Quote:
Originally Posted by Shazam
You should follow setback rules. Failing that, get plans drawn up and try to get a relaxation. Failing that, they may just stamp on the RPR that they'll give you two weeks notice before they come in and destroy everything.
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With the MARW. it's not quite as simple as that. The whole point of the right-of way is that your neighbour has the right to access your land to maintain the side of their house. In most cases the MARW says you can use that part of your land as a driveway, yard, or ornamental garden but does not 'permit' you to build anything. The actual right that the neighbour has is to get in and do necessary maintenance because in most cases you're dealing with a Zero-Lot line where the houses are built with one side of the foundation right on the property line and the other side of the foundation being eight or more feet from the property line on the other side. That's in contrast to the more normal situation where you have a minimum of 4 feet from your foundation to the property line on both sides. The problem is, if you build a house right up against a property line and don't have an MARW, technically your neighbour has to tresspass on your land every time he wants to paint the side of the house or put a ladder up to clean his gutters.
Technically, I the city does not enforce the MARW, but your neighbour can, and that's the issue if you sell. If you build a deck on the MARW and it makes it so I can't put a ladder up against the side of my house, even though it's on your land I may be able to get a court order requiring you to remove the deck. If you get along with your neighbour, it may not be a big deal, but it can be.
So no, there are no 'hard and fast rules' as to what you can safely build there. IMO, the safest course is not to build any structures in the side yard on this type of lot. If you do, you should try and consider what kind of access your neighbour might need now or in the foreseeable future and build to accomodate. (i.e. if he's got siding, making sure that if someone needed to get a ladder or scaffold in to replace siding or paint might be a good idea) From a legal standpoint building anything may be dodgy. If the MARW actually says you can build a deck then you would be fine, but in my experience they rarely say anything like that.
The reason I quoted the post I did is because relaxations and set-back requirements simply don't apply in this situation. You're not dealing with a by-law that the city can choose to relax, you're dealing with private contractual rights between the neighbours.
Hope that helps.