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A room with NO view: Homeowner's fury as neighbour's extension 'built without planning permission' puts brick wall outside her window
Furious Helen Coughlan says her home's value has been slashed by £100,000 - after her neighbour built an extension which left her with a view of a brick wall.
Helen, 52, fears she'll never be able to sell her four-bed semi after next-door neighbour Tariq Ahmed added a room to his property.
Helen first redesigned her home in 2006, with a loft and roof conversion, and installed a new kitchen on the top floor.
But a few years later her neighbour built his own extension - just 24 inches from Helen's new window.
The extra building blocks out all natural light coming through her kitchen and dining room windows, leaving her with just a view of the brick work.
The local council has understood that the finished extension was bigger than Mr Ahmed originally applied for - but have not ordered him to tear it down as it only constitutes ‘loss of light'.
Helen, a carer from Woodford Bridge, north east London said: ‘My house has probably lost £100,000.
‘The extension wrecked not only the view, but damaged my walls and now they tell me my home has subsidence problems.
‘It's a joke. It is unacceptable that the council wants to wash its hands of the situation. It has a responsibility to sort it out.
‘We worked all our lives for our home and all that is for nothing now, all because of one neighbour from hell.
‘My house used to be lovely and light but now it's dark and dingy. It's miserable, it really is. It is constantly dark in my house and it really makes me feel down in the dumps.’
The problems began after Helen converted the upstairs of her home with a loft and roof conversion.
Four years later Mr Ahmed was given planning permission by Redbridge Council to build a two-story extension.
The expansion stands less than three feet away from the home Helen moved into in 1999, with her husband Paul, 48, and sons Patrick, now 22, and Sean, 21.
Mr Ahmed strayed from the original plans and in December 2012 Helen took him to court in a civil case, with the pair reaching an out of court settlement and she received £30,000 in compensation.
Helen's case about the extension blocking natural light to the windows of her home came under the 'Right to Light' Act of 1832, which is meant to protect the owner of any home with windows by forbidding any construction that would block more than 45 per cent of that light.
But the council, who upheld the complaint that the extension breached planning permission, are refusing to force Mr. Ahmed to take it down, saying loss of light is not a serious enough reason to make a homeowner tear down an extension.
Redbridge Council said in a statement: ‘We recognise this is a complex matter and sympathise with the situation between Mrs Coughlan and her neighbour.
‘However, the council is satisfied it applied the relevant planning policies and procedures correctly.
‘The 'right to light' is a private law right which is not, of itself, a qualifying factor when determining planning applications.
‘It is an applicant's responsibility to consider the relevance of the general law, including any possible rights to light and party wall issues.
‘Any interference with such rights may make the applicant liable to private civil law action.
‘During the building process, the council had to serve a dangerous structure notice due to concerns about the building's safety and these issues were resolved at the time.
‘There are still some outstanding building control issues that are being monitored by officers as works continue.
‘One of the planning conditions is that the materials used are consistent with the existing building.
‘This is not the case at the moment and we've met with both parties to try to agree a way forward so that the work can be completed.’
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Helen's dispute with her neighbour is so bad that it is set to be featured on an episode of Channel 5 series Neighbour Disputes, airing next month.
Mr. Ahmed was unavailable to comment, but in the past he stated: ‘All I'm trying to do is make my house bigger for my kids.
‘I'm doing everything by the law and trying not inconvenience anybody but I'm just getting grief from next door.’
