Extending our home within an odd plot

[Liz1303]

Hi,
We live in a busy city where space is limited and have a bit of an odd shaped house, we’d love to extend it somehow but the orientation/layout makes it a bit tricky. I’m hoping someone out there might be kind enough to offer some advice!

We’re a semi detached corner house, originally it was supposed to be one large house but it was split at the last minute. Our neighbours house is at the front, and we’re tucked round the back/to the side and encased by our garden.
I’ve attached a (pretty awful) sketch to explain.

The council have said our only chance to extend would be as shown by the dashed line on the drawing. This would mean the extension would need to be built against neighbour number 2’s garage wall and incorporate our garage which is attached to neighbour number 1’s garage.

I had a few questions:

-if planning allowed, could we extend into our garage when it’s attached to our neighbours?
It’s currently a single brick construction, so we’d need to knock it down and have proper foundations built etc etc. I just wasn’t sure if this could be done when attached to another single brick garage?

-if allowed, and obviously involving all neighbours in the process to ensure legalities are met and everyone’s happy. Would the surrounding garages risk the extension becoming damp? They all currently suffer from damp due to a gap between them.

We’d of course only ever move forward with this if all neighbours were happy (we know them pretty well and wouldn’t want to cause any issues for them). We’d just love more space but moving would be far too expensive in this area.

Thanks!

 

[Murdochcat]

I would spend some money and get plans drawn up, then talk them through with your neighbour.

There are some hurdles to jump and if your neighbours don’t want to help you there is nothing that you can do to force them. You would have no automatic access to their property

 

[Liz1303]

Thanks for taking a look, when you say “automatic access”, what does that mean?
We would be proposing to build our extension in place of our existing garage and against their garage wall.

 

[Mottie]

I would spend some money and get plans drawn up, then talk them through with your neighbour.

I’d be tempted to talk to the neighbours first and see if you could get them onside before you spent out having plans drawn up.

 

[Liz1303]

Thanks for the replied.
Before we speak to them or move any further with it, I’m trying to work out if it’ll be possible to have a “proper” extension built against 2 single skim walls without the extension suffering damp.
It might be a silly question!

 

[johnny2007]

Why would you build against the neighbours wall?
I would avoid that so to have an independent extension.
What are the measurements in that sketch?
If you write them we might have a better idea of space.
Agree with mottie regarding speaking with neighbours first.
If you stay off their walls, you might be able to build under permitted development.

 

[Liz1303]

Our garage is currently attached to both the other neighbours garages

we’d be turning just ours into a habitable room (probably knocking down and rebuilding) and joining the house to the garage via an extension in the garden. I was concerned that If we left a gap in between the other garages it would cause damp issues for all.

I’ve added a couple of measurements and highlighted in yellow what would become our house, if we extended into the garden, adjoining the house to the garage.

Thanks guys

 

[johnny2007]

If you leave a gap there will be ventilation, so less risk of damp, providing the gap is kept clear.

 

[Liz1303]

I think the garages current situation needs to remain the same regarding being attached to the others. We wouldn’t get planning to detach it where it’s road facing.

 

[^woody^]

On paper that looks possible in principle either via permitted development with some adjustment, or via a full planning application with a conforming design.

You need some local plan designers to advise you on the options and possibilities in context of the local planning policies and site constraints. Get a few to come out and give an initial opinion.

Remember, don't get bogged down in design or details. You tell them what you need or want to acheive and your build budget, and let them interpret it to what would be permitted, and what you can have for the money you want to spend.

 

[Murdochcat]

Just be aware YOU will have to pay for party wall agreements with both of the other garage owners

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Please reach out to me if you need a quote

Could I have something profound please?