Homeowner Upset By Neighbour's Extension That Almost Touches His House

A man has been left unable to access the side of his house after his neighbour erected a 'bizarre' extension that extends to just a couple of inches from his property.

NHS employee Stuart Smith now can't get at the side of his house in Kings Norton, near Birmingham, because of the 'overlapping' development.

According to Birmingham Live, he has also reported a 'catalogue of errors' including potential damp and drainage issues because the guttering from both properties is now up against one another.

He claims the builders didn't follow the instructions correctly and couldn't fit the roof to his next door neighbour's house, so just built a wall below his roof and stepped in.

The case is now under the investigation of the Birmingham City Council planning team, who will work out whether the work to change the house from a three bedroom to five was done properly.

Mr Smith said: "There's no gap to be able to maintain our own property.

"We can never remove the gutters now, we can't unfix the felt roof, or the fascias or render the side of the house. It's like that permanently now and any problems we'll have to live with.

"They [the builders] didn't actually realise until they started building underneath my eaves. It was only when they got so far up they realised my roof was in the way of them putting their own roof on.

"I did speak to the neighbour at that point and they said they would 'sort it out', but [the builders] didn't fix it, they just worked around it, built a little flat roof and built the roof to the side - bizarre."

Smith, an employee of the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, said he first became aware of his neighbour's application for planning permission to build a two storey extension back in 2018.

Work started in January 2021, but it wasn't until March that they actually saw the top of it.

He continued: "I feel absolutely awful over this. I have difficulty sleeping. It's just very stressful. It's a lot of worry. We bought the house as the house we wanted to live in forever.

"At some points it's actually touching. Where I have a roof above a garage at the front it touches his roof above the garage and right at the very top the gutterings are touching."

When approached by Birmingham Live, Mr Smith's neighbour said: "I've already spoken to the city council. Leave it to the council to sort out."

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: "We have received a complaint that works are in breach of planning legislation.

"The matter is currently under investigation and officers are in discussions with both the owner and complainant."

Featured Image Credit: BPM Media

Topics: UK News, Birmingham, Weird

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekend he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

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