When getting a loft conversion in London, you must comply with regulatory requirements to avoid problems and hassle later on. Here is a case of Caroline and her neighbour who got into a dispute due to a loft extension.

Caroline Attfield, a homeowner in Welwyn Garden City, Herts, is at war with her neighbour. She claims that her next-door neighbour’s dormer isn’t built correctly. She says it was built 111mm onto the roof of her three-bed house. Before she made this claim, she used a laser beam for measurements. Then she claimed that this extension was illegal and not according to plan.

The surveyors probed deeper into this matter, and they drafted a report on it. According to the report, the dormer “straddles the centreline of the party wall (a shared property boundary) but does not overhang the extent.” The opposing party backs her claim, saying that she and her husband followed precise measurements when constructing and made sure that they went by the book.

Nevertheless, Caroline persists that what they have done is wrong. She is quite frustrated and keeps protesting that despite her regular complaints, the council hasn’t done anything about it yet.

Caroline is adamant that the claims her neighbours keep making are false and that it is pretty evident just by looking at it from the naked eye that the extension is up to 111mm over her property. She claims that while the initial plans were according to permitted development standards, her neighbours didn’t follow the original plans. She continues to fight her case and is adamant about her stance.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council was the one to approve the loft and kitchen extensions. The main issue is that the two houses have a shared boundary of 25mm thick and 125mm on each side. Both sides are claiming that this boundary between them allows them to undertake certain developments. However, Caroline’s neighbour insists that her extension is in line with the report and does not infringe on the next door’s house since they have shared ownership of the wall. She also goes as far as saying that if Caroline got an extension like that, she would have no issues with that.

The neighbour also says that Caroline has had issues with everything they have done in their house for the past few years and never lets any instance go to waste when picking a fight against them. Caroline fights her case, saying that this has been the primary reason why she lost two sales of her property.

From this case, it is evident that loft extensions like these always have to be planned out properly to avoid disputes like these later on. It is always better to be on the safe side and have everything planned out beforehand. Conflicts like these can go on for many years, causing unnecessary hassle and losses. Therefore, adequate planning and getting the required permissions should be prioritised when planning to do loft conversions in London.

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