Planning Permission Advice

ik1

I am in the process of extending my property and have finished the permitted development on my lounge but now need to extend the wrap around two storey extension ontop of a garage and kitchen.

The issue I have is that I have limited time as my builder is due to go on holiday in a few months and also I want to move from my current property and my Architect seems to have only applied for planning permission in the last few days when I was expecting him to do it several weeks ago.

My extension is pretty much what everyone else is doing in the area. The property is a 1930's semi and majority of the wrap around extensions are similar in size to what I want to do. I have spoken to neighbours beforehand telling them of my plans and I made sure I meet the 45 degree light rule so do not block windows on neighbours property. My neighbours are easy going so don't think this will be an issue.

The big question is do I start work and take a risk that the council will not ask me to may any major changes to the plans?

The two things that the council could ask is A) to set the extension from the front a few inches back but then there are number of side extensions which do not have this and some do on the same road. So in theory this should not be a problem for me to have a flush wall with existing. to limit how far back I go on the kitchen but again I would not block any neighbours windows.

So any advice? anyone done this? is it a big No-No.

Many thanks for reading and the advice!!

SleeplessinScandinavia

Hi there!


I would ‘err on the side of caution’ and not start until the permission is granted. In a worst case scenario, the council might later obtain a court order to pull the extension down (if it didn’t have their consent)

Despite your plans seeming acceptable, for your neighbourhood, the council may well have recently changed their policy on ‘planning permission’ issues – and say ‘no’ when they might previously have said ‘yes’.

If you want to move, why go to the trouble of paying for extension work to your present house? The would-be new owners may have their own ideas about the property and not ‘rate’ the work you’ve done as being to their liking


Might it not be better to use the money you would have spent on the extension, towards your next property?

Just a thought

divadee

It all depends if you are willing to pay to change anything the planning department may require after it has been built!

It is a very risky strategy and in my area likely to annoy the planning officers. You are basically sticking two fingers up at them saying I'm doing it anyway.

As long as you go into it with full knowledge that you may have expensive bills for rectifying any conditions planning may put on the permission.

You pays your money and you take your choice.

ik1

Thank you both. Just to explain a little, I am doing the extension in my new property and I have a requirement to move to this new house asap hence want to start further work as I have finished the permitted development there.

I certainly dont't want to annoy the planning department however on our application the Architect informs me that there is an option to let them know whether work has already started and what he said was that normally they would inform you to stop if they didn't like the look of the plans but if the plans look standard that they have allowed before and providing neighbours don't have any issue the plans will most likely get approved.

As you both said I should be cautious and I understand I am taking a calculated risk mainly due to the Architect delaying the submission for no apparent reason but if the planning have recently have allowed similar plans (last 6 months) they shouldn't have issues but yes I know there is always a chance they pick something that they are not happy with. The two things I mentioned in my first post relate to the first floor as the ground floor is unlikely to affected as its pretty standard design. About 4 doors away have done the same type of extension about 2 years ago and I am aware of surrounding roads where exactly similar size extensions have been done.

Obviously I am taking a risk just trying to quantify how big a risk!!

southcoastrgi

i'll give you an example, customer bought a house, knocked it down, applied for planning to build a new house, all passed no problems, built the house (shell only at this stage no plumbing or electrics) but was fully water tight with windows & finished roof, council came along & measured the distance from the pavement to the front of the property 30 feet, it should have been 32 feet, work stopped for 6 months, on the 7th month the jcb moved in & torn down the whole house, it stayed like that just as a pile of rubble with a 6 foot fence along the pavement for 6 yrs, the plot was finally sold & now there is a nice new house there, so in my view you don't do anything without the council's permission in writing

keystone

90 minutes on here this morning to get no further forward mainly because nobody on this site can second guess exactly how your local planning boys will handle it. You wasted your time and it would have been better invested getting on the phone to them or popping in for a chat. This what you should do now.

Sorry if thats a little harsh.

Cheers