new shared wall?

Calahonda52

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

... However, I'm still curious if there is some principle that once a party wall straddles part of the dividing line - does this mean the remaining dividing line is effectively the width of the new shared wall?

While your description in the first post is a bit hard to follow, the answer to the above is NO. Can you throw up a sketch or a picture?

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2009/act/27/enacted/en/print#part8-chap3

for boundary work