A homeowner was left shocked when his neighbour's extension was built just inches from his property.
Stuart Smith, an NHS worker, said he was now unable to access the side of his house thanks to the construction. The 42-year-old, from Kings Norton in Birmingham, said the problem went so far that the guttering attached to both properties now touched, and he is worried about potential drainage and damp issues, the Mirror reports.
Planning officers for Birmingham City Council are now probing the extension, which saw works carried out over a garage to increase the property size from three to five bedrooms.
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."
Mr Smith, who works for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, said he was aware his neighbours had put in for planning permission in 2018 - for a two-storey extension at the front and one-storey at the back. The IT worker, married to nursery teacher Sallyanne, 39, said works started at the end of January, 2021, when they were woken up by loud banging as builders began the foundations.
The key workers, who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, said it was not until March that they could see the top of the building.
"It looked very close, but you couldn't see it properly as it was obscured a bit (by the scaffolding)," said Mr Smith.
"I feel absolutely awful over this. I try to push it to the back of my mind trying to forget about it - but then I don't make any progress. So then I have to concentrate on it and it just winds me up. 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.
"It's just tainted this a bit now. We need to get this sorted out and rebuilt further back. I don't see how anyone could be happy with that. 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. At the back where I have a flat roof the guttering there is touching their wall and that means I can't unclip that guttering and remove it."
Mr Smith added: "There's still work to do on it, so I would expect they would want to do something before anymore work carries on. It's just going to save people money in the long run. The side wall needs rebuilding and moving and the roof needs taking off and putting on properly. I'm speaking to a solicitor, but it's very slow going as we're going through the building insurers."
He said the extension had doubled the size of the neighbouring house - from 81,000 sq ft with an extra 76,000 sq ft. It has gone from three bedrooms to five bedrooms, with a bigger kitchen, garage, utility room and loft conversion.
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Mr Smith's neighbour, who had the works carried out, said he had co-operated fully with council officers and "it is for them to decide" the outcome. When approached by Birmingham Live about the works, the middle-aged resident said: "I've already spoken to the city council. Leave it to the council to sort out."
A Birmingham City Council spokesperson added: "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."
