Dog Outbuilding in neighbour's garden - allowed by Taylor Wimpey

[TWE10]

I am hoping someone can help me as I am now at the end of my tether with this issue....

I have recently purchased a new build property (my first home which I've invested all my savings into) from Taylor Wimpey on the Knight's Park development in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.
Approximately one week after moving into our property, we opened our curtains to find the a huge dog outbuilding (I call it this because the term kennel doesn't do it justice) in the next door neighbour's garden. The dimensions of the building are 3.66m x 4.57m and it is approximately 2.5m tall. They have been very clever in that all of the dimensions are exactly up to and within the required limits to allow them to bypass planning permission from the council, although it does take up practically half of their garden. It looks like it has been designed to cage bears with huge floor to ceiling bars across the front but in fact it is for 3 Springer Spaniel dogs which are left outside day and night.

This monstrosity is not only an eyesore which will without doubt dramatically reduce the value of my home, it is also causing nuisance and disturbance with the dogs barking day and night. I have spoken with Taylor Wimpey and they have confirmed that permission was not sought prior to the erection of this building. Whilst the building is within planning permission regulations, it is not compliant with the various clauses in Taylor Wimpey's own deeds, as advised by my solicitor.

"I confirm I have forwarded details of the kennel together with your photograph to Taylor Wimpey's Legal Department and I have pointed out to them the specific clauses in the Transfer Deed which appear to have been breeched. In particular, the developer's consent must be sought for any buildings to be erected on the property together with any alterations. Whilst the kennel is within the guidelines for permitted development for planning permission, the developer's consent nonetheless is required. Also, you have experienced nuisance, annoyance and disturbance through this and this is another clause which has been breeched.

I confirm I have asked Taylor Wimpey to approach the property owners and explain to them that conditions have been breeched and they must remove the kennel from the property."

The response I have had from Taylor Wimpey states that they cannot enforce the removal of the building, only perhaps have it downsized. This however will not solve the problems caused by the noise. The relentless barking and howling, which due to the positioning of the dog building directly hits our house, including the master bedroom and lounge, has driven us to leave our own home on several occasions. This is causing me immense distress and I am now at a point of feeling hopeless. We are unable to spend time in our own garden, let alone have people round for sociable evenings because the dogs just go crazy, barking constantly.

From the advice provided by my solicitor, I believed that Taylor Wimpey should be able to take forcible action in terms of having this removed. Nobody at Taylor Wimpey seems to be taking this issue seriously and I am now at a point of feeling like I have nowhere else to turn.

Does anyone have any advice please? We have started the process of noise complaints with environmental health but this won't get the thing removed and will be such a lengthy process.

Please help!!!

Here is a link to some youtube videos I have taken to show exactly what we are having to deal with on a day to day basis:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJX7emcj0uc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJX7emcj0uc</a>

 More barking videos here too: #Invalid YouTube Link#videos

[New Home Expert]

If this is being operated as a commercial kennels then it will need planning permission.
Quite frankly, household pets being locked up in this dog prison for most of the day is nothing short of cruelty.
You should report your neighbours to the RSPCA at the earliest opportunity.
With any luck they will take the dogs away, fine the neighbours or both.

I am bemused why Taylor Wimpey will not do anything, other than this is their normal response when their buyers have issues with the home they build!  From the video you would think it would be in Taylor Wimpey's own interests to get this removed as it will certainly put other buyers off the development, hence the covernant in the deeds.
You should write to Taylor Wimpey's CEO Peter Redfern and give him the link to your youtube videos.  In your letter tell him that the regional office are not prepared to do anything.

From Taylor Wimpey's point of view I have to say that this is not really their issue. Anything a home owner does in their rear garden be it sheds or dog prisons is beyond their control, hence why we have a planning process.
You need to get others on board as many of your neighbours must be affected by this as well.

This kind of issue can take time to resolve and never usually ends well. See TV programme "neighbours from hell"  
Yours qualifies!

Have you considered renting your home to tenants and buying another elsewhere!

[TWE10]

Thanks for your reply, we have written to everyone at Taylor Wimpey, it seems however Peter Redfern is particularly hard to get hold of, we have now sent him a letter recorded delivery to guarantee he gets it, we have also sent letters to all the neighbours regarding it this weekend and have already got our next door neighbours the other side of us on board.

I think this is the problem Taylor Wimpey don't consider it to be their issue however it does affect them in some respect because they are currently still building on this site and so still need to sell the remaining homes.
On your last point we sadly are unable to do that as we are part of the Help to Buy scheme and therefore are legally not allowed to do so.
Thanks for your advice, its been 6 months now and we really just want to find a solution, so we appreciate your help.

[New Home Expert]

Perhaps as you have bought using help to Buy and the government owns 20% of the house you should write to your MP as the taxpayer's share is being devalued by your neighbour's nuisance.

You could still sell the house but I doubt you would get a fair price. 
Even if you did move and then had good neighbours they could sell up in a few years and not-so-nice neighbours could move in. 

Peter Redfern is easy to get hold of!  His e mail address is peter.redfern@taylorwimpey.com  and the Group Customer Care is michelle.grant@taylorwimpey.com   The problem is that neither will, in all probability, reply to you. 

But as I said, to be fair it is not really their fault although if it is a covernant they should do something, as you say they have other houses to sell. I wouldn't buy one with those dogs!