Should loft law be left as is?

Former_MSE_Archna

It's proposed that planning permission for loft extensions and other house conversions should be made much easier to get. Great news if you want to do up your house, but bad news if you want to object to the disruption and hassle of your neighbours doing theirs. Which of these is nearest to your view?

A. Easy planning permission is good.
B. No change.
C. It should be tougher to get permission.

Vote here or click reply to discuss.

magyar

The planning process should be made clearer and more consistent, not necessarily 'easier to get'. For example, I just took a little look at my home county's web site (North Wilts District Council) and their web site is far from clear as to how the process works.

It should be straightforward to apply, straightforward to complain.

JBEILBY

It should be tougher and include the extremely large summerhouses people now want in their gardens. Our new neighbours now have a conservatory - so we now look out at a brick wall. Plus a huge log cabin the width of their garden has been installed. Both items did not need planning permission and both will now affect the sale of my property.

moneyisanumber

I for one would not be concerned about someone having a log cabin in their neighbors garden when looking to buy a place. There are enough people like me in the world that I wouldn't worry too much.

I have to say I think that planning permission SHOULD be made easier to get. People should be allowed to do make whatever modifications they like to their homes within reason and people shouldn't whine about it. I'd can't imagine such a person would stay sane very long with the noise and views from my window.

On the other hand, if their modification affects the FINANCIAL VALUE of their neighbors property as determined by an independent investigator (who is overseen by a committee to police them and make sure they're not taking back-handers) then the person requesting planning permission should be obligated to compensate them financially (this must be obligatory to stop pressure being put on the neighbors not to accept).

That way if they don't like it, they can move and haven't lost out.

If I ran the country that's what would happen at any rate. Now for how I'd sort out the countries transport problems...

Poppy9

Planning should be more transparent and consistent. In my City millions of pounds of european money is being spent giving rows of terraced house a face lift to restore them to their original glory. Householders are having free rendering, windows, doors, roofs etc. to try to rectify the dreadful effects of modernisations over the years but then in other areas people are re-rendering their houses in odd colours, replacing window etc. not at all consistent with neighbouring properties and spoiling the appearance of a street. I think you should need planning permission to alter the outside appearance of your house.

Tickle_2

We have just had an extension completed on the rear of our house, it's quite large, adding nearly 50% to the size of our old house, but it is completely in keeping with the rest of the neighbourhood, as all the houses are unique, ours was one of the last to be extended.
However, our original plans were rejected due to a 45degree line of site issue with next doors upstairs window & we finally had the upstairs built with a corner cut off our new bedroom. The builders had never heard of this, i know of other people who have had bigger extensions, impeding neighbours views far more and were applied for at the same time as ours & the neighbours couldn't give a monkey's about it - all the corner means is they can see more of our garage!

So who exactly objected? No-one. On the other hand I've heard of people objecting to plans for their neighbours in rural areas for views & sunrises etc, where the council have said what the hell, let's grant it anyway!
My self & many others believe that it all depends on who assesses your plans & inspects the site, what kind of mood they're in & whether they've recently looked at the "rule book for assessors"! A bit like getting your drivers license I suppose, but that's a story for a different day...:rolleyes:

magyar

Totally agree with you Tickle. I actually work in an industry where planning is our main issue. Whilst I'm not necessarily comparing building an extension on your house with industrial-scale stuff, the problem is the same: with one council on one day we can get a completely different result to the same council on another day.

Bargainetta

Be very wary of loft extensions. Should you ever need or want to let your house it could mean that under new regulations you would need a licence and they are expensive and only last 5 years. May possibly devalue the property.

Former_MSE_Lawrence

It's proposed that planning permission for loft extensions and other house conversions should be made much easier to get. Great news if you want to do up your house, but bad news if you want to object to the disruption and hassle of your neighbours doing theirs. Which of these is nearest to your view?

A. Easy planning permission is good. - 52.4% (1605)

B. No change. - 35.8% (1097)

C. It should be tougher to get permission. - 11.6% (356)

Total votes: 3058

Poppy9

MSE_Lawrence wrote:

It's proposed that planning permission for loft extensions and other house conversions should be made much easier to get. Great news if you want to do up your house, but bad news if you want to object to the disruption and hassle of your neighbours doing theirs.

It's an absolute nightmare. Our neighbours had a loft conversion. Took over 4 months, during that time we endured hammering, banging etc all day from 8am -5pm 5 days a week. It was ok for them as they both work full time but I don't and my OH works shifts. It was impossible for him to sleep before going into work at 6pm to do a 12 hour shift. This went on for 4 months. Then on the weekend the man of the house would start on his own DIY. More drilling, banging and sanding. In addition to this the builders next door started to erect scafolding on my side of the house without asking permission. I told them no they couldn't as it would be outside DD bedroom and they just said they can and they would. OH had to come home from work to tell them no. Then there was the falling bits on our garden. Nails, broken tiles, glass etc. We were left to clear it up. And out of this conversion what did they gain. 1 extra bathroom as they lost a bedroom on the first floor to install stairs to the loft bedroom so it's still a 4 bed house.

Then there is also the issue of the builders working on the property. Next door had a paved driveway put in by some Irish Tinkers. I don't think it was a co-incidence that there were 6 break ins in the road over the week they were there. According to the police there hadn't been 1 break in on the street in over 10 years.

So perhaps as part of planning permission there should be restrictions on noise, times etc. if neighbours are affected.

Idiophreak

Noisy neighbours, poor workmen etc don't really have anything to do with the process of planning - would they be included under noise polution etc?

Clearly it's irritating and should be stopped, but I don't think it's the planners' place to sort it out.

Whether or not planning permission is given should be a much more consistent, quantifyable decision - would make everyones life easier and would be fairer.

Finally, the process for applying for planning permission ought to be made simpler and speeded up - with house prices such as they are, it's natural for people want to grow their house into the space available.