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harry_angel

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Everything posted by harry_angel

  1. harry_angel
    Hi Ian! From all I've read though - how can millions of off gas grid properties be expected to do this? It's financially impossible for everyone to switch. See my comment just now about ASHP concerns / issues for us (and also that this building is not classed as a new build). It's definitely not a clear and confident solution for us. All very difficult this!
  2. harry_angel
    We are at first fix electrics stage - with heating and plumbing first fix to go in next. Two crucial things - 1) It won't be classed officially as a new build because it is an additional building on our plot "ancillary to the main dwelling house" so no money off / grants available to us here... 2) We have screeded the floor already so the moment for under floor heating has gone. Although we could lay it on top potentially, in theory, the French doors and some other door / window furniture would not allow for this re: measurements. From an ASHP perspective, we were also warned that not enough heat, and definitely not enough hot water, would be delivered if - for example - we had four people staying in there and they all wanted a shower in the morning. If we're letting guests stay there, we can't be dealing with complaints about lack of heat and hot water over and over. This is why a hybrid version, if possible, may be the ticket - if the boiler tops up where the ASHP can't stump up...?
  3. harry_angel
    Thanks. We looked at the LPG route and had the plans all drawn up for tank etc but the providers won't deliver the canisters to us due to access (which is ridiculous) so had to scrap that idea. We also looked at connecting the the gas mains. But just for them to put an external pipe in and connect it up (not including digging the trench and preparing the ground or the boiler and plumber's work internally) is £25k+ so that obviously put us off... I'm not sure for this build ASHP is going to work well enough on its own. But I will certainly look into the hybrid option you suggest with oil. Cheers
  4. harry_angel
    We have a new building which is quite isolated and getting on mains gas is going to be prohibitively expensive. So we are taking the view to over-invest in insulated plasterboard and go with the oil tank and boiler. But is the below a decent price? SUPPLY AND FIT NEW GRANT EXTERNAL COMBINATION BOILER. SUPPLY AND FIT PLUME DEFLECTION KIT. SUPPLY AND FIT ALL PIPEWORK AND FITTINGS NECESSARY FOR CENTRAL HEATING INSTALLATION. SUPPLY AND FIT NEW GRANT MAGNETIC FILTER. SUPPLY AND FIT ALL RADIATORS AND RADIATOR VALVES AS NECESSARY. SUPPLY AND FIT NEW BUNDED OIL TANK 1800L. SUPPLY AND FIT NEW BASE FOR TANK. SUPPLY AND FIT FIRE SAFETY VALVE. SUPPLY AND FIT TIGER LOOP, AIR FILTRATION. SUPPLY AND FIT OIL LINE FROM TANK TO BOILER. SUPPLY AND FIT PROTECTION BOLLARDS FOR OIL TANK. CARRY OUT FULL COMMISSIONING OF CENTRAL HEATING SYSTEM TO INCLUDE DOSING WITH CHEMICAL INHIBITOR. AS A G1 INSTALLER CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE EXTENDED WARRANTY ON BOILER. TOTAL: £14,900
  5. harry_angel
    Sorry for delay, they didn't even request access in the end!
  6. harry_angel
    Cheers @IanR aka "The Guru". Will get boarding shortly. There are no stairs, there is nothing up there, a 1st floor appears nowhere on the plans submitted. @redtop nope, internal walls not plastered yet.
  7. harry_angel
    No it's nothing sinister, approval is already secured we just made some minor changes in the construction process. It's simply that the "upstairs" (there are no stairs, so unless the officer can levitate she'll struggle to get up there) is just a void, non-habitable. But I do not trust my LPA and do not want them even attempting to use floor area against me...
  8. harry_angel
    We have a pending S73 app (hopefully the last), which has (now) been built to the previously approved building shape/dimensions etc. Or, in other words, re the exterior there is: "nothing to see here". Of course, internal changes which do not affect the external look of a building do not require PP. Therefore, if the planning officer* inspects the site do I - by law - have to let her see inside it if she requests? It's locked currently. I guess this centres on whether a planning officer HAS to assess simply what is being shown in the drawings, and what they were able to see in their site visit (if they do one at all). *note I am referring here specifically to planning officers, not enforcement officers.
  9. harry_angel
    @Bitpipe LOVE brokers at the creative/problem-solving end of the market! Yes pls do pm, many thanks
  10. harry_angel
    @Ferdinand no, I'd be able to bootstrap finance it myself faster out of work cashflow. The problem with that route is twofold though: 1) slow and 2) will leave us a little light in rainy day money. @Dave Jones sure is tempting to get rid, but if I did the next guy in is going to light it up....on the back of my hard graft. Better to fight through it. @pocster and @Bitpipe yes we have a decent one but I am conscious the game moves fast and also even the best brokers have an element of autopilot to them. @Bitpipe that is an absolute tale of woe and no mistake. Good for you getting through it.
