House improvement

unholyangel

dollythedog wrote: »

but I'm not writing a novel ... try this:
"Stream of consciousness writing is an exercise that involves you getting a notebook, picking up a pen and just writing. You ignore punctuation, style, grammar, format… anything that stops you from writing.

The idea behind stream of consciousness writing, therefore, is that you write in a state of flow.

What does this mean?

It means that, if you’re feeling out of sorts, for whatever reason (maybe you’ve had a bereavement and you’ve got that aching feeling inside; maybe you’ve had a bad day at work; maybe you’re in a stressful relationship) you may be experiencing a sinking feeling inside. That sinking feeling is what drives you to write - and you do so continuously, without interruption and without taking your pen off the paper."

if you look at the time of my first post you'll see it was late, I'd had a worrying evening, I've had much helpful advice from a different forum populated by builders and also from another thread on this forum so I just thought I'd put my thoughts down for the reasons above to help me sleep, and maybe some sensitive soul might read it, understand and come up with some helpful advice

the wrong forum! I deeply and grovellingly apologise to everyone who's taken such offence at my miserable attempt to find solace late at night, solicitor's appointment next week to formalise info from Citizens Advice about consumer legislation covering my matter, bye for now everyone

oh, and I think it's Virginia Woolf, not Wolf?

I think the relevance you're overlooking is that it's a narration style. Which is one sided storytelling. It's really not suitable for a back & forth communication. If it fails to have structure or fails to be concise, it just means important information gets drowned in a sea of irrelevant text.

I'm not bothered about punctuation etc online as its informal and thus, formalities need not apply. But paragraphs are definite must imo. The simple fact is people don't read large paragraphs of text online.

I'm an avid reader and have read many lengthy literary works. Even I struggle without paragraphs though.

Manxman_in_exile

dollythedog wrote: »

...

nobody on this forum has to read anything here, if they find it too much like hard work, too boring, nobody makes them do it, why not just skim over and pass if you haven't anything constructive to say?
...QUOTE]


But the initial advice to which you took exception was constructive. It was advising you to make your post more readable in order to increase the likelihood of people reading it and, perhaps, offering advice that may be useful to you. Isn't that why you posted in the first place?


For your information, it may surprise you to realise that most contributors here do so in order to assist people with their problems. And sometimes they will point out to posters that they might get a better and more informed response to their issue if they make it more readable and more accessible. People who point this out are trying to assist you, unlike those who get bored reading a wall of text and just ignore it.


It would seem you'd prefer people to have ignored you...

DoaM

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

It would seem you'd prefer people to have ignored you...

Indeed. Which begs the question - why did she post in the first place?

dollythedog

George333 wrote: »

I have a feeling you may not like your solicitors advice. The breach/non compliance with planning and lack of building regs is doen to you and not the builder.

the following info was provided by an Architectural Designer who I approached with a view to bringing the project into compliance:

in the section of the Planning Portal on applying for building control approval, it says: "If you are employing a builder, the responsibility will usually be theirs - but you should confirm this at the very beginning"

it was, and my builder assumed responsibility by advising the project he designed himself was exempt from building control approval

it goes on to say : if a person carrying out building work contravenes the Building Regulations, the local authority may prosecute them in the Magistrates' Court where an unlimited fine may be imposed (sections 35 and 35A of the Building Act 1984). Prosecution is possible up to two years after the completion of the offending work. This action will usually be taken against the person carrying out the work (builder, installer or main contractor)"

secondly, Citizens' Advice Bureau say the work falls under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and answered my questions as follows:

1. was I entitled to rely on the advice he gave me, namely that neither planning permission nor building control approval were needed? Yes, as you would rely on the trader service being carried out with reasonable care and skill.

2. should I have to pay again to have the work removed? Under supply and goods and services- works & materials; the remedies are for repair or replacement that should be provided free of charge, within a reasonable time, and not cause significant inconvenience. There is no set limit for number of repairs or replacements.

3. do I have any right to a refund of the monies already paid? You may be able to seek damages from the trader; damages could be for a monetary amount you feel is reasonable to compensate for the breach and ultimately needs to be negotiated between yourself and the trader.

who's right? I dunno, I'm an accountant not an architect or a solicitor

I hope that's enough paragraphs for anyone, I'm no longer (a) jetlagged (b) in shock over my dog's cancer diagnosis and (c) passing the time till the sun comes up to take the said dog out to enjoy ourselves:j

theonlywayisup

I am clearly too late to this thread as I have no idea of your original question. Therefore your post above this is difficult to comment on as it isn't in context.

With planning permission the responsibility will ultimately lie with the owner of the building.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200187/your_responsibilities

With all building work, the owner of the property (or land) in question is ultimately responsible for complying with the relevant planning rules and building regulations (regardless of the need to apply for planning permission and/or building regulations approval or not).

