43 Morten Engberg Head of 4th Division NEIGHBOURS AS PARTIES TO BUILDING CASES The Ombudsman often receives complaints from citizens in building cases. Some of these cases concern local authorities allowing the owner of a property to start building work without involving the neighbours in the case. If the neighbours approach the Ombudsman, they therefore often ask whether the local authority acted legally in not asking for their view on the case. In some cases, the local authority is obliged to involve the neighbours before deciding on a building case. BRIEFING THE NEIGHBOURS The neighbours are entitled to be heard if the building work requires dispensation from building or planning legislation, including the rules of the building regulations or any local plan. In such cases, the local authority must brief the neighbours about the building work planned, so that they are able to state their views on the project to the authority before it decides whether to grant dispensation. This is laid down in section 20 of the Planning Act and section 22 of the Building Act. However, these rules do not apply if the building work can be done without dispensation from building and planning legislation. In other words, the local authority is not obliged to brief the neighbours if the building work does not require dispensation from these rules. The local authority is likewise not obliged to brief the neighbours if it regards the dispensation as insignificant in relation to the relevant neighbours. HEARING OF PARTIES In cases where the local authority is not obliged to brief the neighbours, it is interesting whether it nonetheless has to involve them pursuant to the rules on the hearing of parties. These rules, which are laid down in section 19 of the Public Administration Act, are in many ways similar to the rules concerning