  11. harry_angel
    @ProDave see bullet 2 in original post. @Zak S thanks for the insight. Your 2019 situation sounds stressful indeed. I find it slightly insane, I guess, that in this supposedly evolved time we live in that one would have to go back to the "old ways" of passing a hat around family and friends. On that note we have already had some help from a friend, who is now almost repaid (2 payments to go). But re your earlier point the exit strategy is essentially: hang on to legal ownership of the property until such time as the acreage it sits in is develop-able (a matter of time, albeit quite a long time, is the professional view). In the meantime however we're stuck in this financial bottleneck where we are having to bootstrap necessary refurbishments (the house has soared in value due to the demand for land pre/post covid, but will go a lot further still) out of earnings, which means everything moves at a glacial pace. Depressingly this is looking more and more like the full-time job of kissing investor frogs until one takes pity on us OR doing a little bit here, a little bit there, by which time they'll probably lower us into the ground just at the precise moment everything's finished.
  12. harry_angel
    This is interesting re equitable charge loans > https://www.taptoncapital.co.uk/equitable-charge-loans
  13. harry_angel
    @Mr Punter sounds like a swell deal. What multiple on earnings did you secure? Did you go for interest only? @matthyde83 interesting, thanks, yes had heard of Habito. We have 1.5 years left on the current mortgage, but I really need the £100k+ prior to that. Researching the interest-only route in order to increase affordability, and looking into private mortgages and equitable charges this week....
  14. harry_angel
    @Mr Punter been with the lender 6 years, not missed a payment or a deadline. Happy to be proved wrong but my experience is contrary: two self-employed people? Providers are Not. A. Fan. And the mortgage, while affordable, is undeniably big. One option would be to find an interest-only lender though, as then the stress test might be much easier to pass.
  15. harry_angel
    @SimonD I guess my nervousness around going to the lender is once you've done that, if you then later choose to do something a little creative a la the equitable charge then the account might be flagged or something. I tend to fly very low with the main lender, pay them on time, every time and leave them well alone. I am very interested in the equitable charge via a HNW though, so thanks for that idea and will start digging into that in earnest tomorrow. @Mr Punter alas remortgage via another lender is out due to bullet 2 above, our earning wouldn't pass the stress tests currently as my partner's situation has changed. @Ferdinand my partner has a pension but I don't. I think it's a super-restrictive one, though, so that getting a loan against it is tough. Personal loans we are already tapped out on - we're paying them back each month standing on our heads but I think the algorithm has kicked in now and the only personal loans we're being offered are these awful credit builder credit cards for £3k! Determined to crack this: was looking at the valuation letter earlier (not Foxtons I should add!) and it's absolutely bonkers we can't get at a measly 10% of what's there!
  16. harry_angel
    @SimonD thanks Simon. Hmmmm. I can't see that approaching the restrictive lender would play out well, even if your connect did pull it off. If anyone else has any genius brainwaves I would absolutely love to hear them!
  17. harry_angel
    Thanks @SimonD I haven't taken pro advice yet, but intending to ASAP. Would be really interested to know how your contact managed to override the 1st charge's clause. I guess the way that leaps out is simply....to not tell the main lender. That way the 2nd lender is still covered, but clearly this route is a bit riskier.
  18. harry_angel
    I have a property which has in excess of £1.5m equity in it. And I can't get at any of it. And I need to, albeit only 10%/£150k. The standard routes are blocked as follows: Conventional "public" 2nd charge - blocked, main lender won't allow it Re-mortgage/increase of existing loan via current lender - blocked, can't go through (now, more strict) affordability stress test checks again Separate 3rd party secured personal loans - blocked, as above, main lender won't allow it and probably can't withdraw enough in any case* Which to my knowledge only leaves a private loan from a high-net-worth. This is achievable in principle however....I can't offer them a formal, land registry, "official" 2nd charge on the property, sitting behind the primary lender (because of bullet 1 above) on the Land Registry. This then narrows the "market" of HNWs right down to very close personal connections, as opposed to any and all Tom, Dick and Harrys who fancy making 8-12% interest rather than having it sit, inert, in some no-interest account. So: long story short, despite having all this equity I can't even get at the 10% of it I need for some crucial renovations. And trust me, I'd be bonkers to sell the house. Are there any creative souls out there with a solution? *I am 99% sure that this strategy is a no-go, but not quite 100%.
