Help needed finding a good planning solicitor/lawyer

jaymee

Hello everyone!

I have no idea where to start and wondering if anyone here would know where to look and how to find a good one? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hopefully this is in the right forum, if not can one of the mods move it into the right one? Thanks.

Doozergirl

What do you need them for? And where?

littlered

Im using David Phillips and Patners at the moment. They are very good, quick and the cheapest quotes ive had. Plus they look very professional. They have offices all over the country, the head office is in Liverpool. Hake a look at their website:-
http://www.dpp-law.com/default.asp?id=87

jaymee

Doozergirl wrote: »

What do you need them for? And where?

Hello Doozergirl!

My parents (retired pensioners) have a little room next to their house (separate building) which they want to let out. It's for London. So it will require planning permission and possibly need expanding a little.

jaymee

littlered wrote: »

Im using David Phillips and Patners at the moment. They are very good, quick and the cheapest quotes ive had. Plus they look very professional. They have offices all over the country, the head office is in Liverpool. Hake a look at their website:-
http://www.dpp-law.com/default.asp?id=87

Thanks for your help. I don't think they assist in property planning law but I will ask.

Doozergirl

jaymee wrote: »

Hello Doozergirl!

My parents (retired pensioners) have a little room next to their house (separate building) which they want to let out. It's for London. So it will require planning permission and possibly need expanding a little.

Are you sure you need a planning lawyer then? Have you had permission refused? You would only need a lawyer if you were having trouble.

If you are considering possibilities, then you can visit or telephone the planning department and talk about your options and what would be accpetable to them. My local planning officers are very friendly. You have permitted development rights to extend by 15% of the orignal size of the property and I am sure you can probably let part of your own home without PP, even if it were refused - ie. having a 'lodger'

A separate dwelling woul dbe liable for council tax etc even if it were unoccupied. You might be better keeping it as part of the house

guppy

Look for a chartered surveyor (regulated by RICS) specialising in planning issues or a chartered planning consultant (regulated by RTPI). Solicitor isn't really relevant here IMO.

bostin

guppy wrote: »

Look for a chartered surveyor (regulated by RICS) specialising in planning issues or a chartered planning consultant (regulated by RTPI). Solicitor isn't really relevant here IMO.

Agree - would suggest a planning consultant rather than a surveyor - they will be more familiar with the likely issues arising. Steer clear of an architect in the first instance until you have established the principle of creating an additional dwelling.

One of the things you need to ask whoever you talk to is whether or not there are likely to be issues with getting the permission. If there are, I would suggest exploring how the building could be used in such a way so as to not need planning permission.

In brief (and to get you started), if the building is within the residential curtilage of your parents house, then depending on the proposed layout of the building and the relationship of the occupiers of that building to the main dwelling, you MAY not need to get permission as it could be considered to be a use incidental to the use of your parents house.

Having said all the above, get professional advice before committing too much time/money

HTH

Bost

Doozergirl

I would still talk to a planning officer first - it's free and they will tell you themselves if they forsee an issue. Then you can contact a planning consultant if you want, but it would certainly be overkill now for something that sounds like you may not even need planning permission to do!

guppy

I agree, free advice from the duty planning officer is great moneysaving

Generally they will tell you how your proposal would be viewed in the light of current policy. But remember they aren't exactly independent. They won't tell you how to maximise your chances and certainly won't let you know about any loopholes.

This is fine if what you want to do fits in with existing policy, but if its more controversial you need to read between the lines.

Its a matter of gauging whether they are saying your proposals stand no chance of gaining permission, and would therefore be a waste of money to pursue, or whether they might be frowned on, but could be achievable with a good consultant to negotiate for you.

Can be a difficult call, but not impossible IMO

bostin

You won't get great advice from a duty planning officer IMO - assuming that you are planning to just pop in when a duty planning officer is there.

In this instance, they will need to have a chat to highways & visit the site before giving you any worthwhile advice.

By all means write in with details and they will get back in touch with you but purely popping in to see what they think will be a waste of time as they will be likely to either:
a) tell you to write in
b) attempt to give you 'advice' based on the limited information you have taken in with you. This advice is likely to be very vague indeed (i.e. it's within the development boundary where there is a presumption in favour of residential development) or wrong.

I stand by my previous advice (as a planning officer who still covers duty occasionally). Taking into account the nature of the scheme (as you have described above), you would be best served by having a chat to a planning consultant in the first instance