Our attempt at being MF!!

CathT

This afternoon we have been thinking of ways of extending our home. It doesn't need doing immediately but probably in the next 5 years. Does anyone know the law/building guidelines in the following:

We are thinking of extending bedroom 3 which is above our small hall so would be 2 storey build extending into the front garden about 5/6 feet. I mentionned it to my mum and she felt there were laws about how far you would be away from the road. I think there would probably be about 10ft length of garden space left before our hedge. We're not on a main road either we're on an estate.

I've also just played with tax credits calculator and apparantly when baby arrives our payments will jump from £560 a year to nearly £6000. I will believe that when i see it!

pammyj74

ooh hope you do get that then when baby arrives. I would love to extend my DDs bedroom out the back and make a playroom downstairs if possible but it would cost a heck of a lot and I think I would probably rather move.
I see your bday is 2 days after mine, another stubborn bull then

I loved the feeling of baby kicking, its brill isnt it??

newgirly

Hi cath, I'm sure its harder to extend to the front of the property, but there is a planning portal you can go on I've been on once before with an interactive house that shows planning rules and regs. Not sure if it was a goverment site or my local council one, i will try and have a look.

i've just had a look and there is a goverment planning portal site but I don't know how to do link sorry. Just google goverment planning portal.

CathT

I'm torn too Pammy,i would love a shiny new house but know our boxroom is off-putting but we do have the playroom which could be a bedroom suitable for a teen perhaps. It's just the whole moving process i dread, it ws bad enough last time when we had to exchange and complete on the same day!

Cheers for that newgirly, i will have a look.

Quite a constructive couple of days,DH got paid yesterday and me today so all bills paid, transfers done and things look a lot healthier than last month! I got paid £120 OT so I have sent that to maternity/mortgage savings but we may end up dipping into it for holiday spends. We need to plan better when we go away though and take a packed lunch out with us, we are too quick to buy lunch/drink while out and it soon adds up. I'm getting quite excited about our little family holiday, we have never minded going without holidays but i think it's important dd gets them.

Think it may be a morning of surveys before work later, i'm working most of the Easter weekend, only off on Monday! Payday in May will be rather nice though!

lincoln-potter

CathT wrote: »

I'm torn too Pammy,i would love a shiny new house but know our boxroom is off-putting but we do have the playroom which could be a bedroom suitable for a teen perhaps. It's just the whole moving process i dread, it ws bad enough last time when we had to exchange and complete on the same day!

Hi Cath,

We recently moved home and we completed and exchanged all on the same dayt and you are right it was stressful and not ideal. But once you have moved and are into your lovely new home it is all worth it. I'm not one who would move every few years though otherwise it might put me off more.#

The thing we found was the first month everything was exciting, after 3 months you begin to fret that your house won't sell. Then once an offer comes in you panic to find somewhere, and then finally you worry that it will all fall through. But finally once sorted its definitely worth it!

CathT

lincoln-potter wrote: »

Hi Cath,


The thing we found was the first month everything was exciting, after 3 months you begin to fret that your house won't sell. Then once an offer comes in you panic to find somewhere, and then finally you worry that it will all fall through. But finally once sorted its definitely worth it!

Our problem is finding somewhere before our house is on the market, never mind having an offer on it. We probably won't move in the end as there is so much potential here and we are in fantastic area.

I have been looking at my SS (as well all do!) and realised that on top of normal payment of 690 if we OP 150 every month (i think we should easily achieve that tbh) our mortgage will reduce by 1000 every 2 months which looks great in the final column of my SS :j

I realised that with the tax changes I was about £22 better off this month (my wages do vary anyway due to weekend enhancements) but was able to compare this one to a previous month. So, I have sent an extra £20 to the OP payment for May totalling £120 so far. It has been another tight month due to CC spending, paying holiday balance and breakdown renewal. Also I saved all my OT money instead of OP it.

pammyj74

I havent OP'd anything this month as I am still in the umming and arring stage and have been saving it instead BUT I know deep down I will stay here. The park is over the road and its been lovely to spend lots of time there in the lovely sunshine. The shops are walking distance and we walked down to Aldi last night to get some fruit and veg. Town and school is walking distance too. I just wish work was nearby then it would be a no brainer but work do let me do what hours I want basically. The ONLY thing that would make me move is seeing a bargain repo in a great location with lots of room for change and poss profit. I think from all the stories on here if I do move it would have to tug at my heart strings and be poss bigger than what we have now. I havent seen that yet in my price range.

Its been horrible not OPing anything as I love putting the OP figure in my SS and see the total go down. I think I will just bite the bullet and OP today

sarahevie

A second child gave us an extra £350 over CB, CTC so it can make a big difference. We do get less than it showed on entitledto though, I think that they are overly generous on there.

gratefulforhelp_2

Cath, your planning officer at the local council will happily chat to you about any potential plans and give you an indication as to what will be acceptable. x

CathT

Pammy, it's a difficult decision to make isn't it. I still keep an eye out on rightmove!

I'm surprised the difference it makes actually SarahEvie but time will tell if we will get it all.

Thanks Grateful, I never though of just giving them a ring, just assumed i'd have to submit an application! Our next door but one neighbours have a full width ground floor extension and have just applied for 2nd storey. I would love to know how they're creating extra space and how it will look etc. I should be nosy and pop round!