Bestsy Bungalow

Thanks everyone. If we knock it all down and do a new build to get the zero rated VAT we will need to do retrospective PP for a new build as we can't afford to stop work until PP comes through. There is a risk with that as we may not get PP although the risk is very small - it's a residential street with lots of different types of houses on it and we would be building exactly the same house as we have PP for but just doing it as a new build. I don't think the council would have much chance in an appeal with that. However, there are additional costs with a new build so I think it will end up costing us the same, if not more. Also, as work has already started we have already paid VAT for a considerable amount of the work which will be unrecoverable and until we have PP for a new build (at least 8 weeks) any work carried out could be deemed by the HMRC to have happened before it was lawful. Even if the builder doesn't charge us VAT, if the HMRC come after him, he will come after us for it, which we can't risk. I think we'll keep a couple of walls and not do the new build.

The builder will invoice us without VAT as he is registered with the relevant agency to do new builds. His proof is a dated photo of it flattened. Therefore we don’t need to submit anything to HMRC although we still need PP as a new build. I’ve spoken at length with the planning officer who maintains we need another full application as it is no longer a renovation but a new build. As we can’t afford to hold off the builders until PP decision is made we are going to have to proceed while it’s in process. It’s a calculated risk as we already have PP for the same finished house as we’ll be building. Thanks everyone.

I want to do a new build though to get the VAT off.

We are going to build it identical to the approved plans - not what was there before. We would need to tell planning to register it as a new build and get the VAT off though as we need proof of planning permission for it - the current planning permission is not a full demolition then rebuild. BC know the state of the walls and have advised they should come down. Although that doesn't apply to all of them - there are roughly three remaining that are probably viable.

Thanks for the replies. PP was given in February so very recently - we have already used a free second go as we had planning for a larger house but the build costs were too high so we redesigned a smaller house. There's no variation as the house will not differ at all from the plans we have submitted.

I'm looking for some advice please. We have PP to convert our 1950s bungalow to a 2 storey dormer window house. The only conditions attached are regarding use of materials. Some walls were going to be knocked down and the rest were going to be reused. The work has started and the builder has discovered that most of the walls that were due to stay aren't able to - two major structural walls that were assumed to have foundations (they were internal and run across the entire width) are built on slab, another pretty much fell down and another was found to have 2.5 inch foundations. Building Control have been over several times and seen this walls. It has become quickly apparent that it's not worth saving and should have been a new build project from the start. Rather than knock another wall down that needs new foundations we would like to knock it all down and start again and save the 20% VAT. We would build exactly the same house on exactly the same footprint. I have spoken to the council about planning but they aren't very helpful. I have been advised by a property developer acquaintance that retrospective planning is what I need but the council said I would need to submit a full application - I don't think the planning officer listened to me properly though and wanted me off the phone. They don't really like advising over the phone is the impression I get and they just want forms in. I can't really see why I need to submit a new full application for the same house. I would be submitting exactly the same plans. We are having to knock the walls down as they aren't sound and Building Control have seen this and advised this themselves. The builder needs to carry on with the job and I have lost of a lot of money on this project already so I can't afford any delay. If I did retrospective for knocking down more walls and it wasn't granted they could just force me to rebuild the walls which is exactly what I am doing anyway. Does anyone have any idea what I should do in this situation?