  19. harry_angel
    Thanks for the clarification @DevilDamo Can they try and inject an S106 into a Certificate of Lawfulness app? And does a change of use app from outbuilding to dwelling entail a fresh/full app or can that be done under S73 too?
  20. harry_angel
    @DevilDamo..... somebody we no longer employ. ? Was our error submitting an NMA when we should have submitted a Minor Material Amendment (MMA)? I have just found an app, approved, for a property in the same area who increased two storeys by 2m using an MMA. Fundamentally we believe the wider game here is that the LPA know they can't win this one long term, but wish to attach an S106 condition saying we can never rent or sell the outbuilding. That is why they're constantly pushing us to do a full app. The MMA, as I far as I can see has 3 potential advantages at this point: it should cover the changes described (with precedent of a bigger increase being approved) appears that neighbours aren't fly-erd/can't comment it will prevent the LPA injecting an S106 Condition (??) That last bullet is a question, in case anyone has the answer.
  21. harry_angel
    This was the LPA's response in their refusal: The proposed changes to planning application XXXX listed below are considered to amount to more than a non - material amendment. · alter the position of the 4 approved rooflights · adding fenestration to the south elevation, reducing fenestration to the west elevation · increasing the structure's length by 0.5m. A letter of objection has been received from a neighbouring property. You should consider submitting a S.73 application to vary the original permission.
  22. harry_angel
    @Dreadnaught they've actually just refused the NMA citing the beautiful opaque, vague and non-determinate "application does not constitute non material amendments" (it does). But, as I say, they missed the deadline for determination by 4 months. The penalty to the LPA in normal cases is they forfeit their right to be judge and juror.....but what's the penalty if they miss an NMA determination? There must be one, or what's the point of the govt saying NMAs have to be determined in 28 days...
  23. harry_angel
    @Mr Punter thanks, however I don't fully understand the gist of Mr Goodall's comments. Can you offer a translation/succinct version?
  24. harry_angel
    This is an interesting one for my fellow planning eager beavers...in essence: we submitted a Non-Material Amendment, to PP already secured the LPA are required to determine all NMAs within 28 days, per the info below, no longer period was agreed in writing so the 28 days stands they have missed this date, wildly, by fully 4 months with a normal app, one would then have the recourse to go to appeal via the planning inspectorate, but no such recourse exists for NMAs: you cannot appeal them begging the question: what is the "penalty" to the LPA for failing to determine this NMA in time? Can this be leveraged at all? Are the non-material amendments we've made now, automatically, lawful as a result of the LPA failing to meet the 28 day deadline? "The time period for determination of a non-material amendment is 28 days, unless a longer period has been agreed in writing between the parties." "There is no right of appeal for refusal or non-determination of non-material amendment applications. If they are refused then the applicant would have to submit a S73 application or a new planning application instead." https://planningaid.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011256758-Non-Material-Amendments-to-an-existing-planning-permission-section-96a-
  25. harry_angel
    Where I live planning officers are handling "over 100 cases" each. One of our apps has changed hands twice, being passed from one officer (who we believe left), to another (who definitely left), to the current person. I'm in a funny spot because one of mine is retrospective, works are totally complete and TBH I want them to get to it as late as possible. If they could get to it next Christmas that would be ideal, in fact. There are so many problems with the system it's tough to know where to begin, you could write a tome about it. Fundamentally it all comes back to money, like everything else: our planning fees simply claw back cash, to my knowledge, they aren't "profit" for councils. Then, the next Q becomes: how much should we pay officers? I know, let's pay them £30k then absolutely bury their sorry as*es in 100 applications + all the associated communication and baloney that comes with 100 apps. The village idiot could figure out what happens next: they're down Wetherspoons one Friday afternoon at approx 3pm, having knocked off early, and one of their old colleagues appears who's now got a gig at a planning consultancy, having leapt the fence. He's now earning £50k, for a fraction of the BS, aggro, hassle, being shouted at by applicants and objectors alike. But to me the great villainy here is, as the OP states, the lack of available dialogue. Evan paid dialogue. My LPA's Pre App service has been disabled for over a year, for example. The planning officer on my case said to me: "I simply cannot engage in any dialogue". Then there's the Comments system, which simply weaponises every keyboard warrior there ever was, and causes endless fall-outs, local disharmony, and unnecessary feuds which could probably be worked out with a more anonymous voting system. Where's it all going to end? I have no idea. But just put my app to the bottom of the pile, yeah?
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