Sam G

Thanks Ian that's really helpful!

Hi everyone, We bought a derelict agricultural barn that had class Q permission for conversion into a residential building. We then applied for full planning permission for a more substantial conversion and this has been approved by the council, however we do not have permitted development rights. I understand that our builder should be able to charge VAT at the reduced 5% rate (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708#section7) I have also read that it is possible to subsequently claim back this 5% via the DIY housebuilder scheme with form 431C: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-vat-refund-for-a-conversion-if-youre-a-diy-housebuilder The online service looks fine, however when I look at the actual form (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65858882ed3c34000d3bfde3/VAT431C.pdf), Question 7 says 'Do you have planning permission which includes permitted development rights?'. Next to this it says 'If ‘No’, you are not eligible to claim a refund under this scheme. You may need to seek advice on your completion certificate or evidence of habitation from your local authority as you must obtain and supply these documents to us in order to be able to claim a VAT refund under this scheme' So am I right to think that we cannot claim back VAT with form 431C? Because although we have full planning permission this does not come with permitted development rights. This is the relevant part our planning approval: Notwithstanding any details approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority associated with the conditions of this approval, upon completion, no further development, whether permitted by Classes A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H of Part 1 of Schedule 2 and Class A of Part 2, Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) (or any order revoking and re-enacting that Order) or not, shall be carried out. I would be so grateful if anyone has any advice on this, the 5% could make all the difference to us because the latest cost estimates from the architect have now gone over our budget. thank you, Sam

Thanks everyone for the helpful advice. The issue we are facing is that even though the Planning Committee voted to approve our application, they left it with the LPA to confirm which conditions they are going to attach, so we still need to wait for that. We will follow up with local councillors if this goes on much longer. all the best, Sam

Hi everyone, I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about what we can do in a situation like this - We submitted a planning application 11 months ago (August) for conversion of a very small (< 30 m2) agricultural barn which already had class Q permission. LPA was extremely slow to deal with this. We then submitted a second, much less ambitious, planning application in March while we waited, because we were worried about the class Q permission running out with no backup in place. Eventually, the LPA recommended refusal but seeing as we had parish council support the application went to the Planning Committee in April. Planning Committee voted to overturn the LPA recommendation and allow permission. So we no longer need the second planning application which was submitted in March. Now, more than three months since the Planning Committee, we are still waiting for the LPA to confirm their planning conditions and issue the decision. It's still just 'awaiting decision'. They won't answer the phone and don't reply to emails. They are also proposing to include some very onerous conditions (e.g. 1:1 scale plans) which were not mentioned by the Planning Committee and are far in excess of the conditions imposed for other approved developments nearby. Does anyone have any thoughts on how we might proceed? Our first priority is to actually get them to issue the planning decision so that we can start on our project. Our second thought is whether we can get any money back from our planning applications. We paid £494 last August, and another £494 in March for an application we don't need (and they seem to be ignoring) but we don't feel like we have had much in return. thank you! Sam