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- 21 Jun 2022
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Hi.
First time posting here; sorry if this is the wrong section; and sorry also for my terrible diagram - I'm still looking into something a bit more professional - suggestions welcome! (If you don't want to read my waffle, skip to the bold bits).
We've been throwing ideas around on ways to gain a dedicated office, and possibly a 2nd shower room. We have a double garage and half of that could be put to better use. It's not joint to the house though, and we'd like to integrate it somehow, if we're able to covert it.
Neighbour "One" saw me discussing with a builder friend whilst taking a few measurements and giving it some thought .. Of course, he asked what I was up to. We get on quite well so I talked to him a bit about it and said I would like to convert half the garage into an office space, but don't think there is enough of an "overlap" between the back of the garage and the front of the house to build a passageway, and I might have to resolve that by bringing out the front a bit as a single storey extension (if Planning Permission would allow it - I have no idea). He mentioned something about not being allowed to build out that way "due to an agreement" he had with the previous owner(s). I assumed he's talking about covenants. I've already checked mine, but couldn't find anything relevant.
Anyway, he made it quite clear he'd object if I were to put in a proposal for the potential extension, but wouldn't really give me any indication of exactly what his concerns are, except for this "agreement". I said, I'd be very interested to read it if he were able to find it. I've included the locations of the immediate 3 neighbours to give some context.
So, I guess my questions are :
A) This is building out the front (so I expect planning permission will be more picky) - but not up to the extent of the existing garage wall (I had considered that option to begin with, but can't work out how to make the roof work well and not look awful; plus I don't think we need to go that big to get what we need). We have a fair sized front garden (I haven't measured exactly) and we're only planning to extend over < 20% of it. The "road" passing the front of our house, isn't technically a public highway - it's Neighbour One's property (covenants state we have access to our front path by foot). I'm not sure if that's relevant, but I read somewhere there's certain rules that apply only if the house faces onto a public highway. I know I need a more detailed plan, but if / when I manage to get that, or pay a pro, Is it likely that these plans would be approved?
B) Neighbour One will clearly object to this. I doubt N2 or N3 will, but I would probably talk to them before I submit anything.... What (if any) grounds would N1 have to object? I really can't think of anything other than "I don't want you to". Of course, if there are valid restrictions / covenants stopping me, then I'll scrap the whole idea. If he objects the planning application - do you think it would hold any weight? If it's rejected on the grounds of his complaint, I'll probably have to move move (and rent out this house - I'm sure he won't like the sound of that
). But... I can't really see any valid points - it's not like this would block light, or access, or be detrimental to the environment, and his "view" at the moment is the back of my garage anyway - about 15 to 20 meters away.
As for the attached diagram, I shall try to explain : the light blue box is the proposed extension, the triangle on the left is my attempt to show how the roofs would join up. (cross gable). The dashed line is the existing rear garage wall (and planned location of the internal door). I'd much rather build the office on the "south" side (it's not actually south but you get what I mean) as 1. there is already a window on that side, 2. I can't put a window on the other side, as that's another neighbour's garden, 3. I still want to be able to access the remaining half of the garage from the back garden (there's already a door on "north" end of the rear wall). This would basically mean bringing out the front of the living room by 2m (There's already a ~1m bay window at present anyway, which would be removed), and allowing a side door to access the new office. There would still be ~1.5m of rear garage wall visible. The smaller part of the extension (sandwiched between the house and garage) would still be external - the roof more like a storm shelter, mostly for aesthetic reasons, so when looking at the back of the extension you don't just see tall slab sided brick wall, and it adds a bit of symmetry (hope that makes sense).
Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts welcome. Many thanks.
First time posting here; sorry if this is the wrong section; and sorry also for my terrible diagram - I'm still looking into something a bit more professional - suggestions welcome! (If you don't want to read my waffle, skip to the bold bits).
We've been throwing ideas around on ways to gain a dedicated office, and possibly a 2nd shower room. We have a double garage and half of that could be put to better use. It's not joint to the house though, and we'd like to integrate it somehow, if we're able to covert it.
Neighbour "One" saw me discussing with a builder friend whilst taking a few measurements and giving it some thought .. Of course, he asked what I was up to. We get on quite well so I talked to him a bit about it and said I would like to convert half the garage into an office space, but don't think there is enough of an "overlap" between the back of the garage and the front of the house to build a passageway, and I might have to resolve that by bringing out the front a bit as a single storey extension (if Planning Permission would allow it - I have no idea). He mentioned something about not being allowed to build out that way "due to an agreement" he had with the previous owner(s). I assumed he's talking about covenants. I've already checked mine, but couldn't find anything relevant.
Anyway, he made it quite clear he'd object if I were to put in a proposal for the potential extension, but wouldn't really give me any indication of exactly what his concerns are, except for this "agreement". I said, I'd be very interested to read it if he were able to find it. I've included the locations of the immediate 3 neighbours to give some context.
So, I guess my questions are :
A) This is building out the front (so I expect planning permission will be more picky) - but not up to the extent of the existing garage wall (I had considered that option to begin with, but can't work out how to make the roof work well and not look awful; plus I don't think we need to go that big to get what we need). We have a fair sized front garden (I haven't measured exactly) and we're only planning to extend over < 20% of it. The "road" passing the front of our house, isn't technically a public highway - it's Neighbour One's property (covenants state we have access to our front path by foot). I'm not sure if that's relevant, but I read somewhere there's certain rules that apply only if the house faces onto a public highway. I know I need a more detailed plan, but if / when I manage to get that, or pay a pro, Is it likely that these plans would be approved?
B) Neighbour One will clearly object to this. I doubt N2 or N3 will, but I would probably talk to them before I submit anything.... What (if any) grounds would N1 have to object? I really can't think of anything other than "I don't want you to". Of course, if there are valid restrictions / covenants stopping me, then I'll scrap the whole idea. If he objects the planning application - do you think it would hold any weight? If it's rejected on the grounds of his complaint, I'll probably have to move move (and rent out this house - I'm sure he won't like the sound of that
). But... I can't really see any valid points - it's not like this would block light, or access, or be detrimental to the environment, and his "view" at the moment is the back of my garage anyway - about 15 to 20 meters away.As for the attached diagram, I shall try to explain : the light blue box is the proposed extension, the triangle on the left is my attempt to show how the roofs would join up. (cross gable). The dashed line is the existing rear garage wall (and planned location of the internal door). I'd much rather build the office on the "south" side (it's not actually south but you get what I mean) as 1. there is already a window on that side, 2. I can't put a window on the other side, as that's another neighbour's garden, 3. I still want to be able to access the remaining half of the garage from the back garden (there's already a door on "north" end of the rear wall). This would basically mean bringing out the front of the living room by 2m (There's already a ~1m bay window at present anyway, which would be removed), and allowing a side door to access the new office. There would still be ~1.5m of rear garage wall visible. The smaller part of the extension (sandwiched between the house and garage) would still be external - the roof more like a storm shelter, mostly for aesthetic reasons, so when looking at the back of the extension you don't just see tall slab sided brick wall, and it adds a bit of symmetry (hope that makes sense).
Sorry for the long post. Any thoughts welcome. Many thanks.
- I want to avoid conflict if I can help it (but, I'm not sure I care about that anymore)