I'm interested in a property that's been extended. I can find on the council website that planning permission was granted for the extension in 1995. I can't find the plans or if a building control certificate was issued.
Any one know if this information is available?
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Phone the council on Monday
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"I'm interested in a property that's been extended. I can find on the council website that planning permission was granted for the extension in 1995. I can't find the plans or if a building control certificate was issued."
Another thread:
"Deeds Needed? - bathtub tom
Mine have been invaluable in proving who owns the resposibility for boundary fences. One neighbour on a corner plot refused to accept they had two fences."
Trouble wi' t'neighbours, Tom? Hope you're not being difficult.
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>>Trouble wi' t'neighbours, Tom? Hope you're not being difficult.
In the forty five years I've lived here, two have been a problem.
One house was sold to a housing association that specialised in 'problem' families. The occupants repeatedly smashed the fences and on every occasion the housing association denied responsibility for the fence until I proved it.
One other neighbour simply won't accept they own two boundary fences.
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>> I'm interested in a property that's been extended. I can find on the council website
>> that planning permission was granted for the extension in 1995. I can't find the plans
>> or if a building control certificate was issued.
>> Any one know if this information is available?
>>
Going back 26 years for the plans online is waste of time. They will be in paper archives if still available. Same for Building Regs.
Why do you need the building control certificate. Better get a building surveyor round to check it meets the current regs and what upgrades are recommended and practical.
Any works carried out are now immune from Planning enforcement anyway.
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I did this a few weeks ago. Phoned the Council and got to speak with one of the Planning Officers that managed the job originally. Speak t'council
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I think people regard the planners, and building regs, and conservation with suspicion as guardians of the dark arts.
Since my house is both listed and in a conservation area (and I wanted to alter it) I spent a great deal of time with the various areas.
I've usually found them pretty helpful. And knowledgeable.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 9 May 21 at 19:38
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>>Better get a building surveyor round to check
Jeez, have you seen what that costs?
I've looked at the environmental agency flood risk maps:flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/
and asked for a (free) flood risk assesment - the solicitor seemed somewhat 'put out' that I wasn't prepared to pay them for this.
I've searched planning applications.
Any further suggestions? I intend knocking on neighbours doors tomorrow.
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Is it likely that the neighbour will take responsibility for the fences when shown the paperwork? Or is it a bit of hit n hope?
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>> Is it likely that the neighbour will take responsibility for the fences when shown the
>> paperwork? Or is it a bit of hit n hope?
Bit hit'n'hope I think. People ignore their responsibilities or do cack handed repairs that kick the can down the road.
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>> Is it likely that the neighbour will take responsibility for the fences when shown the
>> paperwork? Or is it a bit of hit n hope?
Let me tell you about this neighbour:
He's a self employed painter and decorator. When we first moved in, he was very friendly, particularly when he found I had a knowledge of cars. I sorted a reversing light problem for him - no charge. He said he'd see me right when I wanted decorating supplies. I asked for a litre of white gloss, he generously gave me some at trade price (I could've got that).
He asked me on a friday of a bank holidayto look at a running problem with a car that had twin stombergs. I thought it was a diaphragm and suggested that as all the screw heads were mangled he left it until the following week. He said he'd a caravan site booked and wasn't losing it (he towed a tourer). I heard the temp gauge hit the red and then dropped (no water, no temperature), so he continued until smoke started pouring out of the bonnet. He stopped and pulled the caravan away, got the water carrier and emptied over the engine - TING. Guess who he blamed for that?
I had a problem with him building (another) extension at 22:00 on a day when one of my daughters were sitting a GCSE the following day and I asked him to stop. He refused, but a letter from the council concentrated his mind. His wife confronted me and said "we both go out to work and can make as much noise as we like, whenever we like".
I was cleaning my windows, when he stuck his head out and said "what the chuff do you chuffing well think you're chuffing well doing? You're making my chuffing windows wet?" He didn't say chuff............
We now call them the chuffs.
.*********
You want more?
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You can't fix stupid. But you can make it quieter with gaffer tape.
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Sounds like a charmer, I guess it's under the hit n hope category then. I know where you're coming from, our next door neighbour has claimed I've 'stolen' part of her boundary. Fun and games eh.
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How do you make someone else's windows wet when cleaning your own? At least I guess we have an inkling where your Monika comes from.
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>> Any further suggestions? I intend knocking on neighbours doors tomorrow.
>>
When we started our new build in 2012, Planning demanded a flood risk assessment because the locale had suddenly become a conservation area. I sought a specialist to write a flood risk assessment for me, but time was short and the costs were ferocious. I cobbled together something that had a few choice phrases in it from other flood risk assessments online.
Most councils have an online planning portal where plans, flood risk assessments etc. are visible to everyone. I was proud of my efforts mentioning 'fluvial risk' and 'overtopping river banks' running to 3 pages of A4, until I saw a flood risk assessment from the owners of a converted chapel across the other side of the beck from us. Their flood risk assessment basically said that the chapel hadn't flooded in the last 200 years and therefore wasn't likely to in the future.
I learned that you don't need a costly, qualified specialist to write a flood risk assessment, and that you don't need to be long-winded (I had been).
Good luck with the project.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 11 May 21 at 02:38
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Were I interested in a property that had been extended I would ask the vendor for evidence. In principle they should have record unless they also bought the property and took a chance.
My main concern would be the structural integrity of the work - eg: depth and nature of foundations, correct sizes of RSJs. These are now no longer visible and would be costly to sort out if deficient.
Note that planning permission decides whether or not you can build. Building control ensure it is built properly. Planning may no longer be an issue due to the passing of time, but deficiencies in construction would remain.
In the absence of documentatuion I would ensure you pay for a decent building survey.
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>>In the absence of documentatuion I would ensure you pay for a decent building survey.
It would give you somebody to sue, but they will disclaim liability for anything they can't see - such as those missing RSJs.
A friend of mine bought a house and some time afterwards realised that a ground floor chimney stack had been removed from the ground and first floor but the part above the bedroom ceiling was still there, and in danger of falling on him and his wife while they were in bed!
He did have a "full survey" and successfully recovered the cost of putting it right from the surveyor, only after an argument and a complaint to the professional body (RICS?). They argued that they couldn't have seen it, which cooked their goose really because the house owner had found it by seeing it and he was a mere accountant.
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>> He did have a "full survey" and successfully recovered the cost of putting it right
>> from the surveyor, only after an argument and a complaint to the professional body (RICS?).
>> They argued that they couldn't have seen it, which cooked their goose really because the
>> house owner had found it by seeing it and he was a mere accountant.
We had a similar issue with our first house - a 19th Century terraced place in Watford. It was pretty obvious to anyone who had noticed evidence of former chimney in the Master Bedroom and then looked in the loft. Our Homebuyers report survey picked it up as did that of one prospective purchaser when we sold.
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Both the lest two places I sold had the downstairs chimney breast removed before I bought them. It raised a query from the buyers solicitor on both occasions, but both had been properly supported with RSJs. On the last sale the solicitor waited till one week before exchange before he queried it and I had to get retrospective planning permission and pay a tenner for insurance in case of future problems despite the job being done properly. My purchaser was a builder by trade and he was fuming at his solicitor not only for the delay, but as he said if it was likely to collapse it would have done so in the twenty or so years since the bottom bit had been removed.
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Planning permission and building control - Falkirk Bairn
