Planning Permission

graemer

graemer

graemer

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Joined
21 Apr 2004
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536
Location
South Shields
I have managed to get myself in a bit of a situation regarding planning permission.

Longs story short.

My terraced house has a garage attached to it that wanted to convert into an extra rooom.

All the advice I found was that as the proposed change does not exceed 75 cubic meters then a letter of intent to the council was all that was needed.

Roll on 4 weeks and the work almost complete.

The local council now get back to me and because the owners who built the garage didnt get planning permission then I need full permission as if it was a whole new structure.

Question is where do I stand and what can I do apart from the obvious and pay the money for planning and building regs £1500 +

Also any one good at making simple plans whe would be willing to help out?
 
Can't really help on the planning but you definately need Building Regs if you are converting a garage into a habitable room so there is no way of getting out of paying for it to be inspected, if you don't have the Building Regs certificate you could have problems selling your house in the future.

Did you ring your local council's Planning office to check if you needed it before doing the work? Or did you get the info off the internet?
 
On a related note, you might want to contact your conveyancing solicitor to find out why the hell they didn't notice that the garage didn't have planning permission.
 
Did you ring your local council's Planning office to check if you needed it before doing the work? Or did you get the info off the internet?

I had a brief conversation with them and they suggested that only a proposal was needed but being impatient I wanted it now.

Going to contact the solicitor to see if they have any records.
 
yes it was built over 10 years ago as the previous owners bought the property in 1998 and the garage was there then.
 
You could try and get the Certificate of Lawfulness for the garage by applying to council by application form, plans and evidence however because you "interrupted" the use things could get iffy...

This is your best bet against enforcement action
 
Looks like the council wont be looking at enforcement action as long as I look at retrospective permission. Even then there is a president so permission should be easy as at least 5 houses in the street have done similar things.

Looks like it wont be as expensive as I thought just need some plans drawn up and dont know anyone who is able to do these for me without paying professionals.
 
Looks like it wont be as expensive as I thought just need some plans drawn up and dont know anyone who is able to do these for me without paying professionals.
Click to expand...

Get some graph paper, a tape measure and do it yourself - it's not difficult.

* Start your plan by measuring the room. Measure it in metres - this is important as we'll later see.

* Take measurements of the main dimensions of the room - also include any alcoves - or the chimney breast - anything that juts in or out.

* Also note down the positions of any windows or doors - and their sizes. Might be worth noting plug socket locations as well.

Now draw it! ...... What? ......How?

* Well, professional interior designers use something called a ‘scale rule’. It has measurements marked on in a variety of scales - 1:10, 1:20, 1:50.

* A scale of 1:10 means 1 tiny measurement on the scale rule, or your paper, represents a measurement 10 times bigger in real life. So 1cm on your page represents 10cm in real life.

* You don't need a scale rule though - 1 small box on graph paper = 10cm in real life.

* So, if your room was 5m wide and your chosen scale was 1m = 1 big box - then your line would need to be 5 big squares long.

* If you don’t have any squared paper - again, don’t rush out and buy some - just make 1cm on the paper represent 1m in real life.

* Choose your scale to fit the size of the paper - so that you have a good sized layout drawing of your room - that you can see clearly.

It doesn't need to be a masterpeice - just an good representation of what you have built.

I'd draw two diags - one with your house and it's extension then another larger scale diag showing it's relation to your neighbours - i.e. distance from fences etc.


Do they not teach technical drawing at school anymore?
 
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Unfortunately its not as simple as just drawing it out to scale. Electrical work has to be carried out to certain specifications and the thermal properties of the walls floor and ceiling must meet a minimum standard. In addition any block or brickwork to close up the garage opening will have to be on a suitable foundation and a damp proof course must be included.
 
You'll probably find that the deeds to your house contained a paragraph along the lines of:

'The garage shall only be used for the storage of private motor vehicles and those purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house as such. In the interests of the residential amenity of the occupants of nearby property.'

Which is probably why you need the planning permission to change the 'use' of your garage to a habitable room rather than as a proper garage. One thing that can sometimes stop it is if there is a lack of on street parking, though as you have a precedent i wouldn't think that is a problem. And at present the planners seem to be passing a lot of stuff our way that might have got questioned before to generate more business forlocal builders.
 
Cheers for the info.

I thing I will try at the plans myself and see what happens. I did sutdy technical drawing at school and cartography at university but I was rubbish at it.

I got my initial info from the planning portal website that said no permissions would be needed however I did not take into acount the fact that the garage wasnt given permission.

Have checked it out with a neighbour and they have lived in the street for 41 years and the garage was there when they moved in. Dont know if this info will be of any use.

I have to say the council have been very good helping me out.
 
I am a senior Planner for a Local Authority drop me a e-mail and I can help you out. this is very straight forward case and I can advise you on best course of action.

Borich
 
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