Hey all,
I purchased a tiny 1 bedroom unit with a very small (2x6m) outdoor courtyard 18 months ago. My courtyard gets some nice arvo sun from about Oct - Feb and was primarily the reason I bought this unit.
I spent 8 months designing and renovating the outdoor space to be able to fit a small outdoor studio pod to WFH, erected permanent hammock poles, a clothesline, BBQ and a small outdoor setting all specifically designed and oriented so they have access to the limted light that I do get. I've also had to remove and plant a protected tree as part of a permit condition witin my courtyard which cost me several thousand $. The tree was chosen specifically so I could prune it to allow access and sunlight through to my courtyard, and for it's location with limited acces to sunlight etc. I had to make many design iterations to my space to make it work, enable access to sunlight and to keep it within council regulations. This included reducing the size of my WFH studio pod as it wasnt allowed to form part of the fenceline etc.
However I just got home and my neightbour has put up some big 4m poles right on the fence line of his property right next to mine, and now I have just realised its going to be a big 5m wide, 3.5m high roller garage door!! This structure is going to block a about half the already limited sunlight to my property, and will mean that the protected tree I've had to plant will be in perpetual shadow.
He needs a permit for this roller door and he doesn't have one (I've checked and well aware of the rules having gone through it myself last year replacing my own fence and gate) but not sure what to do now? Best to try chat to him? Or just call Council enforcement?
Is it likely Council would simply fine him and allow him to continue? Or require him to go through the permit process which will allow me to object and shadowing / alternative locations for the door might be taken into consideration? He is on a large block and the roller door could be relocated several meters to the west where it wouldnt cast shadowing into my courtyard.
Photo of my courtyard and the two poles he's erected over his sliding gate where the roller door is going up: https://ibb.co/3WvJkfb
Update: Submitted the request to Council to investigate last night with photos, measurements, reasoning on how it will impact me including dropping water into my property (we are in a flood zone too), dropping stuff onto my clothes lines, with shadow diagrams and suggested alternative location / height which wont impact me or anyone else. I submitted it assuming I wouldn't see him before the weekend to discuss in person and he'd complete it over the weekend (and I'm planning to be away).
He rocked up early this morning to do some more work on it, I wasnt going to say aything, but then I overheard him gloating with a neighbour who passed by how he got the roller doors for free and saying how he had a scissor lift lined up to put it up over the weekend. So I went out to talk to him, hoping to save him the time/money/effort of potentially pulling the whole thing down rather than just the poles.
As expected he was hostile and unreasonable claiming he didn't need a permit and he knew because he is a builder, didn't believe me about my own permit/tree requirement etc. Tried claiming it wouldn't impact me at all even after showing him the giant shadows of the poles covering my courtyard, just completely denying it. Eventually left in a huff saying he was going down to council to get a permit today (not possible). Started pointing out roller doors across the laneway asking if they all had permits lol. I just said, yeah, probably.
I assumed he'd know it was me who dobbed him in confrontation or not as it really only impacts me so figured it was worth a shot to save him time/money over the weekend and having to hire a scissor lift again and pull it down and move it over etc. But I'm sure he wont see it that way of course.
Update #2. He returned, obviously unable to get a permit. Still angry he started saying I have to compromise and let him continue. I said I was willing to compromise so lets talk.
His first "Compromise" was to build it where it was at the same height otherwise he would plant trees all along my fenceline out of spite. lol. I told him that's not a compromise, and if he watns to do that then theres nothing I can do about it, but at least I'd have some nice trees and not a garage door eyesore.
He also tried claiming he spent $8k on the roller doors before I pulled him up on his bullshit saying I heard him say he got it for free… This was the first time he stopped being hostile. lol.
Said I'd be willing to withdraw my complaint if he reduced the height to 2.4m total which is the legal requirement. Obviously it wasn't going to work as he wants to be able to drive his van into the property. So we got out the measuring tape and measured it up, found the height that allowed him to get it in (without the roof racks loaded up) which put the brackets at 2.5m rather than 3.4m or so (so top of the roller door will still reach about 2.9m or so, so still very much illegal without a permit).
I said it wasn't ideal, and I'd like him to cap it on my side to prevent water and debris going all over my property and clothes line etc. but I'd compromise, agree and let council know we came to an agreement. I also said I couldn't control what happened from Council's side though, as it was still illegal, didn't have a permit, they're already aware. I suggested he waits until he has a permit as it may still need to be moved or not granted a permit etc… but he said he would continue any way and install it tomorrow. I just said ok, but if you had have talked to me first we could have avoided all this, to which he kinda begrudgingly agreed. Ended up having a chat about other stiuff for 10 mins or so and seemed calm finally.
I sent an email to council letting them know we had reached an agreement, with some photos and measurements of where the brackets would be etc.
He's now cutting the brackets and moving them to the agreed upon height.
Interesting to see if council follows it up.
Whats studio pod for? Making a movie?