Extensions - No planning permission required.

John_Pierpoint

You may well have an extension that you would not be allowed to build if you applied again today?

Which way do the windows face ?

Windows, especially the high tech. modern ones, can be "U negative"; in that they harvest more energy from the low winter sun during the day time than they give back to the cold outside during the night - especially if you have appropriate curtains and blinds.

Really2

RenovationMan wrote: »

Lofts on modern homes mostly have prefabricated trusses that prevent the loft space from being easily used (the trusses cross the main part of the loft space). Often you have to remove the roof and start again which puts the price up massively.

We had an extension on our last house, which was a new build. We were lucky in that we had a larger plot than the rest of the estate and when the extension was added it reduced the garden size to the same as everyone else's. We had to get plannin permission because the extension was over the permitted size. It was very straightforward apart from we had windows that opened the full width of the house and so we had to put extra insulation in other parts of the house to offset the large expanse of windows.

They are sliping back away from that though.
http://www.loft-conversion-uk.com/loftconversionstructural.html

Modern Loft Conversion Structural Benefits

As mentioned above there is a new trend amongst house builders to revert to the older style of roof making loft conversions very easy. Nowadays many houses are built in a style called RIR. This stands for room in roof trusses and they are actually specifically made to allow a loft conversion to be built.

Basically the RIR structure is an empty shell with two vertical and one horizontal beams supporting the triangle of the roof. If you have got one a roof like this than converting the loft will be a piece of cake.

It is all fairly irrelvent to me, but many sites are mixing pre converted lofts with normal style houses. So for these sites the old style prefabricated trusses are becoming less common.

tyllwyd

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

....So, will this make a difference to house prices? On the one hand, it makes me think that the price differential between say a 3 bed a 4 bed house will have to sit in a band reasonably close to the cost of an extension. Afterall, if you don't need any planning permission, just buy the 3 bed and add an extension. ....

We extended a 3 bed house with a two storey extension to become a 4 bed house. Don't underestimate the cost of doing that - even though we've got a detached house, with a plot big enough that the extended house still sits comfortably within it, it is still touch and go whether we will be able to re-sell the house at a price that covers the building costs added onto what the original 3 bed would be worth in the current market.

planning_officer

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

In short, the vast majority of properties will be able to have a loft conversion and add a decent sized extension with zero planning permission required. As far as I can see, this only came in a couple of years ago, so there hasn't really been time for this to make a difference to many. But it seems like a pretty big deal to me.

As others have said, permitted development has been the same since 1995 until it was altered in 2008. In many ways, the potential for extensions is similar - before the system was volume based, so you could extend in a variety of places, subject to other criteria. Now, each elevation is treated differently and has it's own criteria re. height, depth, width etc.

In practice, permitted development is now a lot stricter in certain areas (conservation areas, AONBs etc - only small single storey rear extensions allowed - now no side extensions, no two storey extensions, no dormer windows etc) but even in other non-designated areas, the limitations on height, depth etc actually restrict quite a lot of what you can do. For example, a standard conservatory of, say, around 40 cubic metres volume and 3.5 metres depth on a semi-detached house was probably permitted development prior to 2008 (subject to no other extensions), but now it requires permission as the maximum depth allowed as permitted development on a semi is 3 metres. Just an example of how certain extensions can now be more restrictive, although the overall potential to extend a house is now greater in most cases.

By the way, loft conversions have never required planning permission as they're just internal works. Planning permission can be required for external additions - rooflights, dormers, hip to gable enlargements, etc, but not for the internal works.

chucknorris

tyllwyd wrote: »

We extended a 3 bed house with a two storey extension to become a 4 bed house. Don't underestimate the cost of doing that - even though we've got a detached house, with a plot big enough that the extended house still sits comfortably within it, it is still touch and go whether we will be able to re-sell the house at a price that covers the building costs added onto what the original 3 bed would be worth in the current market.

This is something we may do at some point. The extension I would build would be to add a large third reception about 16 x 16' (but it would become the prime reception room) and a master bedroom above with an ensuite. I reckon it would cost about 50-55k to a decent specification (including some sound dampening as it would be about 150' from a railway line).

I had an estate agent over to confirm my views over the added value which was more or less the same as what I thought, in the region of 80-85k

nembot

chucknorris wrote: »

This is something we may do at some point. The extension I would build would be to add a large third reception about 16 x 16' (but it would become the prime reception room) and a master bedroom above with an ensuite. I reckon it would cost about 50-55k to a decent specification (including some sound dampening as it would be about 150' from a railway line).

I had an estate agent over to confirm my views over the added value which was more or less the same as what I thought, in the region of 80-85k

In the vast majority of cases, you won't recover all money spent on loft conversions etc. Well... if Sarah Beeny, Phil and Kirsty are to be believed - although there are possibly exceptions to the rule.

PasturesNew

On a new build estate I am familiar with, 3-bed semis have a back garden of 24' wide and about 12' deep. Nothing at the side. 4 bed semis on the same estate are £45k more for exactly the same style.

chucknorris

nembot wrote: »

In the vast majority of cases, you won't recover all money spent on loft conversions etc. Well... if Sarah Beeny, Phil and Kirsty are to be believed - although there are possibly exceptions to the rule.

You have to look at specific cases rather than generalisations so I am only interested in my specific case, I'm a chartered quantity surveyor so I am confident of my cost plan and also quite confident of the added value. There is a real shortage of good quality 4 bed detached houses in Dorking, we gave up looking and bought our 3 bed house when we moved here almost 6 years ago. Plus my street is a particularly good and desired street. It's not a loft conversion it would be a two storey extension (with planning permission, they have already indicated the application probably would be looked upon favourably).

chucknorris

PasturesNew wrote: »

On a new build estate I am familiar with, 3-bed semis have a back garden of 24' wide and about 12' deep. Nothing at the side. 4 bed semis on the same estate are £45k more for exactly the same style.

About what I would expect (on minimal info) but I think ours would add at least 80k rather than 45k for the following reasons:

On my street detached 3 beds go for about 500k and 4 beds 600k

The rooms added would be the largest rooms (rather than mid sized or small rooms)

It would also be adding a second (ensuite) bathroom

There would not be much impact on the garden as it's about 120' x 35'

The reason I haven't already done it is because we do not particularly need the extra space (although it would be nice to have it though). So it's more to do with if we ever plan to move which we may as we are thinking along the lines of retiring somwehere else (possibly Devon in about 10 years)

PasturesNew

I want just one of everything in a house.
1 kitchen, 1 utility, 1 breakfast bar, 1 living room, 1 conservatory, 1 porch, 1 bedroom, 1 'boxroom'/study, 1 bathroom, 1 en-suite, 1 downstairs loo, 1 double garage (doubling as storage and space to open the doors and vacuum the car under cover.

Outside I'd just want one summerhouse and one d4mned good view