New balustrade on balcony - Planning permission?

springmagpie

Hi, 

We have a balcony on our detached house, the balcony has been there over 15 years, I remember we bought indemnity insurance for building works when we bought the house 5 years ago. 

The wooden balustrades have started to rot so we want to replace with glass, do we need planning permission, our local council want £200 for us to find out which seems a but steep just to ask the question. 

1 neighbour has glass on thiers and the 2nd is currently building one with glass so if we do have to get permission I can certain it will be granted. 

TELLIT01

Have you spoken to the neighbours to ask if they had to get planning permission?

springmagpie

They both did as they are new additions, they have both built an extension with a new balcony so needed planning anyway. 

We are just replacing bits of ours. 

ButterCheese

I agree that the council websites are usually very vague and not much help with specific scenarios outside of building a new extension.  Probably done so intentionally; we can't have you getting free advice now can we?

I know people who haven't bothered with getting any permission for things that are already there.  Their thought process was, if the footprint of the decking is not any greater than before, then it's not a significant change.  I think it would only be a problem if/when you come to sell, in which case you can make a retrospective notification (or something similar in wording I can't remember).  It will also differ by council.  But I really don't think you need it.  When I was looking into it for a friend, I could find no evidence or details pertaining to this scenario; only for things like extensions and garden rooms that are higher than 2.something metres

WIAWSNB

If you are confident it doesn't cause any more privacy issues over the current timber balustrade, and you are ditto that your neighbours are unlikely to complain, I know what I would do.

When you come to sell, should the buyer ask - and good chance they won't since neighbouring properties are similar - then a cheap indemnity policy would cover it.

Of course, it's your call. 

Section62

springmagpie said:

Hi, 

We have a balcony on our detached house, the balcony has been there over 15 years, I remember we bought indemnity insurance for building works when we bought the house 5 years ago. 

The wooden balustrades have started to rot so we want to replace with glass, do we need planning permission, our local council want £200 for us to find out which seems a but steep just to ask the question. 

1 neighbour has glass on thiers and the 2nd is currently building one with glass so if we do have to get permission I can certain it will be granted. 

Changing from wood to glass is a fairly fundamental building operation and change to the appearance of the building, so my overall feeling is you should apply for planning consent - that way you know you have consent and the old indemnity policy is no longer an issue.

If not, you need to check the wording of the indemnity policy to see what it says about alterations to the non-consented work.  Personally I doubt you'd still be covered, but worth checking.

Although TBH I'd be more concerned about building regulations compliance and sign-off.  A balcony which isn't constructed safely can be a death trap.  And if you are going to get BR signoff then there's a chance of planning finding out about the change and possibly looking into enforcement.

Section62

ButterCheese said:

I agree that the council websites are usually very vague and not much help with specific scenarios outside of building a new extension.  Probably done so intentionally; we can't have you getting free advice now can we?

The reason they are vague is planning is complicated and every case is treated on its own merits.  Published advice which tries to take a one-size approach to planning issues risks people making mistakes - i.e. not reading the advice correctly, or not understanding a generalisation doesn't apply to them.  Then they turn round and complain to the council that they built their 'xyz' on the side of their listed house because the council's website was confusing.

Advice costs money, and uses resources.  There's a general consensus that planning officers looking at planning applications is a better use of their time than giving free advice.

In terms of permitted development rules, there is good national guidance for householders, and there are various websites like planninggeek that cover a lot of the general situations.

ButterCheese said:

I know people who haven't bothered with getting any permission for things that are already there.  Their thought process was, if the footprint of the decking is not any greater than before, then it's not a significant change.

Unfortunately their thought process is wrong.  It isn't really about 'footprint'.  What matters is the type of work, and whether it is permitted development, or meets all the requirements to be like-for-like maintenance replacement.

Changing a balustrade from wood to glass is a significant change. (IMO)

ButterCheese said:

I think it would only be a problem if/when you come to sell, in which case you can make a retrospective notification (or something similar in wording I can't remember).  It will also differ by council..

It would be a retrospective application.  The process and fees charges are uniform across councils within each UK country - there are some variations between countries.

TELLIT01

Building Regs approval would almost certainly be required even if PP wasn't.