Yes, your plan sounds great, but continue to do your due diligence because small variations in figures add up.

They have a 30 day free trial (I am down to my last 7 days) after that you can choose one of three subscriptions.

So now, we are working with a Plan A (to get a Variation approved) and Plan B (to get a compromise of 8' each side, which would require 10 neighbors approving of it.

Learning to do this is a process that will take time, but try to short cut around it at your own peril, and in the end you will still learn the right way if you stick with it, it will just be via the trial-and-error school of hard knocks (which is an expensive yet excellent teacher). 

About a year or two ago, there was a case called Drake Manufacturing where a Delaware Corporation went to a trial, won a $300k judgment, but then lost it on appeal because it never registered as a foreign corporation.

Well, I would love to see the transcript of this mess after your partners find this thread and it inevitably goes to trial.

There is no uniform standard of practice across the industry, other than we need to know the laws, so unfortunately it can be an agonizing process of trial and error to find the professional that is the right fit for your needs.

What they would have to produce at trial is an agreement that you "had a meeting of the minds" and a particular property was involved and money traded hands and they were damaged by your actions. 

With some variations such as a SFH may have the same size roof as a up/down two family.Sorry, i'm really just rambling.... hahaI hope that helped a little. 

With 100 years water had plenty of time to flow all around and under the house, micro streams and variations is water retention in different soils will cause uneven settling.All in all you may have a real gem that just needs some love.