newhome

Mine does ?. On the initial run from the house at least as the ground was made up lower down. To be honest we were fully expecting building control to insist on something to prevent going off the edge but they didn’t so we left it.

Me too. Every main job had a budget set at the beginning and I used to obsessively enter every invoice in the spreadsheet every weekend and reforecast every job based on any new information. That then changed the bottom line figure so I would look for areas where I could economise when we overran in any areas. We did economise on the kitchen and TBH I don’t really mind about that. It looks perfectly ok to me and I don’t cook much anyway TBH lol. We economised on the sanitary fittings and I regret that a little, at least in the bathrooms that are used regularly, however it was important for me to land the project on budget in order to keep the house at the level I could sell it for on the open market.

Lol, every job advertised where I work seems to be for an engineer these days; Java engineers, Dev Ops engineers etc. etc. Mind you I don't give 2 sh*ts whether someone has a piece of paper or not. When I interview someone what counts for me is passion, drive, talent and enthusiasm. I've had people come in with IT degrees and some have been worst than useless (not all before anyone yells at me ). One of the very best guys where I work came straight into the company from school at 16 into the lowest grade in a non IT role in customer services. Since then he has had 6 promotions and at 27 is a shining light in IT, proving that pieces of paper are not necessary to succeed if you have the talent and are willing to push yourself.

Who owns the bit shaded in red on the land registry plan and why is it shaded in red? Is it just the grey shaded area in dispute / not belonging to the plot?

Ah yes, saw the photos

Been nice here but it’s just starting pi**ing down. I’m sitting in the car at the beach trying to muster up some enthusiasm for walking in it! I’m deffo a soft southerner where the rain is concerned!

I had a look at the planning correspondence about this plot. A few things to mind. As you note the Highway Engineer objected to previous attempts to get PP on this plot so the latest application took previous comments on board which is why this proposal has now succeeded. So the applicant has actually included the turning area and visitors' parking space in the application. In my view he is then trying to get you to be responsible for paying for both these things when you don't actually own the land that they fall on. It also seems that a group of the neighbours have collectively objected to the dwelling and cited that the plot owner has claimed more of the plot than he owns. They claim that he has taken over part of the road and common land so I would be very careful with this purchase. They also cite that he parks over the road area so my guess is that he may commandeer the 'visitors' parking space' as his own once you have paid for it to be built. So getting the Land Registry details are crucial in this case, as well as potentially asking the vendor to pay for the development of the turning space and visitors' parking space. Here is a document on private or unadopted roads is useful. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00402/SN00402.pdf

Hi Fish, I’m on the East Coast having moved up from Kent. Welcome to Scotland and the forum.

Does the seller live in the same road? I’m thinking about whether he put these conditions on for his own benefit? Do you have a bin lorry that goes up the road? If so maybe this is what the council is thinking in relation to the turning? Where I used to live there were 4 houses right at the end of the cul de sac that were beyond the end of the road and had a private strip of road leading to them. The bin lorries wouldn’t go up there and we had to place our bins down the bottom of the private bit.

I couldn’t tell from the post if any of the walls were above ground or not but if they are not then that would be fine. I don’t think HMRC would even know anyway unless you mentioned it. It would only really be evident if the PP or detailed plans noted that certain walls had to be retained. If not they would be none the wiser.

This isn’t the question though. The retaining wall is already there and part of the existing house. The question is whether this wall can be retained (a retained retaining wall ?) and the property still be eligible for a vat reclaim. HMRC have very strict rules about what is determined to be a new dwelling vs an alteration / refurbishment that would make it not eligible.

How would HMRC know that you had retained the wall? If the plans don’t specifically say they wouldn’t know would they?

What does your planning permission say? Does it say a demolition and new build / replacement dwelling? It can't say renovation or alteration or you will be refused the VAT reclaim anyway unless you alter the PP but do this before you start. Note that HMRC do not appear to accept retrospective alterations of PP for VAT reclaim purposes. According to HMRC a building ceases to be en existing building if: it is demolished completely to ground level or the part remaining above ground level consists of no more than a single facade the retention of which is a planning condition. If the retaining walls are not part of the structure of the house it would seem to be ok but if they are then that could be possible grounds for refusal in my view. Without seeing the plans it's a bit hard to imagine however.

???? do you know how many people I’ve asked ????

So, my TS is heated by my electric boiler. I don’t use all of the hot water with just me there so I lose a fairly significant amount via standing losses. If I’m reading this correctly I could replace the TS with a Sunamp and I then wouldn’t need the boiler to run as often? Correct? So the main question is, if I didn’t change anything else what is the cost of replacing a TS with a Sunamp or 2 (how many are needed to replace a 475l TS)?

My TS is ok for about 24 hours then it needs to reheat. Even 24 hours is pushing it where showering is concerned but it retains enough heat to run the UFH. Couldn’t get near 2 days out of it.

What’s life in terms of a Sunamp?

+1. Never under estimate the power of money to wreck a friendship.

In my experience (albeit from a long time ago) they are pretty receptive to calls and will probably correct that for you. Did they send you 2 pumps or just the one? They missed something off our order and just sent it without charging us for it.

Nope cos the top one would look odd.

It may well be 8 inches but it’s skinny like a chipolata! ? Ain’t that supposed to be done with the tile to the right?

What’s that weird bit top right of the window? ?

Is it still an option to split the plot if the council won't yield and you can only build on half the plot? If not while your parents are living there but later if you decide to sell? I guess you have PD rights once the house is built anyway to make it a bit larger albeit not substantially so.

I want to see him arrested for stealing make-up ??

Soft pencil. 4B or similar. Failing that go steal the wife’s eyeliner pencil.