Neighbour to contest our proposed extension under the "Right to Light"

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

We have submitted planning permission to have an extension to the rear of our home, while doing that we thought is courteous to inform our neighbour. While the extension is larger than the average extension on our street by about 1m to 1.5m due to the canopy to protect the bi-fold doors. When we spoke to our neighbour and she said it was too high at 3.675m and too long at 6.737m. Our home is a semi detached, and the reason for the height is because there is a 0.375m drop into the existing dated conservatory, but we need to level that off by raising the rear of the extension by that much because the drop is not practical for us having the open plan area on 2 levels.

Our neighbour has said that she will contest under the "Right to light" act because she has lived there for 29 years, and that the sun will be obstructed by our extension but the entire rear of the building is east facing, so I am not sure how she came to that conclusion. What can I do? Any help and advice is appreciated.

Featured Answer

PRO

A McIntosh Photography

8 years ago

If the back of the houses are East facing it looks like you are on the southerly side and so their light would be coming past your house up until about midday.

From the plans it looks like you have a lot of internal rooms, could these not be incorporated into the extension room to create a smaller extension. I tend to see a lot of houses with new extensions where the owners hardly use the existing house.

Comments (16)

hortonhearsawho2013
8 years ago
Best to ask someone from the local council planning commission department. If it is going to cause a major row between you and your neighbour you'll have to weigh up the pros of having the house how you want against the cons of a cross neighbour who could make your life a misery... I don't like to say it but would it be easier to move?
Tani H-S
8 years ago
I think it would need to be a significant amount of light that she would have to lose for it to matter. Plus, I'm sure heard that there's no such thing as 'right to light' anymore (could be mistaken!)

You obviously don't want to get on the wrong side of your neighbour and fall out, but if you can prove it won't effect their light then they can have no other objection.

As the above comment, get the local planning officer around to have a look - they are very helpful. They did that in our last house as we also had the same issue.
Peter Abatan thanked Tani H-S
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puddinghouse
8 years ago
Right to light? You're not building a skyscraper. Could you do a computer mockup that would show the angles of the sun at different times of the day and in different seasons? My husband has a program that does that. Maybe she just needs to see something like that to calm her down. She also could be annoyed about any kind of change or worried about construction noise.
Peter Abatan thanked puddinghouse
milfordmaid
8 years ago
thank heavens I live in the middle of a field!
Jonathan
8 years ago
I expect the objection is not about light. Try to find out what she is concerned about but press ahead with planning anyway- I think her objection will be unsuccessful in stopping you.
longdogs
8 years ago
Sorry to say this but I feel part of living in a city is being aware and respectful of neighbours. Good on you for at least consulting them first. We are currently going though a very stressful similar situation but our neighbours are building. They did not give us the courtesy of even telling us and are selling one of the duplexes they are building, which happens to be the biggest and most imposing one & on our side. It is totally taking away our privacy, looking into our kitchen & living area and whole backyard. Plus the only outdoor eating area is only 1mtre from our deck off our kitchen. It is horrible, stressful and we feel we will be forced to sell our lovely home we have been in for 20 years. My advice is move - buy a house which suits your needs as your neighbour will hate you forever and object to everything they can. Not sure where you live but in Australia you have to get an architect/drafts person to draw up overshadowing plans. Please be nice to them, it is stressful and could cause them to become very ill.
Peter Abatan thanked longdogs
Rob
8 years ago
Right to Light is a very specific area of law and NOT a planning consideration in itself. The only thing the planners will consider is whether the extension will cause a loss of light or sunlight which would be cause adverse amenity to your neighbour. A simple loss is not enough, it has to be beyond a certain level to be considered unacceptable. Orientation will play a part in this consideration as will relative sizes. There is permitted development to extend to the rear in any event and this too should form part of the consideration. If i were you i would let them object and then put in written representations to contest their objection.
Peter Abatan thanked Rob
PRO
carvellassociates
5 years ago
I would advise speaking to a rights to light surveyor. I have modeled similar projects that demonstrate how light falls across a site, but this is not really quantitative. A good surveyor will have access to other software that helps with the assessment.
Daisy England
5 years ago
Probably sorted now carvellassociates. The post is 3 years old!
HU-556520790
4 years ago
It's probably still relevant to a lot of people so the advice could still be useful Daisy, I'm here reading it as we have a problem with a neighbours extension. I think people should stop with this extension nonsense and just buy a property that suits their needs. The family next door to us have a 5 bedroom house, they only have 2 children. Their plans indicated a flat roof but we see a pitched roof going up. We sit in the garden in summer on a patio and not we don't get any sun till about 3 o'clock in the afternoon now thanks to their extension and we have had building work noise for over a year 6 days a week whilst they live away from it waiting for it to be finished. The people that do this are incredibly selfish. Just like all the people that don't respect the social distancing right now. The UK is full of selfish people.
E D
4 years ago
The UK is not full of selfish people.

Indeed I see altruism and sacrifice.

I for one am grateful for all the hardworking people who risk their own lives to help others.

🙏
minipie
4 years ago
I know this is an old post but if you want a single floor level inside that doesn’t mean you have to have a very tall extension, instead you can accept having a lower ceiling height in the extension. We did this and it makes the extension far less imposing and helps zone the open plan area, plus allowing for a sloping skylight where the old house meets the extension to light the inner room. Please consider the size of your extension very carefully in urban areas.
Hugh Clinton
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I suggest that those who post comments such as "There's no such thing as a right to light", actually look it up before going on to speculate about other matters they know little or nothing about, Right to light DOES exist and it is what is known as an Easement, but it actually falls outside of planning law. Try googling "The 45-degree rule" as a starting place rather than wasting time reading what people who know nothing think. Daft recommendations based upon guesswork and insults about the appellant who it was suggested has a hidden agenda. Probably posted by rogue developers.
heatherxmike
last year
Thankyou for this info , we are currently havind such issues with our neighbours , the extesion is built & they are applying for retrospective parmission along with further planning permission ,most grateful 🙏🏼
HU-903736788
last year
A right to light does exist, its the 45 degree rule that Hugh mentioned. What you dont have is a right to a view. If you have submitted extension plans which adhere to the 45 degree rule and boundary rules, and they complain about their view, chances are your extension will still be approved

Neighbour to contest our proposed extension under the "Right to Light"

A McIntosh Photography

Comments (16)

hortonhearsawho2013

Tani H-S

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