Neighbours' Extension Causing Us Difficulties In Selling Our Home

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some advice please.

About ten years ago my neighbours' built an extention onto their property; knocked down part of the dividing wall between both our homes; whilst re-building their extention on the lawn were the wall once stood.

My family and I were out of the country at the time and were completly unaware of the construction work being carried out. One year later we return and are confronted with with this sight.

We went through the system but got nowhere. We were starting to believe that we were being labelled as trouble makers so we did not pursue any further.

Now 2011, we have our home up for sale due to financial difficulties. So as you can gather we are looking for a quick sale. The auctioneer has raised concerns regarding the infamous extention and has also raised concerns about the peeling paint work on the extension exterior; that is clearly visable every day I open my hall door.

The neighbours' are not maintaining their building on my side. It has been ten years since it last saw a paint brush.

Does anybody have any advice on how we are going to see this pickle through to a conclusion?

Moved from Askaboutlaw to buying and selling homes.

OP,

With the best good will "re-building their extension on the lawn were the wall once stood" is a confusing statement.

If they -- then you should state all this.

They either trespassed onto your land or they did not not.

Otherwise there is very little relevant information on which to offer advice.

Allow me to ask a few questions - the most basic first, then the more difficult and involved ones - these may or may not shed light on the situation.

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Have you ever spoken to your neighbours directly about this wall and extension?

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Where is the extension built that you can see the wall from your hall door?

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Why haven't you given said wall a lick of paint?
Was this lack of maintenance a result of a breakdown in relations between you both?

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While they built the wall, they also seem to have demolished a party wall.
Why wasn't ownership of part of this wall claimed by you and/or transferred to you after the fact?
Why haven't you given the wall a lick of paint recently to improve the saleability of your home - its allegedly on your property now?

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What exactly are you alleging your neighbours have done and what steps have you taken to remedy it in the meantime?
The normal course of action is to allege a breach of planning law has taken place and to request enforcement action.

This occurred "about ten years ago", and so may come under the remit of the Planning and Development Act 2000.
If this is so you had seven years to purse an enforcement action with this local authority.
If this does not come under the said act, you had five years to purse the matter with the local authority.========================

Are you alleging trespass occurred without consent and that this compromised the planning permission or the work carried out as part of exempted development?
Did you write to your neighbors and the local authority alleging such trespass took place and requesting regularization under the planning acts and compensation or requesting demolition of the portion built on your property and reinstatement.
Was there an enforcement file opened in relation to the development and what was the outcome of the investigation?
Is it still ongoing?

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In relation to the history of events, why were you away from a property for a year - is this an investment property or a sole domicile?
If you knew you were going to be away for so long, why was there no-one keeping and eye on the property for you and alerting you to the works?
Surely you had a key-holder in place in case of a fire emergency or whatever and they were able to contact you.
You cannot build a significant extension in a weekend.
If someone did alert you, why did you not retain the services of a competent architect and or engineer to monitor the works and report back to you, having informed the neighbours that they would be fully liable for their fees?

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Apologies if this seems like a deluge, but these are just some of the questions arising in this instance.

I look forward to reading your responses.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

Thank you very much for taking the time to clarify and respond.

What exactly are you alleging your neighbours have done and what steps have you taken to remedy it in the meantime?
We are alleging trespass on our property without permission and knocking down the party wall without permission.
Did the extension have benefit of permission and did it comply with the terms of the permission or not?
Yes, they had benefit of permission. Knocking down of the party wall was not part of this permission.
Are you alleging trespass occurred without consent and that this compromised the planning permission or the work carried out as part of exempted development?
Yes.

Did you write to your neighbors and the local authority alleging such trespass took place and requesting regularization under the planning acts and compensation or requesting demolition of the portion built on your property and reinstatement.
Yes, both letters were written. The neighbours never replied and we were almost told to stop causing hassle by the council.

Was there an enforcement file opened in relation to the development and what was the outcome of the investigation?
There was an enforcement opened against the builders who subsequently went into liquidation.
Is it still ongoing?
No

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In relation to the history of events, why were you away from a property for a year - is this an investment property or a sole domicile?
We were working overseas.
We had a people renting the property. On our return I asked them what they had seen and they said the extension was up in a matter of weeks. They said they had witnessed the builders constantly trespassing on our property. They said they confronted them but were threatened with violence. They were scared to report it to the Guards.
It is our family home.

