Owning your own home

If it's already double yellows, I would imagine (with zero experience) that an application should be easy enough as you aren't removing any on street parking. However, if no one has given a shit until now, I would be inclined to ignore it.

You clearly have a proper drive and not a front garden off the North Circular that someone decided should be a car park for their fleet of battered Mercs…

With that in mind, I don’t think you’ll have any issue getting an application through. Your survey should have identified it.

Looks like you’re not in a busy area, on a quiet road? Part of me would be considering reinstating the asphalt ramp…

This is the thing, it’s obviously been like that and ignored by the council (I assume) for a decade, so I’d be quite happy to ignore it. However, reading that it’s illegal to cross the pavement without an official dropped curb and (god forbid) if there was ever an accident with a pedestrian by anyone using our drive it would be a huge liability makes me think it’s probably best to do things officially.

There’s no point in raising this with the surveyor I’m assuming? If I’d have been aware of this at the time I’d probably have asked the sellers to split the costs.

No point at all raising it with the surveyor.

You’re right about doing it properly, and I can’t see the Local Authority refusing it.

Loft insulation over cables, having trouble finding a definitive answer on this. An electrician I had around the other day said it'll probably be fine, some people on the internet say it'll be fine, others say it might burn the house down. I'm hearing things like 'don't pack it too tightly around the cables', which is surely bullshit because insulation doesn't work that way.

The lights are, I imagine, largely fine if they're all running LED bulbs. There's a couple of chunky cables that I think lead to an immersion heater that worry me more. I'd be able to pin them to the underside of the raised floor but the absolute weapon that installed them tied a knot in one.

I'm not an electrician but I understand you need to down rate the current as they can't dissipate heat as well. The derating factor can be about half depending on the cable material and insulation depth. For something like an immersion heater I'd get it checked by an electrian with the tables.

Or you could search for "APPENDIX 1: Correction Factors for Sizing of Cable Conductors" which might be right and hope your house doesn't burn down.

Thank you, I'll put it on the reading list... oh and ask the other electrician who I need to get around next week. We need to do an EICR so it may be that the work needs doing anyway.

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You don't sound like a Karen. That sounds fucking awful. I don't have much advice but if you know how to report issues to the council, rather than doing it once and waiting for a response, do it every time. Like, every day tell them what shit is happening. Harassing neighbours, dangerous construction site, toxic fires, unpermitted building work - if you haven't had a party wall notice, how likely is it to be lodged with building control?
I wonder if HSE have been notified. (Works over certain duration need to be.) They can shut down a site pretty quick.

Oof that is shit.
I'm no expert but worth finding out if they have a certificate of lawfulness for the work.
And they are still subject to planning laws even if the work is broadly allowed under the permitted development system

And definitely keep a diary of literally everything that is negative

You need to look up your councils permitted hours for noisy building work, it’s usually 8-6 weekdays and Saturdays until 1. Then find out the department that deals with complaints, it will differ between councils.
We did this when living in Wandsworth, it’s a statutory nuisance and they will get a visit from the council. Using a floor sander 10:30pm Sunday night was the trigger for us to put a stop to it.

You need to contact your local councillors, not council officers. Councillors have a more direct line to all the services, whether that's police, the fire service, environmental enforcement, planning, and so on. As Dugtheslug says, keep a detailed diary of everything that happens. Neither you nor any of your neighbours should be involved directly. The services need to do the work for you and you shouldn't be exposed. What you have here is anti-social behaviour, no doubt multiple planning breaches, probably HSE-notifiable safety issues, as hoefla says, and the drugs issue and the sort of veiled threats being made suggest that the police should already know about this group. If no action is taken now, it will only get worse, so don't think it'll settle down if you leave it. Good luck. But yes, contact your councillors asap.

Looking at places in New Zealand, this storm water drainage setup is sure to make some of your eyes bleed. Discharges into the bush about 20m down the hill. On the plus side, no neighbours to worry about.

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I’m not sure you could make this up!
Bastard neighbours thread material. I can’t offer any advice apart from moving.

I’m really sorry to read all of this. They sound like actual criminals.

Did you mention you had noticed them sell drugs to kids, from one of those cars and from the front door?

Sounds like you need to be hitting up your local MP or councillors to get things moving with the council/law enforcement.

Be mindful that you'll have to disclose any neighbourly disputes when you come to sell your house, which might be the long-term solution unfortunately.

Ok so which one of you is buying this?

https://www.allsop.co.uk/lot-overview/vacant-freehold-detached-house-in-london/r241218-184?searchid=d7l9mrQj9KKo4XR12oT+eQ78NLGMDRUvk6%2FZ%2Fd4DAHM%3D&idx=6

I want to read the future current projects thread.

Money pit so a developer or builder.
Van has a valid mot though!

There’s an eerily similar one in Leytonstone, next to the Hogwarts looking school, which was rotting and collapsing for decades but has just now suddenly and unexpectedly been resurrected and renovated…

Yeah I rather liked the look of that one.

Obvs the cost of buying and then renovating was way off but I did dream for a moment.

I think it’s safe to assume that a body was taken from the bath in those pictures and stuffed in the basement freezer

I’m now thinking a forum group buy - and turning it into the SE London club house. We must have the DIY skills between us to fix it up.

mature garden
living roof