planning application where I am renting

wonderpupp

The owner of the property has put in for planning application to knock down the cottage I'm in and the one next door and build 4 "dwellinghouses" in its place.

Been here since April, through a reputable letting agent, on a Long term lease (signed for 12 months lease, but we indicated that we weren't looking to move on after that, having been in the last place for 7 years.)

How many objectiions do you need to get planning refused ?? Our neighbors are pretty angry about this too, as they had similar ideas to us - ie stay put indefinately.

N79

One objection is enough provided it is on a valid grounds for objection. Objections on non valid grounds are ignored.

Unfortunately being a !!!!ed off T is not valid ground for objection - sorry. Your LL, of course, is unable to evict you until the end of your fixed term.

a_j_mair

As said only objections on valid policy can be looked at, i dont like it unfortunately is not a valid reason

If you are on a 12 month lease the LL will have to respect that, they are probably just trying to get all paperwork in place to do the works or sell up as it can take several months to sort out the planning consent.

On a plus note it gives you plenty of time to look for another place

kmmr

What is a valid ground for objections? Is reduction in sunlight enough?

princeofpounds

No. There is in fact no absolute right to light, and your houses won't even exist anyway, so you couldn't complain about it! One of the neighbours might wish to complain about being overlooked however.

You must contact your local planning office, download their policies, and look clause by clause for what they promote and what they restrict.

N79

kmmr wrote: »

What is a valid ground for objections? Is reduction in sunlight enough?

See the local devolopment plan and planning policies of the authority that will consider the application.

jassco

kmmr wrote: »

What is a valid ground for objections? Is reduction in sunlight enough?

I'm not sure the council will take any tenant objection, as once the building work starts, you won't be a tenant there, thus your opinions don't matter. Arguably it won't affect your sunlight, as you won't be living in the property anyway!

The only thing you will get out of objecting is delaying the landlord. Even if you succeed, he'll still kick you out at the end of your 12-month tenancy so that he can re-apply without any tenant objections. You might as well just accept what's happening and start looking for another place about 2-3months before your tenancy ends.

princeofpounds

I'm not sure the council will take any tenant objection, as once the building work starts, you won't be a tenant there, thus your opinions don't matter. Arguably it won't affect your sunlight, as you won't be living in the property anyway!

There are some complaints where you will need to be the person being affected to complain. There are others where a development plan breaks general policy and you can be anyone complaining.

Ask your landlord when he plans to start this work if planning permission is granted.
It might not be for a couple of years.

It's true, may be that the LL is only doing this to prepare for something years down the road. Unlikely, but worth asking what his plans are.

marcg

I suspect objecting to your landlord's plans will lead to him serving notice on you! If you like the house so much and have no intention of leaving then your should be offering to take out a five year lease with no break/notice clauses. Otherwise, what has it got to do with you?

Planning works as follows: The land/building owner/tenant makes an application for whatever. This is registered by the council and a planning officer starts to compile a report. If the application is straightforward (ie Can I build a garage in front of my detached house to replace the derelict one standing there at the moment?) then the officer will put a recommended to be approved note on the finished report. This will then be passed to planning committee to rubber stamp.

If an objection is made then the officer will review the objection to check it is valid (a lot of busybodies object to applications that aren't even visible from their houses - I know of one objection to a rear extension from someone living five streets away). If it is valid then the objection will be noted in the report and the committee will need to be briefed and make a considered decision. Representations from interested parties can happen at the committee meeting.

Valid reasons for objection include - right of light: if a window within a neighbouring property has the light blocked by the proposed development. Traffic concerns - not enough parking, under developed nearby junctions. Noise concerns (not relevant to residential,more about pubs). And the dreaded "not in keeping with the local area" - ie you don't like the design. All can be thrown out at the officer's discretion - they are the experts after all.

As a tenant of the property itself though I don't think you have a leg to stand on. If short-term tenants could prevent the future development of landlord's buildings they would have a stranglehold far outweighing the landlord's gain from rent. In other words, if you could do anything about it, I doubt the landlord would be renting out the house for fear of your ability to stop him.

jassco

princeofpounds wrote: »

There are some complaints where you will need to be the person being affected to complain. There are others where a development plan breaks general policy and you can be anyone complaining.

:rolleyes: so exactly what I said, with a little bit of nit-picking thrown in? In the OP's position, he will not be the person being affected. If he complains about the development breaking general policy, the LL will modify his plans and then proceed with development, albeit with a delay. Either way the OP still needs to look for a new place to live.

wonderpupp

Did a credit check on the LL, he's got no money to go ahead with this contract, even if he got the permission. So I'm breathing a sigh of relief.

I have spoken to the Planning officer, and stated my concerns about the traffic issues (the service road / driveway is currently in a bus stop, and therefore the bus stop would need to be moved for the increased traffic volumes of 4 dwellings.) and invited her round to have a proper look and assess it herself.

Either way, it sucks, because before renting, we asked the letting agent "any plans that would require us to move in the next 5 years?" and they went back to the owner and came back with a no. Which is WHY we moved into this place and not the other place we looked at who came back with a "yes, there is some renovations happening next door - the bungalow is being converted to a house in a few months." So the garden would be overlooked.