Q&A

Have I run out of time to appeal against development next door?

The owners of the house next to me has a wide side garden which unbeknown to me has just received planning permission for the development of a detached house. My house has been let for the past year as I have been out of the country working and was simply not here to read planning notices etc. My tenant says the planning notice was up all summer but he didn't think much of it.

I object strongly to the development on several and very reasonable grounds but it is my understanding that as I missed out on objecting when the planning notice went up then I have no recourse. My neighbour on the other side said he thought that at least one person on our estate objected but in terms of light, density and parking problems, I am the only one really affected. Is there anything I can do?

It may not be too late to appeal to An Bord Pleanála. There is a general rule that objections to An Bord Pleanála can only be made by people who have already made submissions or observations in writing to the planning authority in relation to a planning application.

However there are exceptions and one of which states that a person with an interest in land adjoining the application site who did not object first time round may apply to An Bord Pleanála for "leave to appeal".

This must be done within four weeks of the decision of your local authority to grant permission.

So the first thing you must do is contact the planning department of that local authority (or An Bord Pleanála) and find out the timeline involved.

If you are not too late - and you may not be, given that as you say the notice was up "all summer", you may be granted "leave to appeal" if you can show among other things that the development will affect your "enjoyment of the land or reduce the value of the land".

If you are granted "leave to appeal" - basically permission to appeal - you can then go ahead and get your planning appeal in. You have two week to do this. As you can see, time is of the essence. An Bord Pleanála have an excellent website, www.pleanala.ie, which should help you in your task.

Would two estate agents sell my house better than one?

A house close to me has just gone up for auction with two estate agents. Is this a better sales strategy and why don't more people do it?

You don't give your address in your email but our guess is that you are in Dublin. It is still not unusual for more than one agent to have a country house on their books but in Dublin it doesn't happen very often and when it does it's typically because a particularly expensive house is involved and the seller has a personal relationship with a smaller local agent (and wants to give them some business), but also wants the muscle that a larger multi-branch agent can bring.

In this sort of situation there is no particular advantage for the seller - in the country it can make sense because long distances make it difficult for one agent to handle viewings etc but in Dublin that's not an issue.

For the seller, it means higher bills, because the fee, which has to be split between two agents will be greater than if a single agent was involved.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.