My neighbour wants to raise the height of the wall between our properties.I have declined to consent to this alteration and he has advised that he will proceed anyway and will apply for planning permission.What can I do to prevent this alteration?

Perhaps a visit to the Town Hall might be in order???

check the deeds of your property.

Often a boundary wall is either

a) 1 of them is your responsibility, e.g. the one on the left of the house, the other on the right hand side, the neighbours resonsibility, and so on, down the street.....or.......

b) You are 50% each liable for it, and therfore half owner of the wall.

Yes a visit to the town hall is in order

I agree with Jean paul sartre. "Hell is other people"

just one question,vance. is your neighbour spanish and if so, you are going to have a high wall.

I am not resident in Spain so a visit to the town hall is not possible at present.Is my permission required to allow an alteration of this type?No mention is made in the deeds regarding the wall.My neighbour is not Spanish.

The way it works here seems to be that the wall will get build and then you can fight to get it altered. Even if you win the argument, it could take years and even then he may not do it!

turning it on its head for a minute, would the higher wall spoil anything, like a view or whatever?

...and would a higher wall INCREASE your privacy?

sounds to me like you need it with neighbours like that

Vance - is your property within a legally-registered community and is there anything in the statutes or "internal rules" which limits the height of walls, appearance of walls etc ? If so, the president of your community (hope it's not your neighbour) should be prepared to contact your neighbour regarding this. In some cases, speaking from experience, this would be sufficient for your neighbour to change his plans. However, if your neighbour refuses to comply with the statutes/internal rules, there is s stong possibililty that at that point the president will back down.

As long as your neighbour obtains the correct licence for the alterations, there is, unfortunately, nothing you can do about it. Your neighbour will be responsible for rectifying any damage caused to the wall during the works etc and will forever be responsible for maintenance of the raised section.

You dont have to be a resident to be registered on the padron afaik

Vance
As Triana said if your property is within a community your neighbour is breaching section 7 (1) of the Horizontal Property Act

If your neighbour wants to build a wall, and you disagree, you have a problem unlikely to be resolved by the authorities in Spain. I live in an area of ridiculously high walls, all built to keep out the burglars, and they work. The authorities know that the walls do not comply with local planning, but they're better than machine gun posts, the only other alternative.

And, to be honest, I enjoy the extra privacy they provide.

As already explained, under the hoizontal property law, external alterations on communidad property are generally not allowed and illegal.
I believe the only exception can be when a vote of all members is taken and not one single objection is put forward.

However if your case refers to private property as seems the case, then planning permission is needed.
This can be an expensive procedure and take some time, so in the event of materials appearing on site or work commencing, check IMMEDIATELY if permission has been given or even applied for, as quite possibly he may be bluffing to save himself time and money.

Provided your property is within a legally-constituted community, it may be possible to restrict what your neighbour does on his private land. This depends upon what the statutes or internal rules say. For example, our community's statues specify how many metres there must be between each boundary and the constructed villa. The internal rules then specify the maximum heights allowed for the boundary walls/fences/hedges and even the types of fences/walls allowed. It sounds draconian but in fact there is enough leeway that each villa and garden is individual - it just means that neighbours can't build monstrosities and can't encroach upon their neighbours' views. So far nobody has broken those rules, although some were intending to before the rules were pointed out to them. Vance, if you are within a community, the president should be able to confirm to you what the statues and internal rules (if the latter have been drawn up and approved) say about boundary walls. Triana

I think he means he can't physically get there!



iirc the 'system' is much the same as in the UK - you apply for planning permission & the neighbours get a chance to object



but of course in Spain, everyone seems to ignore this, & half the time they don't apply for permission before they build the wall!