If some did alert you, why did you not retain the services of a competent architect and or engineer to monitor the works and report back to you, having informed the neighbours that they would be fully liable for their fees?
I admit this was negligence on our part.


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Where is the extension built that you can see it from your hall door?
We are an end of terrace house. So it is built on one side of our dividing wall.

Apart from the questions above, why haven't you given said wall a lick of paint?
We had been advised not to touch it in any way as this wall had become the property of the neighbours; even though it was in our garden, we were told by our solicitor it did not belong to us.

Was this lack of maintenance a result of a breakdown in relations between you both?
It was because we were told not to touch it and secondly because relations are now at an all time low.

While they built the wall, they also demolished what I understand to be a party wall.
Why wasn't ownership of part of this wall claimed by you and/or transferred to you after the fact?
This was never offered as an option. I know I am sounding like an idiot but we believed and were lead to believe that because of our delay in reactions, that these neighbours had claimed right of way to our property.

You are NOT sounding like an idiot - if threats were made, they should have been reported by your tenants and pursued.
Your tenants should have reported the matter to you post-haste when the planning application was lodged and at that point you would have been in a position to appoint an architect, solicitor or planning consultant.

Regardless of this you need to have the status of the building work determined at this time and see what the position is under planning law.
IMO the local authority may have erred in fact and in law in threatening enforcement action only on the builder, since the builder was the owner's agent, and not the owner, who likely was the prime mover and instructed the builder.

Your main problem to overcome in all of the is the silencio nolo contendere principle, which colloquially translates as "silence gives consent".

Equally Planning Law does not supersede the law of the land.
While planning permission may have been granted to build the extension (which may have clearly shown or implied the demolition of the party wall) it did not confer a right of trespass, not even to demolish and rebuild the exact same wall (if a smaller extension was envisaged, for example.

Currently the situation is muddied by what IMO appear to be very unwise provisions included in the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009.
This is only recently introduced, and may not directly govern any action you might take at this late stage or provoke the Council to take, but it certainly changes the goalposts.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2009/en/act/pub/0027/index.html

Chapter 3 refers.

I would question your solicitor's advice in this matter.
At the risk of wasting your money, I would get a second opinion.
If your title is registered rights over property aren't that easily established.

Judges tend to be reasonable people and IMO you will not effect a solution which involved taking down the wall or restoring the property to its original condition.
I think you could force an issue whereby the matter is regulated by a payment to your goodself and a contract to allow access by the owner to upkeep the wall and make good your property.
If you don't finalize such an agreement you may be plagued by this matter into the future even if you sell the property having surreptitiously painted the wall yourselves.

I also refer to your last post re your answer to my previous question that starts "If some did alert you..."
IMO it is difficult to see how you could have been negligent as you did not know about the matter until after the fact.

I'm sorry I cannot offer more advice or options, but it looks like a legal matter to me and I am neither a solicitor nor a barrister.
Please consider advising us on AAM how this matter is eventually resolved.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

Thank you very much. Your posts have been more than informative.

I will certainly keep this thread updated as to further steps taken.

This is probably a silly question in the midst of such a serious problem but non the less it was put to me by the estate agent we appointed and whom is aware we are eager for a quick sale.

She has given us a list of simple changes to be done to the exterior of the property, so as to veer potential buyers eyes away from the "wall" problem.

She has suggested we paint the famous "wall" the same colour as the rest of our home. It is currently the same colour as the neighbours property which is a million miles in contrast to the colour of the wall they built which is in my garden. You can imagine the array of colours I am talking about

So as silly as the question is but also as serious - do I paint it their color or ours?

WHile I am competent to comment on all matters in relation to buildings [and thanks for asking] in this case I would tend to defer to someone who is trained to sell houses and get the seller (you) the best price i.e. your estate agent.

IOW, if you are going to paint it, then why not paint in the same colour a the rest of your home?

Best of luck with the sale, and remember, where the matter is clearly evident (how can a prospective purchaser miss the extension?) I'm not aware that you have to say anything to draw attention to it as a material item affecting the sale particularly where there is a a planning permission apparently governing the building of the wall, although you should check with your solicitor on this.

I may turn out that you painting the wall may pave the way for good relations between you and your neighbours in the short term, and between them and the new neighbours in the future, as well as help you get the sale price you require.

ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

Just paint it in some colour that compliments your own property.

10 years is a long time, and you're literally wasting your time now trying to do anything about it.