Woke up – with a concrete wall outside the window: “Idiot”

The municipality granted a construction company permission to build new villas.
The neighbors were taken on the bed when it turned out that a high concrete wall was included in the building.
Although Lund Municipality has made a formal error, there is no solution in sight.
– You have to react when we have not found out about the walls, says neighbor Gerle Jönsson.

In Kalla Facts series local scandals, neighbors Sofia Hansson and Gerle Jönsson show the over 2 meter high wall built next to their villas. The fact that an error was committed was revealed by reporter Alexander Agrell at Sydsvenskan, whose review shows that the municipality failed to send out the necessary documents about the so -called land permit. This meant that neighbors could not appeal the decision to build a wall that replaced the view of forest and meadow.

– We bought the house for its natural location, but now we have a concrete wall as a neighbor, says Sofia Hansson in the program.

Loss of value and upset neighbors

City building director Hans Juhlin admits that it was wrong.

– It was a mistake that the land law was not served all concerned. It is very unfortunate, says Hans Juhlin.
According to a local broker, the wall can adversely affect the property values. The new houses built above the wall obscure part of the sun and create transparency, something completely different from the nature that was there before. The broker believes that it can be difficult to find a buyer at all.

– This reduces the interest from potential buyers, and the sales times can therefore be longer, says Daniela Hallström, broker at Erik Olsson.

The municipality proposed a green solution – to plant plants along the wall to cover it. But the residents have not wanted to accept it as plants would then need to be planted inside their site. Instead, they want to remove the wall.

– Why should we have it on our site to cover their idiocy? says Gerle Jönsson.
However, the city building director Hans Juhlin claims that the municipality has acted within the framework of the law.

– There are legal building permits for the wall, so we have no legal opportunities to demand that it be removed, says Hans Juhlin.

Word stands against words

The wall was built as a support for the soil masses that several new houses have been built on above Sofia Hansson’s and Gerle Jönsson’s house. The municipality believes that they informed the neighbors orally about the possibility of applying to appeal the decision afterwards, but that information says the neighbors that they have not received. Now it’s too late too.