Big Jimbo

Evening @nod Only One house would be built, fully completed, and fingers crossed sold, while the other half of the plot remained empty. I obviously would not say up front that i intend to sell it, as in an ideal world i wouldnt. I dont see how as a self build i shouldnt be able to claim CIL exemption. Obviously if i did sell it within 3 years, i would have to pay the CIL due to the robbing council. Your seems harsh, unless you were building both at the same time ?

having done both, i think it is easier to do facias and soffets first. Especially if you have to put in eaves vent trays etc.

With permitted development it is max 50% of your curtilage to have buildings. House, shed garage, oubuildings etc. There are other rules about not being forward of the principal elevation etc + distance to boundary depending on flamability of materials used. Height in relation to roof type.Pitched or flat. So you can build bigger than 30 square meters, but if you do, you will need to comply with building regulations.

Thanks @IanR. If my wife then built a house on her land after i finished mine and sold it, she should be ok ?

So, it looks like i am going to get permission to build Two houses on land that my wife and i own. It currently has an old bungalow that we are intending to knock down. Once planning is obtained we will look to split the land into two parcels with the land registry and put One parcel of land in my name, and One in her name. It is the only residential property that we own between us, and has no borrowing against it. The intention is to then build a house on my plot of land. I will do it as a self build, and claim exemption from CIL, and claim back VAT spent. Once it is finished, i wont be able to afford to keep it, so my intension is to sell it. I appreciate that i will have to pay the CIL if i sell it within 3 years. If i make a profit, which i should as i will already own the land. would anybody know if i would have to pay any Tax ? My thoughts are that i would not be liable for any tax, as it would be my only residence. I know that i will have to take some proper tax advice, but wondered if anybody had any idea ? Thanks in advance for any help offered.

My daughter until recently lived in a mixed use area. Fast food outlets, warehouses etc. She had a bloody nightmare with rats. Wires in the ceiling chewed through. Constant noise in the ceiling from the blighters running around. Fortunately, none in the actual living areas of the house. She hated having friends around because they would often ask what the noise was. she had all the drain blockers fitted. I managed to get them out of the ceiling by blocking the top of the cavity wall with stainless steel mesh. They still lived in the walls, but at least were out of the actual house. I can understand both your wish to get rid of them, and those of your tennant. When i exposed the area of ceiling that they were active in. About 15ft x 9ft, i removed 27 rats nests.

@ProDave is spot on Zoot the Hoot. Door beads out. Bottom panel, and glass removed. Then a toe and heel job. A local window fitter would love that job on his way home. £100 cash and a cup of tea max. On another note. Dis you ever get your workshop up and running ?

I am happy to be told different, but when i spoke to a broker about timber build he told me that unless it has either a brick or block skin, that i was knocking 64 of his 68 off his list, and that getting a mortgage would be costly and difficult. Fine looking house.Hope you get a quick sale.

No problem. I have a Cambridge educated planning consultant contact, who tipped me off about talking, or writing, or speaking in the negative when trying to get a planning application through a council. You only talk "Negatives" when you have, no choice.

Well done. Pop that cork.

Any progress on the leak ?

Check with your council. I expect you will have to register in order to speak.

they wont ask you any questions, but if they do, just answer them honestly,as @Redbeard above. Best of luck, but remember you are 94% there.

Exactly. Your speech is full of negatives. Why ? Are you trying to bring them to everybodies attention ?

I'm sorry but i find your own written speach, dreadful. Full of negatives. Everything, including any negatives have been considered by the professional planning office, (AND ALL FOUND TO BE OK) stop drawing attention to things that might give any councillor reason to question your application. I'm not saying i'm some sort of professional writer, but i would stick to what i have written in the post above. By the way, you are 94% there. Don't fudge it now. Get ready to pop that cork.

Good evening ladies and gentleman. Thank you for taking the time to consider my application, that has the support of the council planning officer. Should any of you have any questions i will do my best to answer them for you. (They wont ask any questions) Hopefully, with your support this evening. I together with my family look forward to becoming part of, and immersing ourselves ,within this vibrant community. Thank you for the opportunity of addressing you this evening. Thats it. Simple.

My advice. DO NOT bring up anything negative. EVER. To a bunch of untrained councillors. You have the support of the (pro) planning officer.

Now is defo the time to go full on. Ask the planning officer if they are going to support the application. Keep ringing, and emailing untill you find out. The current national stats are something like 94% of applications that go before the committee, with the support of the planning officer, are voted to be approved. I would defo attend the meeting, and use your 3mins to speak directly to the members of the committee. If the planning officer is going to recomend refusal to the committee, then i expect that the committee will go with the officers advice. How much money you want to spend re getting a consultant to speak at the meeting is up to you. I'm not sure how much good it would do. You might be better to see what reasons are for refusal. Try and address them, and get an application back in, on your free go.

I'm surprised it's only 3 times bigger. When you think about the void in crates, against rubble. Want you soakaway to last a few years. Then rubble is the way to go. If you have got great draining ground, you might get away with rubble.

You could try solvent based paint thinners. If you have already jet washed that, it still appears to have quite a lot of stains from organic matter.

@SteamyTea I think that Vim might be a bit gritty, and if you have a bag of cocaine big enough to stick your hand in, it's doubtful that you care about trying to find a small leak. Although depending on your supply, the cocaine could well have quite a high content of Vim in it anyway.

Full height glazed, with laminated glass. You wont break it. A midrail will make it look like a back door.

Water ingress is such a pain. You do seem to be getting there. I did wonder if there was something available, like a very liquid Bitumen that you could have flooded in. something that would have found its way down, and through the crack, that would have then set, but remained elastic.You would have made a right mess with it though.

Yeah, but it does work.....As does the talc.

The cap won't do any harm, but i'm not surprised that the water is crossing that drip strip. It looks very shallow, and narrow in that photo.