Just a question

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on July 18, 2013 at 5:59

A good way to start would be to check if they have submitted a planning application.
http://www.planningservices.haringey.gov.uk/portal/servlets/Applica...
If not, give the duty planner a ring and describe the work to find out if permission is needed.
A call to Building Control (I would recommend calling before 10am) might also be useful.

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on July 18, 2013 at 17:43

Thank you, I will try these avenues.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler on July 18, 2013 at 10:34

This is Haringey. There's a 95% chance the "renovations" are both illegal and without any planning permission.

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on July 18, 2013 at 17:44

mmm...

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on July 18, 2013 at 17:46

Thank you very much for the advice. It's hard to communicate with the builder (I think he's the owner too but not sure) because he pretends not to be able to speak English properly. I don't want to get the Council involved in that way unless I have to because it's always best to stay peaceful! On the other hand they are really causing us one nuisance after another at the moment, so it's difficult to stay philosophical sometimes. Some of the problem relates to private land which is another headache because I think on issues of access/private land it's a civil matter and the council couldn't get involved even if they wanted to... from what I've read online. Unless it's antisocial behaviour maybe...

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Permalink Reply by A E Justice-Mills on July 20, 2013 at 20:20

You've not really said why you're concerned ... maybe just annoyed at a) noise b) mess c) blocking your view d) blocking your parking/access? I'm assuming you own where you live - if not, could be hard to get anything sorted if your freeholder isn't interested.

From experience, it's pretty hard for a builder/owner to know whether they are doing something legal or not, without submitting a planning application / getting Building Control involved. You might actually be doing them a favour if you do notify the council, as otherwise they might do the work and then find out it has to be taken down/reinstated.Two other things to consider: if the work is near your property, there may be a "party wall" issue (basically, they could be damaging your property by undermining it); if they are close to your living areas, there may be a "right to light" issue - that's really hard to determine.

Always worth writing to the neighbour: first just setting out the issues as you see them; if no response, mentioning your intention to seek advice from the council; last resort would be legal - give that to the council to do!

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