Decking

Tax_Slave

Ithaca wrote: »

Not just decking... those wooden climbing frames with the little raised house bit also need planning permission.

A massive trampoline, however, doesn't need permission but in terms of lost privacy for neighbours there's not a lot of difference.

I could knock down decking , sit at back patio doors in a deck chair with knotted hat and string vest and still have same view as from decking :rotfl:

Tax_Slave

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

Insurance is useless and the council isn't going to find out now or care after 12 years.

However, if the buyer (or rather his solicitor/lender) don't want to budge but are placated by that insurance then I say that's still money well spent to allow you to move on. It should be quite cheap.

Sure it's just a storm in a tea cup.
If it causes me grief I will walk away from house sale.

It was same when we sold our holiday cottage in Cornwall near Bude.
We had a mining survey and three years later sale was being delayed due to another mining survey. I called buyer and said no new Tin mines have been dug in last three years ....so skip this requirement or we find another buyer. He laughed and said he would call his solicitor to make sale proceed.

jimmy230

Entirely up to you whether you leave the decking in place, but any building operations (e.g. to put up the decking) will become lawful and immune from planning enforcement action 4 years from the date the works are substantially complete.

Proving when the works were completed can be difficult and often an insurance policy is the easiest way forward. If not a time stamped aerial photo taken over 4 years ago would also prove that the decking has been in place for the required period of time to be immune from any enforcement action.

Fuzzyness

changes to Permitted Development rights a few years ago did in fact bring in the need to apply for planning permission for decking over a certain height from the ground. so if you were installing your decking now it is possible you would need planning permission for it. as your decking was installed 12 years ago and well before the changes in permitted development rights you dont need planning permission for it.

EmmyLou30

I imagine 12 year old decking looks old by now even if you don't have the original receipt, so clearly older than 4 years so the council can't enforce anything. But as others have said, a cheap indemnity policy to get the house sale worth thousands through is probably easiest if you have nervous buyers or they have a twitchy mortgage provider.

Haylescom

We had this as a question on the paperwork you fill in saying when electrics were last tested, FENSA certificates etc can't remember whar the form is called). It asks if you have decked areas and include planning permission if above 30cm and more than 50% of the garden.
Our decking was put in by the previous owner but during the house sale (strange I know), 10 years ago. I'm sure when I looked into it the installation predated the planning permission requirements so yours would too. On the form I just stated it had been installed prior to these regulations, not by us, and added paperwork from the EA at the time stating it would be fully decked. We weren't asked to complete an indemnity and nothing more was said.

Niv

Agree to remove the decking before you move.


If you are able to speak to the buyer directly then ask them if they want the decking, if they do then simply forget to remove it. If the buyer changes mind after sale simply take it down.


I would not be paying £100 for insurance for something I could remove in a day and burn - so not even need to transport the waste off site!

Slinky

Haylescom wrote: »

We had this as a question on the paperwork you fill in saying when electrics were last tested, FENSA certificates etc can't remember whar the form is called). It asks if you have decked areas and include planning permission if above 30cm and more than 50% of the garden.
Our decking was put in by the previous owner but during the house sale (strange I know), 10 years ago. I'm sure when I looked into it the installation predated the planning permission requirements so yours would too. On the form I just stated it had been installed prior to these regulations, not by us, and added paperwork from the EA at the time stating it would be fully decked. We weren't asked to complete an indemnity and nothing more was said.

Good place to hide a body............

Haylescom

Slinky that's what I thought, especially when the cats started sniffing around it!
The current owners have pulled it all up and there's been no Brookside/Trevor Jordache moment, so I'm assuming it was ok!

Tax_Slave

The decking certainly shows age and being over 5 years old ....it is 12 years ago we put it in. I used to oil it every two years. Must admit as I have been away abroad for three years and had house sitters (family) it slipped last year. The oil is not cheap ...before we decided to put house on market I bought the oil ready for this spring at a cost of £78. Oh well ....it can be used to fuel the fire when I burn it :-)
Anyway as an update , the purchaser has not come back with any further response since we answered the planning permission question.