Need to know if we will get planning permission before we put in offer

cceg

My husband and I have seen a house that we quite like for sale.


It is abit on the small side or us and would need an extension - there is loads and loads of room for this.
How does on go about looking into planning permission and weather it would be granted or not before putting in an offer?

G_M

Go to the council offices and talk to a Planner. They are usually very helpful. You'll get an indication of whether Planning permission would be approved or not, but no guarantees of course.

Or put in a formal application. This is the only way to be 100% sure. but of course it takes time, and costs money. Not really practicable.

Bufger

the first step is to have a look on google maps (satellite view or streetview if available) to see if any other properties in that street have the same extension you're planning. This can be a good indication but of course doesnt set it in stone.

Just a little quick step you can do beforehand to judge the chances of approval.

cceg

Thankyou both, next door has a 2 story extension on the back - we would look to build on the side which is not over looking anything and has bags of room, we wont even use half the space that is alreay there.

Sammy85_2

Have a look at neighbouring houses and see if they have extended. See if your extension would impact on neighbours properties. Check for sewers running through or near your land, building within 3m can be difficult.

Other than that i dont think there is much else you can do, short of paying out for plans and approval, but since you havent purchased the property yet it could be a waste of money.

RLH33

As G_M has said the first point of call is the Planning Office where there will be a duty officer who you can speak to. Take as much information as you can, photo's, sketch elevations (to a metric scale) and a sketch block plan to show the location of the extension. This will give you a 'gut reaction' from the planning office as to whether any application would be looked at favourably. However any advice they give you will be on an informal verbal basis and they will not be held to this later.

If you want something more reassuring then the next stage would be to submit a pre-application enquiry where you submit all the information outlined above with a letter to the planning office and they will write back to you confirming whether or not it is likely permission would be granted and if there are problems will point these out. There will probably be a charge for this and could take 3 weeks for a reply. Again this would be an informal reply but most Councils will honour any advice given once an application is submitted, assuming of course the design/size/policy has not changed in the meantime.

Next stage is an application for planning permission, and your only concrete way of knowing if an extension will be acceptable.

When people come into the office and ask questions like this we always tell them that you should buy the house if you like it as it is and not solely on its potential to be extended. It can be a very expensive mistake if you later find that an extension is not possible - the level of risk you want to take with a situation like this is only something you can assess.

kmmr

good idea to also check if planning had been applied for in the past and been granted or declined. most councils now have all this online where you can find all decisions for an address.

horsechestnut

Speak to the present owners and neighbours, either side and at the back, to see if there is any agreement in existence regarding access etc. The Planning office can grant permission , but do not take into account if anyone else has access to the land e.g a shared driveway. This could then becomes a civil law matter, which is very costly.