Hi Folks,
I hope some of you can advise me on this situation:
My mum lives in a small detached house, (built 1976) where the neighbours
driveway runs the full length of one side of her house. The neighbours are
going to apply for planning permission to have a 2 storey extension built on
the side of their house i.e. in their driveway, which will be the full
length and height of their own house, and the maximum width of the driveway,
leaving a gap of around 6 inches between their house and my mums. This will
mean that the whole of the wall on one side of my mums house will be
completely inaccesible. The roof of the proposed extension will slope down
towards my mums house and finish under her eaves. Mum has a Gas CH boiler in
an upstairs room, on the side facing their property with a flue out into
their driveway.
My mum gets on OK with them and they have been round to tell her about their
proposed plan, and also to ask if she would consider moving the flue, at
their expense, so that they can build as close as possible up to her wall.
As far as I can see, this won't be possible as if the flue was moved any
higher, it would be too close to the eaves, therefore the boiler would have
to be moved to the other side of the house, which is acceptable to us, and
it would actually be better over the other side. *However*, I am not happy
with the fact that the whole of that wall will then be inaccesible for ever.
What happens if any maintenance is needed to that wall in the future? Or if
there is ever a damp problem? This makes the whole project a no-goer as far
as I am concerned, it worries me greatly but then I am not the expert;-)
An identical house around the corner has just had such an extension built,
completely covering one side of their neighbours house, with a tiny gap
between, so it must be possible under building regs. And even if my mum did
object, the council might not necessarily refuse the application anyway. So
we are in a quandry. I am going to contact the planning dept at the council
and see what they have to say, but I would appreciate any
information/advice/experiences as to whether you think not having access to
the wall is a problem in any way.
Thanks in advance,
Sue B