Refused Permitted Development planning application - Poor advice from architect?

questionthing

I have been using an architect since January 2020 to draw up plans for a full width extension thats 5.4m out from the original back wall of my semi-detached house. The house had already been extended to the side (2 storey) under a full panning application before we bought it. We also wanted to add a small extension on top of the rear extension to extend the 1st floor bathroom and do a garage conversion with porch and bay window. He also said he would do a drawing of the loft as at some point we were thinking of converting it.

The architect said it would be fine to do this. At first he sent me a quote of £1450 for a full planning application for everything (but not submitting the loft as that was a maybe in the future thing). Then sometime later he changed strategy and advised putting the single storey rear extension on a permitted development application and do the bathroom and garage on separate full planning application once the PD was approved. He didn’t send me a new quote for 2 separate applications.

Sometime later we were watching ‘Your home made perfect’ and it mentioned the 45 degree rule. I asked him about this and he said it doesn’t apply to PD.

We were heading for the PD submission around the end of May 2020. On May 25th he suddenly out of the blue sent me 3 new layouts of the rear extension. 1 was L shaped and the other 2 were a weird triangular shape. This is what he said to me…

“Further to our phone call the drawings for the “permitted development” scheme (prior notification) are now complete.

The planning strategy would work as follows: if there are no objections to the size of the extension then following approval the 2nd application would be submitted to pick up the first floor bathroom and front playroom extension.

The risk as discussed is if the neighbour raises an issue with the depth/size of the extension principally the impact of the extension on their property. If concern is raised I suspect the planners will ask for the extension to be reduced in size due to the 45 degree rule.

I have been thinking about an alternative option which would be to submit the rear extension, first floor bathroom, and front extensions in one planning application.
If we do this we will need to respect the 45 degree rule. I have put together 3 options which show how this would work.”

So as he only said there was a risk that the neighbours could complain, and were were pretty confident they wouldn’t we went ahead with the PD option.

8 Weeks later it was refused. 

He sent me the decision letter. He didn’t give me a reason for refusal other that it was a “poor decision”.

So I thought I would call the planning department to find out. They asked if I had seen the officers report. I said no. They said my architect should have sent it to me and fully explained why it went wrong. The planning officer told me where to obtain the report and told me that…

The neighbours didn’t complain. 

The reason was… The development would not comply with A.1 (j)(iii) or j(a) as it would extend beyond a side elevation of the original house and would be more than half the width of the original dwellinghouse and also joins on to an earlier extension (two storey side) that itself is not permitted development. 

Recommendation 

Refuse. 

At this point I decided not to rock the boat and asked him could we submit a new full planning application that was L shaped. He said he would and keep the price lean for me.

As I said earlier, his original quote was for £1450 (This was originally 1 planning application for everything, he switched to a PD and separate full planning strategy later down the line but never talked about additional money). 

By the time the PD plan was submitted I’d already paid him £362.50, and 2 x £725 (£1812.50 in total) so it had already gone over budget.

He submitted the plans and gave me another bill for £750 for the 2nd full planning application, so now we’re north of £2500. Now I’m getting annoyed as he should have proposed a full planning application in the first place, not this PD plan that was impossible to do.

So now I am in dispute over this invoice. He said he had explained all the risks of the PD, I told him it wasn’t a risk, what he proposed was an impossibility. He maintains that the planners made a poor decision and applied local planning laws to a PD application. I said that it didn’t comply with PD and didn’t have a chance of approval.

He said we could have taken it to appeal and won. I said I’m not an expert but probably clever enough to know that if it doesn’t comply with PD then an appeal probably wouldn’t work either. And we didn’t want to go through an appeal anyway.

In my opinion he has made fundamental errors, tried to brush his mistakes under the carpet and then charge me over £1000 more than his original quote for the privilege.

What do you think about this situation?

questionthing

Thought I'd also mention that the loft drawings weren't done. We said he could do them if we ever needed to in the future

Doozergirl

The alarm bell after the first few sentences, when you said you were going for a full width rear extension on a house that had been already extended to the side. 

It's a basic as far as permitted development is concerned.  An extension in the area to the rear of a side extension and to the side of a rear extension is pretty much always not permitted development.  (Sometimes it is if the original house has a particular shape to it, but a regular box of a house, no). 

Class A (j)(iii) is a relevant clause.  (j)(a) isn't a clause at all.  What are you referring to?   I'm asking, but without drawings, it's not really going to help.  

The rest of it doesn't really make sense without the drawings, but is this person qualified?    If it is so obvious that the proposals did not fit under PD, then I wouldn't be paying more and I'd have expected a re-submission under full planning to be free, with the exception of the actual application fee.   

questionthing

Thanks Doozergirl. I suspected as much. I didnt know about the previous extension thing. Looks like the architect didn't know either. He was a recommendation. He owns a large commercial architects but he did this through another company. I've checked and his big company is registered with the ARB but the small one isn't. He has corresponded from both company email addresses about my plans but actually put the submission through the small unregistered company. He maintains that he has done nothing wrong and the planners have made a mistake. He also maintains that it would be won at appeal. My point to him was he should have known that it was going to be refused and should never have submitted it in the first place. And we wanted to build in June/July, not go through a lengthy appeal, which in my opinion could not be won anyway.

questionthing

Doozergirl I think its (j) (iii) not sure what the (a) is but the planners referred to both. Whatever it is he's done it wrong and to ask for an additional £750 is scandalous.

DevilDamo

Even though there can be a little bit of confusion, the PD rules are quite clear of which a professional would be able to interpret and apply in the correct situation.

There is a difference when people go down the Prior Approval/Neighbour Consultation Scheme route. While it’s easy enough to tell whether proposals are PD and the relevant LDC approvals issued therefore, there is not always a positive outcome with Prior Approvals. Nobody can predict if or what concerns a neighbour may raise.

Unfortunately, nobody can predict the outcome of a formal Planning application, no matter how professional or qualified they are.

questionthing

DevilDamo said:

Even though there can be a little bit of confusion, the PD rules are quite clear of which a professional would be able to interpret and apply in the correct situation.

There is a difference when people go down the Prior Approval/Neighbour Consultation Scheme route. While it’s easy enough to tell whether proposals are PD and the relevant LDC approvals issued therefore, there is not always a positive outcome with Prior Approvals. Nobody can predict if or what concerns a neighbour may raise.

Unfortunately, nobody can predict the outcome of a formal Planning application, no matter how professional or qualified they are.

so do you think he made mistakes and he was unprofessional?

DevilDamo

PD can be a bit of a minefield and even the experienced can get things wrong. It doesn’t help that some LPA’s interpret the PD rules slightly differently either. I submitted something with one LPA that it’s LDC was granted and tried the same in another borough and that was refused. The latter said the earlier authority had not interpreted the rules correctly!!!

questionthing

DevilDamo said:

PD can be a bit of a minefield and even the experienced can get things wrong. It doesn’t help that some LPA’s interpret the PD rules slightly differently either. I submitted something with one LPA that it’s LDC was granted and tried the same in another borough and that was refused. The latter said the earlier authority had not interpreted the rules correctly!!!

The A1 (j) (iii) seems crystal clear though wouldnt you say?

DevilDamo

To me it does as I deal with it so much on a daily basis. But the side/rear wall scenario does catch people out... especially if a house has already been extended in the past.

Any chance you can upload your existing plans and elevations so we can see if it is clear enough to identify the PD potential?