possibly taking council to court!

[jezzyjet]

H i there,dont know if this is the right post but here goes

I own a flat above a shop (1st+2nd floors)that i rent out,the property next door was sold (fried chicken shop)and the new owner,extended the rear of the ground floor shop and 1st floor flat ,im a builder and noticed many building regulations being breached, also it was built without any building regs or consent,also no party wall consent was agreed ,here is a list of what went on and what happened

started roughly just over a year ago.

possible breaches of building regs

1 meter footing (possibly on brown soil)
possible no bridging over sewer pipes
loft insulation in cavity walls
roof joists flush with external wall then cut and cement smeared over top
no d.p.c around windows and doors
new structure partially built one side on top of existing ground floor rear addition(victorian owned by shop under my flat)with movement cracks and original 18" footings
new extention 70- 80% of size of existing structure

my actions
reported to council breach of regs within 3 months of start of build

council come back saying they have applied for retro-spective planning permission for 1st floor extention "APPROVED"

I call council and tell them that there is NO ground floor extention to build the first floor extention on so they have lied to the council and should have put in application for ground and first floor addition ,council say"no further action to be taken" "APPROVED"

I reported possible building contraventions to building control within 6 weeks of project start, today 17/05/07 they tell me they think theres not much they can do as the structure has been standing for a year,all they can do is put a charge on the property so it cannot be sold,

also

the access to flats created above the new extention is through a pub carpark to which they have no right of way,they now jump over a wall to get round the back to the enterance door

they built the extention 4 inches over my boundary line(no party wall agreement)
left 4 inches of rough fallen cement on roof below my flat,and outlet from boiler runs constantly onto same roof

it could only happen to me ,im no jobs worth and if this extention had of been built properly i would not have reported it,the flat i rent is my pension and i intent to protect it,i reported all the above to the council within weeks of it starting and im now told due to their incompetance that if its over a year since it was built theres not much they can do!

I know i have a case regarding the no party wall agreement,but can the council be held accountable for neglect of dutys etc,i want REVENGE due to their total incompetance ,,

any advice greatly accepted jezzy

[Planner]

Many of your issues - party wall, right of way, building over boundary line, will have to be taken up directly with the owners as they are not necessarily anything to do with the council.

The building regs and planning permissions however are. Have you taken the councils formal complaint route? if not thats your first step. If you have already done this, and are still not satisfied with the councils response, it will be the local government ombudsman. If your not satisfied with the ombudsmans decision then you can take the matter to court (Judicical Review) at your own extremley expensive cost.

You need to think what "outcome" you would like from all this. Removal of whats been built? If highly unlikley at this stage. Compensation, possibly but what "damage" as such as the council done to you?

Good luck

[jezzyjet]

thankyou for your reply,its just very frustrating ive followed all the correct avenues and to no avail,will follow your advice ,many thanks, jezzy