And when you chose to take a point of text, you also need to take it in context.

If you are employing a builder, the responsibility will usually be theirs - but you should confirm this at the very beginning. You should also bear in mind that if you are the owner of the building, it is ultimately you who may be served with an enforcement notice if the work does not comply with the regulations.

dollythedog

theonlywayisup wrote: »

I am clearly too late to this thread as I have no idea of your original question. Therefore your post above this is difficult to comment on as it isn't in context.

With planning permission the responsibility will ultimately lie with the owner of the building.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200187/your_responsibilities

And when you chose to take a point of text, you also need to take it in context.

the matter hinges on advice given by my builder which proved incorrect, namely that a project he designed needed neither BC approval nor planning permission, had he suggested I check for myself of course I would have done, have since done so, and trying to find out how to rectify the matter

of course you're right and I've since found out all the above, reported to BC, apologised for the error and explained how it happened over a month ago, have since been working my way thrrough a maze of unfamiliar rules & terminology with no help from my builder at all, and finally, yesterday, found a way to have the Building Inspector to visit in the near future to clarify absolutely as I've had so much conflicting advice from other sources

as it's BC who are the authority in this matter, their opinion is, I believe, unquestionable

the above extracts were taken from advice given by industry professionals as being the most relevant, at present I'm unsure whether consumer law prevails over building law, which is why I'm seeing a solicitor (fixed fee basis, a tiny, tiny sum compared to what I've paid the builder)

I've had a long-standing trust-based relationship with my builder for 12 years, I did his accounts for 6 years where I was signatory to his bank account, registered agent with HMRC, responsible for not only his trade/client accounts but monthly, quarterly, annual reporting to the highest standards of ethics, accuracy & transparency, I am accountable to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and always, always check out any uncertainty to protect my clients

he and his subcontractors, whose CIS tax I also did, never had a single occasion to question or complain

my builder knows this, he knows I never try to bend or break rules, I relied absolutely on his professional advice and from what CAB have said, was 'entitled' to do so

the remedy I am seeking is to comply fully with BC regulations, finding out how to do that is difficult for someone with no industry experience who's already taken bad advice from someone perceived as experienced & knowledgeable

time to chip the ice off the car and run round the leisure lakes with dog while she still can

dollythedog

ps very quick afterthought - it's the same in my profession, the client is ultimately responsible to HMRC and will be pursued by them if they do not return correctly, but if I advised a client they didn't need to submit a tax return when they actually did, I'd expect to have to put the matter right at my expense (which is what PII is for) and be hung out to dry by ACCA

fortunately for everyone, it's never happened!

theonlywayisup

dollythedog wrote: »

the matter hinges on advice given by my builder which proved incorrect, namely that a project he designed needed neither BC approval nor planning permission, had he suggested I check for myself of course I would have done, have since done so, and trying to find out how to rectify the matter

of course you're right and I've since found out all the above, reported to BC, apologised for the error and explained how it happened over a month ago, have since been working my way thrrough a maze of unfamiliar rules & terminology with no help from my builder at all, and finally, yesterday, found a way to have the Building Inspector to visit in the near future to clarify absolutely as I've had so much conflicting advice from other sources

as it's BC who are the authority in this matter, their opinion is, I believe, unquestionable

the above extracts were taken from advice given by industry professionals as being the most relevant, at present I'm unsure whether consumer law prevails over building law, which is why I'm seeing a solicitor (fixed fee basis, a tiny, tiny sum compared to what I've paid the builder)

I've had a long-standing trust-based relationship with my builder for 12 years, I did his accounts for 6 years where I was signatory to his bank account, registered agent with HMRC, responsible for not only his trade/client accounts but monthly, quarterly, annual reporting to the highest standards of ethics, accuracy & transparency, I am accountable to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and always, always check out any uncertainty to protect my clients

he and his subcontractors, whose CIS tax I also did, never had a single occasion to question or complain

my builder knows this, he knows I never try to bend or break rules, I relied absolutely on his professional advice and from what CAB have said, was 'entitled' to do so

the remedy I am seeking is to comply fully with BC regulations, finding out how to do that is difficult for someone with no industry experience who's already taken bad advice from someone perceived as experienced & knowledgeable

time to chip the ice off the car and run round the leisure lakes with dog while she still can

Building Control are usually very helpful. After all, they want the building to comply with regulations. Assuming you have finished your works you can apply for "regularisation" to enable your building to be complicit.

You can have a read here https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-approval/how-to-apply

You have two options*, go with your local authority or employ one privately, the latter may be easier for you because they will be under your employment and may be able to give options that your LA don't have time to explain - although I have never found BC to be anything other than helpful.

