Handling neighbourly matters is a major task for property surveyors as they seek to ensure that what developers or householders plan to do to extend or alter a building does not cause conflict and potential legal trouble with those living in adjacent properties.
This process can be aided by constraints such as the limits of permitted development rights, as well as the extra restrictions involved with a home being within a conservation area, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or a National Park.
However, the possibility of law changes making it easier to build extensions without planning permission could change this. The loosening of permitted development rights is something levelling up secretary Simon Clarke is very keen to implement, according to a report in the Times.
As the Daily Mail reports, such a step could allow measures such as building multi-storey extensions to a home without requiring planning permission. The paper reports that plan has sparked the ire of many Tory backbenchers, especially in rural seats, who have argued that it could create more neighbour disputes.
Greg Smith, a Conservative MP with a seat in rural Buckinghamshire, said: “This does have the potential to pit neighbour against neighbour as if we’re getting into the realms of an extra three-storey extension on the backs of houses.”
Steve Double, the member for the Cornish seat of St Austell and Newquay, said he appreciated what the plan aims to achieve, but said it should be “tempered with proper checks and balances so we protect the character of our rural and suburban communities.”
Even without a looser law there are cases of householders persistently seeking to expand their properties despite concerns about the impact on the area and the buildings themselves.
As Somerset Live reports, one case of this is that of a couple in Bath who are seeking to add a two-storey extension to their Georgian terrace, despite the building being Grade II-listed. Bath and North East Somerset Council had accepted a plan for a one-storey extension but not two. However, the owners have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.
