Member Article

Getting legal

A growing number of our jobs are from clients and builders alike, who have either purchased a property where the extension is not quite what it should be if one looks at the latest permission, or more often, current or recently completed works have been carried out without an architect overseeing the works, or in the worst case, an enforcement notice has been served from the council.

Legal situation

Let me give you a bit of necessary background on the situation at present.

Currently, you most likely require one of many types of planning permission for an external change in your property - this relates to changing windows in conservation areas, new roof lights and all types of extensions. As a rule of thumb, any change to a listed building, even internally, requires a permission.

I should be clearer - requires a permission BEFORE relevant works are about to start.

What do to if works are underway / completed and no permission is in place

Here we have to be very careful and specific and ask the question “which works”? Let me give you several likely scenarios and a recommended solution :

- You just exchanged on a property and want to of a rear extension “just like your neighbour has done”, and after a quick glance at the councils website and perhaps even a phone call with a planning officer, you decide that surely permission is just a formality, so you get a builder and start the works.

Recommended course of action :

Please do not continue on the external works until you have submitted, and received permission for your planned works. Common sense or “doing wha the neighbour has done” are not reliable means of ascertaining whether your proposed works will get permission. You do not want to risk not receiving permission and having to remove the whole extension if the council decides in this way! With no architect on the job, the responsibility of advising you falls into the hands of builders and while most will certainly and by all means should ask you if you do have all the necessary permissions, some may just be happy to have a job and refrain from asking any such queries, thinking that surely everything must be fine and in any way, it’s your problem not theirs.

Advice

Please do remember that it is (almost) never too late to come clean, to employ a good architect

We have a good track record of getting our clients out of such trouble, however let me give you another word of advise :

If ANYONE, architect or builder or any other professional, promises you a positive outcome of a new or retrospective application, please do not employ them and do not recommend them! While most often us professionals can judge which works will get most likely receive a positive permission, it is in the least unethical, if not plain criminal to promise a positive outcome. Us professionals realise that it’s sometimes hard for you to trust us with this, but a good track record should speak for itself. You can contact us for more details - info@vorbild.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Michael Jacob Schienke .