newhome

Not incredibly helpful I know but I found our groundworker the absolute worst for prices going off piste during the job and unexpected costs being added on without any real discussion. We did pay them but were very careful to manage things differently after that as we had more work for them to do. Not much help if it's at the end of your job but TBH I would probably just pay and write it off as a poor experience. If you're happy with the work other than that, and you've actually managed to get someone in to do it then there are some positives. A bad job would be much harder to swallow than a good job that cost a bit more in my opinion.

Yes, just put no. They are wanting to see if the new build is an annex to an existing house or tied to a business or similar meaning you can’t sell it as a separate entity. If you had a condition like that you would not be eligible for the reclaim.

Why do extensions need to be subservient? Surely it would be better if they blended into the existing house rather than looking like an add on?

Are you applying for a CIL exemption or expecting to pay it?

Yes, I should have said 'avoid any CGT' and by that I mean tax on any gain after the 9 months grace period. They can only tax you on the gain anyway, they can't tax you if the property hasn't increased in value at all. If you don't sell your house in the 9 month grace period (from April 2020) then CGT may potentially be due if the property increases in value from the 9 month date, and you only have liability on the gain from that date.

Do you have CIL in your area? If so you can get exemption as a self builder but you have to live in the property for 3 years after completion or you have to pay the full charge. If you build the new property to live in yourselves you will have 9 months from the completion date to sell your old property to avoid CGT and you will avoid all of the issues of not being able to reclaim VAT, potential CGT on the new house, and you will avoid CIL (subject to staying for 3 years), and you get a brand new house to boot.

Watch from 3 35. Doesn't answer your size question though.

I'd probably approach a couple of companies that do encapsulated glass and ask them for advice and an indicative cost.

Still risky if you end up buying something that’s stolen I guess. We bought a large twin axle Ifor Williams trailer before we moved up here. Advertised on eBay, collected it and cash paid. We used it extensively throughout the build for collecting things, disposing of rubbish etc and then sold it after about 8 years for more than we paid for it. No idea if it had a dodgy history or not TBH but it may have done.

But you've got the invoice ain't ya? ?

To to clarify ... building control have told you what is acceptable in terms of insulation both in the walls and the floor. You plan to do this to achieve building control sign off but then may rip up the floor and remove a layer of insulation to give you more headroom. That immediately means that your lower room won't meet building regulations. I think what @PeterW is saying is that it will then be treated as an unheated room and UNLESS you significantly increase the insulation between the 2 floors the bedroom will therefore be very cold. Even if you don't rip up the additional insulation it will be better to improve the insulation between floors so what when you heat your bedroom that heat isn't escaping into the room downstairs. I think you have a hard choice to make between better insulation and more headroom. Removing 100mm of insulation may make the room much colder but you will not gain a great deal of headroom either so it's your call to make.

And if you don’t have a warranty or a self build mortgage you have to rely on an approved VAT reclaim as one of the pieces of completion evidence required so you will need to get a crack on with the VAT reclaim pronto after completion. It’s beyond ridiculous IMO that a deadline is imposed to provide a document that the self builder has no control over as HMRC seem to take as long as they like and are processing claims well outside of their documented timescales.

Can’t see any issues with this but some LAs (maybe all) send out an email / letter to show that they’ve received the commencement notice so ensure that you have something in writing before you start anything at all.

I would say that they are catching up post the Christmas break. I’ve never had that before although sometimes the wait has been long. Hopefully you have managed to get access to the forum guide now as some of your questions are answered in there. The address to send it to is here https://www.gov.uk/vat-building-new-home/how-to-claim Once you’ve had a read of the guide feel free to reply to the guide with any further questions you may have ?.

Surely you would want to insure a property that was nearly built against total loss such as the result of fire? Would be very expensive to start from scratch again without insurance surely?

Welcome to the forum. This place thrives on people giving their knowledge freely as well as receiving knowledge from others - it's how we roll here ☺️.

My mother does this. Gallons of hot water straight down the drain. I don’t have a washing up bowl. The only time I would use one would be if camping. I am a dishwasher fan. For everything. I have a pair of stainless steel under mounted sinks in the kitchen. Seem to be ok. I have a ceramic Belfast type sink in the utility. That’s ok too. Both are easy enough to keep clean. I have had resin and composite sinks in the past. Both nightmares.

It depends on your appetite to risk. HMRC may not query it of course but if they do you run the risk that they may disallow the refund. If that’s ok then go ahead, if not you may want to wait. Or write to them and ask the precise question so that you have the reply in writing.

+1 to what @Temp has said. You could be refused the reclaim for all materials bought prior to PP being in place so personally I would wait.

Given that you are already using the drive and the curb is already very low why bother?

There was a bulk order once I believe, before I joined, for hot water cylinders. It's quite a bit of effort I imagine though as someone needs to negotiate with the supplier, you need multiple people to sign up, and then make a solid commitment. Most people are too busy to do it. When I was building my house, before we started in fact, we went to visit a self build centre in Scotland (Livingston I think) and they signed us up with trade accounts with many of their partners. I imagine they got some sort of kick back as they asked several times if we were finished. It didn't include B&Q though.

Only if both parties are VAT registered. There is no obligation to provide a VAT invoice to someone who isn't VAT registered although most companies will. Some are bloody awkward though. For small amounts HMRC generally pay out on a receipt as long as the VAT number is on it. I wouldn't risk it for a very big amount though unless I got the VAT invoice position agreed before purchase. http://stewartaccounting.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Do-you-always-have-to-issue-a-VAT-invoice.pdf

Well at least it isn't the original folk who sold you the plot who are complaining but nothing would surprise me ....

I think they did that at Graven Hill? Certainly seemed to indicate that on Grand Designs. You wouldn’t get away with that in Edinburgh however. It seems bizarre to me that a single storey dwelling that could be pretty much hidden and had only 1 objection was refused whereas a 2 storey dwelling with many objections was passed. Your original design was perfect for an elderly resident I thought. Are we only allowed to build family homes these days? I doubt that the objections will matter too much to the planners in truth. If your design is similar to the one passed previously I don’t see what objections the planners could have in truth. Out of interest has the person who obtained the original PP for their garden plot objected?

No problem with the address. I had 3 different addresses and no issues. I didn’t even give them an explanation.