r/PlanningPermissionUK

I understand there is an option to apply for retrospective planning permission, which I will try first.

Failing this, if I am ordered by the council to remove this, exactly how would it work.

For example, am I limited to specific actions - could I just remove the external heat pump, but leave all piping and internal units in tact? Could I simply just disconnect the external heat pump unit and then say it’s a decoration for outside? Does everything, including all internal units need to be removed?

If anyone has any insights, experience or suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

(posted previously to legaladviceuk, but no response unfortunately. Hopefully OK to try here)

Today my very pleasant neighbour approached me to get my email address to send a party wall agreement to.

It concerns a proposed replacement of his garage with a wrap around extension. The garage is currently on the boundary between us, then there is a gap of maybe half a meter, then out annex, so the party wall will actually be the boundary fence.

Both houses are detached.

Can any of you kind folk on here tell me if there is anything I need to be aware of when it arrives ?

I assume I will need to get proper legal advice - it seems we have the option to use their survayer, or to appoint our own. Is is reccomended to get our own independant advice? is that what people usually do in this situation?

Our main concern is to end up with a cast iron guarentee that any damage done is put right. We have no objection to the building itself, nor to giving the builders access from our side to do the job, provided we end up with no damage on our side.

Any questions I should ask?

Thank you

George

I am about 8 weeks into buying a house and I am concerned it's all going to go Pete Tong.

The small barn conversion I want to buy is attached to the vendor's house.It was built as an extension to their property.

The property I want to buy has been used as a holiday let as this was the planning, a 2 bed holiday let Annex/extension. There have been some tenants also renting the property for maybe 6 months or a year.

Originally the build development was built as a extension to the Vendor's house, which was part of a slightly larger barn conversion development.

It had holiday letting approval I believe, although the documentation is patchy to confirm this. It was built in 2012, so over 10 years old.

The main issue is, that the vendor says as their house has a full time residential status and so this applies to the Annex extension that I hope to buy.

I am worried that as the place I want to buy was a holiday let and if they sell it to me, it changes materially and would not have a full time residential status for me automatically. It was marketed as a full time residential, not a holiday let.

My solicitor who is being thorough, has also raised concerns about the planning paper trail. There are gaps and a few things that don't quite add up.

Another issue is that the vendor extended their garden, sacrificing some of the plot I want to buy, making it smaller. This was years ago. But it seems that the land registry plan is the original plan and not the smaller version they are selling.

Is there a fast and easy/quick path to get a rubber stamp on the planning and full time residential status from the council ?I feel this Is this necessary, I want concrete evidence to be confident.

Is it easy to change the land registry easily and again quickly.

Any advice gratefully received. Thanks

Living in a conservation area in Nottingham. End terrace house. We are thinking of installation air conditioning and will require one external unit. Advice on whether planning permission is required … thanks.

Background

• I own a first-floor flat in a Conservation Area in Camden.
• I'd like cooling for the flat, provided by an air-to-air heat pump which can heat too.
• Proposed install: one external condenser, wall-mounted on the rear (garden-facing) elevation at first-floor level. The rear doesn't front a highway and isn't visible from the street. Unit is under 0.6m³.

My proposed route

Rely on permitted development under Class G, Part 14, Schedule 2 of the GPDO 2015 (as amended) for a block of flats, and apply for a Lawful Development Certificate (proposed) rather than full planning permission.

My reasoning — please sanity-check:

1. Camden's “cooling hierarchy” is hostile to comfort cooling. A reversible heat pump that's also used for heating is “not solely for cooling,” so it can be PD.
2. The conservation-area condition in Class G only bars siting on a wall/roof that fronts a highway — a rear elevation clears that.
3. The height limit only applies to walls that front a highway, so wouldn't apply to a rear wall in or out of a CA.
4. The Article 4 Direction covers front/principal elevations, roofs, hard surfaces and boundaries — not Part 14 heat pumps — so it shouldn't remove the right.
5. I know I'll also need freeholder/leaseholder consent, MCS 020 noise compliance, and Part P building regs.

Questions

1. Is this route feasible?
2. The condition I'm least sure about is “sited so far as practicable to minimise effect on external appearance” for a wall-mounted unit at first-floor height. How much of a risk is that on an LDC, and how do you evidence it?
3. Has anyone actually obtained a heat-pump LDC from Camden (or another London borough) in a conservation area?

We are looking to purchase a property which has an extension and converted garage but learned today it has no prior planning permission. We are not overly worried about this as the works were over 10 years ago so we know it’s unlikely the council will be after us.

The issue is that we would like to make alterations to the existing extension (new windows/removal of outside door) and potentially extend onto the top of it. Are we likely to get planning permission refused for this because the initial extension wasn’t approved? Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

England.

We are hoping to achieve a Class Q conversion, taking one very long building and creating a house out of either end of it. Removing the middle section.

We meet the majority of the requirements, but I have a query about this section:

"since ceasing to be part of an established agricultural unit, the site has been used for any non-agricultural purpose,"

My questions are:

• Does the above apply to commercial uses, or any use? Let's say I have kept a bicycle in the shed, or some furniture from a house move. Would keeping personal items in the barns mean Class Q cannot be provided?
• Does the above apply to the whole site, or the build area? For example. I have stored personal items in a shed nearby, but not in the barns marked for conversion. Does this make the whole site non-class-Q-able?

If you have any further advice, I would love to hear it!

Thank you.