Our neighbor built an entire HOUSE in his driveway without permission – and got to keep it after a cunning change

RESIDENTS have been left furious after their neighbor built an entire house on his driveway without permission and was allowed to keep it.

Mrs Pal Singh was given the green light to build a single-storey garage on his residential property in Highgate, Birmingham in 2019.

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But when a bigger one property appeared at the end of the drivewayCity Hall planners demanded that it be razed to the ground.

Mr Singh built a small two-storey house with four separate rooms in his driveway.

Singh was given until July to demolish the new building because it conflicted with the original building permit.

It now appears that work has been carried out on the building to convert it into a garage.

However, this may not be the end of the planning battle as Mr Singh had been ordered to demolish it completely by 2022.

The building was delivered complete with windows, an anteroom, front door and roof structure.

And some homeowners in the area are happy that it now looks more like a garage.

A local resident told it MailOnline: “Looks like they finally complied with the order and thank goodness because it was an eyesore.”

Another agreed, saying: “It's hard to have too much sympathy for them though as they were clearly wrong.

“They've been working on it for a few weeks and it certainly looks more like a garage.”

However, another resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “They are nice people and they only built it for themselves.

“They were very courteous to people passing by during the work and always made sure it was neat and tidy.

“They haven't caused any problems for anyone around here.”

Earlier last year it was claimed the two-storey building was a gym used by three or four families.

But those who lived nearby opened up earlier, saying they had never set foot in the so-called gym.

However, not all neighbors had a problem with the garage.

One told The Sun: 'It's nothing to do with anyone, it's their property.

“They asked if they could build a garage, I know them. They had permission for a garage and a gym.

“They can do whatever they want to do. That has nothing to do with anyone.”

Planners had originally approved the construction of a 5.3 by 4.6 meter garage on the site, which was exceeded by several meters by the new building.

PLANNING ROW

Inspector Thomas Shields wrote in his report after visiting the house: 'The appellant's case is that the building is already in use advantages of the building permit granted by the municipality in 2019.

“He states that although there are differences between the approved plans for the garage and the appeal building, these are minor differences.

“The approved plans for the garage show a single storey detached garage with a floor area of ​​5.3 x 4.6 meters and a height of 3.6 metres.

“It was also shown to have a standard garage door to the front and no windows at any height.

“Compared to the approved garage, the attractive building has a footprint of approximately 8.7 x 4.7 meters and a height of 5.3 meters.

“So it is substantially larger than the approved building. It is not a small difference.”

Mr Shields continued: “Instead of one storey, the attractive building is 1.5 storeys and has two rooms in the roof, made possible by a full-width dormer window.

'All these differences, between what has been approved and what has been built, are not small.

“As the attractive building bears little resemblance to the scale and design of the approved single storey garage, it does not benefit from that planning permission.

“The requirements of the notice are to demolish the entire unauthorized detached structure and remove all demolished building materials and debris from the property.”

Birmingham City Council said: “We filed an EN (enforcement order) for the demolition of the unauthorized structure when the owner lost on appeal.

“We are in discussions with the owner regarding the timeline. Compliance with the notice was due July 1, 2022.”

A spokesperson said: “On March 7, 2019, planning permission was granted for a single-storey detached garage to the side of the property.

“The building constructed following that consent bore little resemblance to its original scale and design, resulting in enforcement actions and remedial works being carried out to reduce its size and return it to its intended storage/storage use garage.

“There was already planning permission for a very similar building so no further action was considered necessary.”

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