Planning and Building Regulations Pitfalls

Planning and Building Regulations are issues that come up time and again when buying a property. Many Mortgage companies either withhold part of the mortgage or refuse to lend on properties with this kind of issue. The property you have your heart set on may be a regulatory nightmare. Here we will take a look at some common issues.

This is a very open and honest run down of what we regularly find when surveying properties. Hopefully this will help you also understand why having a surveyor who is also a Chartered Building Engineer sets us apart and why this is important.

Planning Permission.

Many people have an understanding about Permitted Development whereby a homeowner is allowed small extensions such as porches, conservatories or single storey extensions. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule. We would always recommend that you check with the local Planning Department about any extension or alteration on a property even if you think it should come under Permitted Development rights. The most common issues that we find is that the building had already reached its Permitted Development rights limit or that the property had no Permitted Development rights in the first place. Removed Permitted Development rights happens when the developer wanted to overpopulate the original site with properties. The Planning Department is then left with no option but to stop the already small gardens being built on to prevent the housing estate becoming even more overcrowded.

When the Permitted Development (PD) has been removed from the property it means that Planning Permission needs to be obtained for even small things like porches, conservatories and small extensions. Without checking whether the property has its PD many homeowners go ahead and add a conservatory without even knowing they should have got Planning Permission.

This is not intended to replace Planning advice and we always recommend checking on the Planning Portal website for detailed information.

Building Regulations

The number of times I get asked how long a regulation has been around is phenomenal. Many are shocked that some regulations were born out of the Great Fire of London! Building Regulations are not new, and that they are only minimum standards not best practice.

Illegal works! The term "illegal works" is used because carrying out controlled building work without an application to the Local Authority or Approved Inspector is a breach of the Building Act 1984. The most common responses are that "the previous owner did it" or the "builder didn't tell me". The answer to both is unfortunately the owner of the property is responsible for the property. When you buy a property, you take on all the risks and liabilities associated with it. It does not matter if the work was done 3 owners ago. Builders will carry out the works you ask them to. It is not the builders' job to check whether you obtained the right permissions. Changing the ownership of a property with illegal works does not make the work legal.

So, with that out of the way, let's look at some common issues and how they come about.

Just about the most common illegal works that are carried out are;

1. Non thermally separate conservatories and porches

2. Garage conversions

3. Loft conversions

4. Chimney breast removal

This is not an exhaustive list and I have seen many more examples than this including entire houses built without Building Regulations approval to be there.

1. CONSERVATORIES AND PORCHES.

I am not going to go into the fine details of what makes a conservatory exempt Building Regulations (BR) here. The best place for full advice is on the Planning Portal website. The regulations are ever changing but bear in mind that a property only has to meet the regulations of time it was built or when the alteration was made. To be an exempt conservatory or porch it has to have thermally separating doors between it and the rest of the house. If it does not have external grade doors between the house and the conservatory or porch then it is an overly glazed extension requiring Building Regulations.

Many people have read or heard somewhere that conservatories and porches are exempt but there are caveats. Some people are aware of the requirement to keep them thermally separate and once the installers have gone they take the doors off. I have been to many properties where the homeowner happily says that the doors for the conservatory are in the garage and will just pop them back on!

You may notice with no doors separating the conservatory that the current homeowner has additional heaters in the room. This is because the heat loss through conservatory windows is huge. These properties will overheat in summer and cost a fortune to heat in winter.

This one is thermally separate. Note the solid roof. It used to be a requirement for the definition of a conservatory to have a glazed roof. This requirement was removed and now putting solid roofs on conservatories has become a booming business as homeowners want to make the space more habitable.

2. Garage Conversions.

Garage conversions are generally exempt Planning Permission but not Building Control. They are not complicated projects, but the most common mistake is a lack of insulation. It tends to be obvious very quickly that a garage conversion has no insulation and installing it after the works have been completed can basically mean starting again. Getting it right the first time is paramount.

• Make sure its insulated,

• Make sure it has a means of escape if it is only accessed through another room,

• Make sure any services such as gas meters are properly protected,

• Make sure the brickwork blocking up where the garage door was is insulated and has a lapped DPC.

It's as simple as that. Getting it wrong means stripping out plasterboard, lifting floors or replacing the window.