*obviously I am not aware of the original problem/post so this may not true but it's given in the spirit of the replies I have been able to make sense of.

dollythedog

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Building Control are usually very helpful. After all, they want the building to comply with regulations. Assuming you have finished your works you can apply for "regularisation" to enable your building to be complicit.

You can have a read here https://www.gov.uk/building-regulations-approval/how-to-apply

You have two options*, go with your local authority or employ one privately, the latter may be easier for you because they will be under your employment and may be able to give options that your LA don't have time to explain - although I have never found BC to be anything other than helpful.

*obviously I am not aware of the original problem/post so this may not true but it's given in the spirit of the replies I have been able to make sense of.

gosh I really wish I hadn't been so knackered/distressed/shocked and generally debilitated the night I wrote my first post and stupidly tried advice on writing therapy to help clear my mind and sort out my thoughts!

this whole thing has been a huge mess I never saw coming and I've tried to take advice from many different sources as my builder hasn't had a clue how to sort it, but sometimes the advice is conflicting

the reason I posted on this Consumer Rights thread was to analyse and follow up advice from Citzens' Advice Bureau, I've had a lot of help on the building side from another forum (where every contributor, having seen photos, says the job is a botch)

but to answer your very valid comments yes you are quite right and my object all along since I discovered the problem is to gain the assistance and advice of Building Control in gaining compliance but had to go through a huge learning curve to find out what my options were

firstly it was likewise suggested I use a private inspector by the architectural technician I engaged to re-design my builder's project to compliance standards, I approached JHAI who said I can't use a private inspector because the work was started without application to BC (because I accepted my builder's advice) and regularisation can only be achieved via the local authority

secondly, to apply to regularise the job using a corrected version of my builder's non-compliant design would costs thousands of pounds in technical drawings/fees plus additional build costs I didn;t know about and can't afford

so I've had to decide to regularise by removing the non-compliant works and returning the space to 'garage' by local authority definitions which is where the dispute with my builder has arisen because I haven't so far been able to find an authoritative definition, the Building Inspector would not visit without an application for which i was quoted £2000

the upcoming site visit by the Building Inspector is in relation to a window which was put into the garage wall, although I questioned my builder in detail, particularly about the need for a lintel, he still said no approval was needed which is incorrect, apparently any new opening made in existing brickwork requires approval, he did not know this

I've found out that I can apply for regularisation of the window alone for only £230 so that was put in the post Saturday morning and I hope for a visit very soon

the Consumer Rights questions relate to who takes responsibility for paying for and undoing the non-compliant works, given that I asked very specifically before accepting my builder's estimate and at other times during the work and was told every time no approval was needed, and my builder refuses to discuss this, I've said all along i will negotiate but I just get repeated requests for 'the running total I have got to pay' and big red numbers that don't add up

what if .... when I've walked the dog and provided the vet hasn't shocked me back into delerium with a confirmed cancer diagnosis, I start over again and write a new post following the structure set out at the start of the forum, which I am sorry I was so upset I never read before posting the first time?

I can't distract myself from this forever, it has got to be sorted and my builder just ignores everything I ask him, I think he really doesn't know and doesn't want to admit it

I further apologise to anyone who considers this verbal diarrhoea but I'm trying to work through a problem that arose 6 weeks ago and has mutated through that time, but if you've read this far it must interest you in some way? :silenced:

theonlywayisup

dollythedog wrote: »

what if .... when I've walked the dog and provided the vet hasn't shocked me back into delerium with a confirmed cancer diagnosis, I start over again and write a new post following the structure set out at the start of the forum, which I am sorry I was so upset I never read before posting the first time?

You can edit your first post and put the details back in and perhaps put a note = Please refer to post number xx onwards. That should make more sense for people reading and won't cause a duplicate post.

Back to your issue. I didn't know you couldn't have a private BC for regularisation.

You have taken the option to revert the works less one window, which is your decision but without knowing the extent of what you have done and what you were trying to achieve, I would have gone along the BC regularisation route. Plans don't have to be thousands but (again without knowing what is done/to be done) the build is likely to cost that much.

The bigger picture (I think) for you at the moment is not to dwell on what you should have done, but get the issue fixed and then think about a way forward. If you feel this has been stressful and too much work, then I will tell you that action against your builder will be worse.

There are some exceptional people on these forums that give up their free time to help - some are seasoned and experienced builders/developers. If you detail what has happened you may find more inexpensive remedies - you may not. But be mindful there is nothing worse than a block of text with delirium at the core. I didn't read your OP so please don't take that as being directed at you. Try to be factual and leave the emotion out of it. Posting a few pics may also help.