How old is the house?!

EachPenny · 21 March 2018 at 9:03PM

jolester wrote: »

I get the feeling you guys have more appreciation for old builds

I just like "modern" so thought flattening and starting again might have been easier than trying to extend and redoing all the insides !

If you are serious about flattening and starting again then you need to do your homework on the planning process before you buy.

If it was formerly an estate cottage then there is a good chance it was sold away from the estate with covenants* governing changes in external appearance. Have you checked the covenants to see what you can and cannot do with the property?

It might be listed or in a conservation area (but you should know about that already hopefully*). But even if it isn't, a planning application to demolish and rebuild is likely to pass across the desk of the LPA's heritage officer who might raise objections - even to the point it may become locally listed.

Also, 'newcomers' arriving in a village with the intention of demolishing a much loved building and replacing it with something 'modern' are unlikely to endear themselves to the locals. You might not care about being friends with your new neighbours, but before making that decision try living in the village through a couple of snowy winters first. If you do not need one of the local farmers (possibly a tennant of the estate) to dig you out, or someone with a chainsaw to remove the tree blocking your road, then you'll be fine. Probably.

As for extensions, previous extensions are normally only relevant in terms of Permitted Development Rights. For old houses the 'original' house is taken as being how it stood on 1 July 1948, so any extensions completed before that date would be classed as part of the 'original' building. If you make a planning application for a new extension, then the planning officers will look at the size of the building (including existing extensions) and the proposed extension, and consider whether it is appropriate in terms of the setting and the utilisation of the plot of land.

*P.S. If your solicitor genuinely believed this property was built in 2003 then you might want to review some of these basic assumptions.

Smodlet · 21 March 2018 at 10:11PM

If that house was built in 2003, so was I... Unless it should have won its architect a prize for being the house most convincingly in keeping with the period ever.