Residential building regulations & permissions

[Chaz Michael]

Any building and renovations experts out there? Could you shed some light...?
If a neighbor plans to extend their building (which is probably already within the absolute minimum distance from the boundary wall) vertically would they be required to follow a process of acquiring consensus or agreement for the proposed building by neighboring residents?

 

[lkswan747]

Any building and renovations experts out there? Could you shed some light...?
If a neighbor plans to extend their building (which is probably already within the absolute minimum distance from the boundary wall) vertically would they be required to follow a process of acquiring consensus or agreement for the proposed building by neighboring residents?

It used to be a bylaw that in order to encroach on the boundary servitude, you needed to get the permission of your neighbours. Not sure if it still applies, in fact I notice a hell of a lot of properties that are building right on the boundary line with 6-10m walls!

 

[rodga]

Any encroachments will usually require neighbours consent.

Building line will depend on your erf/region/deed or zoning conditions . For example city of jhb has no side building lines for ground floor and 2m for first floor. Every erf will have its own set of requirements though.

 

[RedViking]

Yes. But first make sure you got your facts right by going to your local authority and check regulations. If it is outside the limits they need your consent or you can start suing.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Any building and renovations experts out there? Could you shed some light...?
If a neighbor plans to extend their building (which is probably already within the absolute minimum distance from the boundary wall) vertically would they be required to follow a process of acquiring consensus or agreement for the proposed building by neighboring residents?

You will need to refer to local bylaws, national building regulations and original title deeds.

For instance, I needed 17 neighbours to approve building work. Guy around the corner for major building work only needed 4, including me but he was not on my list of 17.

 

[ElixirCoder]

Any encroachments will usually require neighbours consent.

Building line will depend on your erf/region/deed or zoning conditions . For example city of jhb has no side building lines for ground floor and 2m for first floor. Every erf will have its own set of requirements though.

This!

The building line on an erf differs from erf to erf. Any encroachment, called a ‘departure’, of or beyond the building lines will require consent from the neighbors before approval by the town council.

 

[Neuk_]

Any encroachments will usually require neighbours consent.

Building line will depend on your erf/region/deed or zoning conditions . For example city of jhb has no side building lines for ground floor and 2m for first floor. Every erf will have its own set of requirements though.

Yep, in our area with the exception of the front boundary wall we have no boundary wall building line restrictions, our garage, outside bathroom, domestic accommodation and entertainment area are built on our boundary with our neighbours. We got our front boundary wall building line relaxed to build a double garage and had to get neighbour, PHRA-g and CoJ approval.

 

[rodga]

Yep, in our area with the exception of the front boundary wall we have no boundary wall building line restrictions, our garage, outside bathroom, domestic accommodation and entertainment area are built on our boundary with our neighbours. We got our front boundary wall building line relaxed to build a double garage and had to get neighbour, PHRA-g and CoJ approval.

Just a correction, boundary walls are not subject to building line restrictions. They are 2 different things. Boundary walls can be built upto your site boundary, everything else will have to be within the building line or building restriction area barring a few exceptions as specified by your local council

 

[Neuk_]

Just a correction, boundary walls are not subject to building line restrictions. They are 2 different things. Boundary walls can be built upto your site boundary, everything else will have to be within the building line or building restriction area barring a few exceptions as specified by your local council

My wording was not the best, I meant that besides the front of our property where there is a 2m building line restriction, we have no other building line restrictions so are able to build right up to our boundary walls.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Yeah this will all depend entirely on building codes and bylaws in the area.

Going up a floor is potentially not really going to involve the neighbours if it doesn't involve expanding the footprint of the house, but plans etc will still need to be passed and if they need neighbour consent at that point the owner will need to get it.

 

[The Darkness]

A question for the property experts here: A neighbour has a garage built onto the boundary line on one end of my property. They need access to my property in order to repair a crack in their wall which runs down this garage wall on my side (and presumably inside their garage). My concerns are them having their builders back and forth on my property, the mess ensued, and the repainting of this wall (which faces into my property) once completed. This crack has evidence of having been repaired before (probably negligently/incorrectly - hence it's resurgence).
Any advice on how best to navigate this in terms of 'things in writing'. I'm considering them putting into an email an exact timeframe for the inconvenience on our land, all mess to be contained and restored to how our courtyard was before etc.
This wall will need to be re-painted on our side once finished; I'm assuming that is their responsibility (the wall is large ± 4m x 8m)?