Council said no planning permission needed for garage now after me..

awara

Hi there
"on behalf of my friend who live in Birmingham- in his words"
I have bought a 3 bed house about two year ago. there was no garage even though every house around me had the garage except my next door neighbour.
I asked him and he said he was not given permission to build a garage as there was an objection that he would use back ally for access to garage and that back ally is PRIVATE road he went all the way and lost the case in court too.

I wanted the garage for storage purpose only so I thought I would give access door to garage from inside the house and no back door.

I went to council and ask them if I needed permission and then sent me an email saying I do not need one and height must not be more the 2.5 meter....

I ordered one (2.13M + concrete 4" base) garage with local reputable company and they fixed it for me in about 2-3 months ago (quite a few neighbours and planning inspectors turned up the day the garage was fixed but I showed them the council email and everybody backed up- "disappointedly:rolleyes:") .

NOW my next door neighbour who does not have the garage. complained and the planning inspector turned up and measured the garage and sent me the letter that I am in breached on planning regulations and the height is more 2.5M. Fix it in 28 days other wise enforcement proceedings will start" it doesn't say how long my garage is but I measured it my self and it about 3" more than 2.5M
I have already sent a letter to the garage installer to let them know such matter and ask them to fix it etc.

Anybody had such experience and is there any GRACE MARGIN in measurement of 2.5M I mean come even the installer did messed up it is only 3".

Thanks

andrew-b

Rules is rules they have to have a cut-off point somewhere. And 7.5cm (3 inch) is 3% beyond the rules. It might seem picky but where do they stop..if they give a margin of 10cm and someone builds to 263cm high is that acceptable?

Though it's perhaps a bit picky of the neighbour, in view of the failed application for a garage themselves it's no real surprise and your friend should have been very sure to get it right!

Anyway something doesn't quite add up with the figures 4" base = 10cm + 213cm height = 223cm ...so how has the installer added another 34.5cm in the building to get to 257.5cm height (3" above 2.5m! - would be easier to have stuck to metric!)?

Other thing to mention is if this garage is connected to the house by a door there are building regulations that apply (door must be suitably fire proof)

AdrianW2

awara wrote: »

garage is but I measured it my self and it about 3" more than 2.5M

Height above ground? Is it possible to lower the ground by 3" whilst the planning inspector visits?

My perception, and I may be wrong, is that some people put a lot of effort into complying with planning rules and others just ignore them completely. The buildings remain regardless.

Chippy_Minton_2

AdrianW2 wrote: »

Height above ground? Is it possible to lower the ground by 3" whilst the planning inspector visits?

Wouldn't that then make it 6" too high?

I think the OP will need to build up the highest adjacent ground.:rotfl:

nixinixi

Have you measured it yourself to see what height you get? If it is out and you specified the hgeight (in writing) to your workmen then surely you need to go back to them. Otherwise ask for a meeting with planning and beg.... (find out other examples where they have been allowed to exceed height restrictions and had no issues if possible. otherwise find out how much to reduce the height...

spmc

one option would be to apply for planning permission - when considering the impact of the application planning officers/committee would need to consider the fall back position which is a garage 3 inches lower and impact would, I assume, be minimal.

Zazen999

I imagine the 2.13m plus base is the internal height, not external, which is how the error may have occurred.

maninthestreet

Zazen999 wrote: »

I imagine the 2.13m plus base is the internal height, not external, which is how the error may have occurred.

That still leaves about another 8 or 9 inches to accout for.

Zazen999

maninthestreet wrote: »

That still leaves about another 8 or 9 inches to accout for.

Depending on how thick the roof is, of course.

awara

To report back in his words
" I have measured it my self and it is about 7cm above the 2.5meters. ie 2.57.
I have called the garage installer as I only ordered the 2.13meters garage how come it is now 2.57 etc.
The are not taking blame but asked me if I want a quote to change it into FLAT roof which will bring it down considerably less than 2.5M .
I am thinking about change it to flat roof now and then ask the installer for refund as I have the original invoice and catalogue where it states the model no and sizes.
I do not want to pursue this option now as it might take a while and I only have 28 days to rectify the height issue."

Will report back what happens..

spmc

I think you can appeal an enforcement notice and are not required to comply while the appeal is running. Also as mentioned previously you can submit a retrospective planning application and if it were refused appeal and again I believe that you do not need to comply with an enforcement notice if you have an application running or an appeal is in process so you could gain quite a lot of time beyond the 28 days.There is a planning officer who writes on MSE forums, hopefully he will see this and provide advice.