Hoges

Well I have applied for a LDC...thanks for your help, fingers crossed.

You mentioned I could do the CLUED myself or find a planning consultant with relevant experience. How do I go about finding someone with the right experience? Having little or no experience of planning, not really any idea where to look. I had expected that I could have a conversation with the enforcement officer but after lots of emails, dozens of voicemails, they have not called me back so as you suggests they may just be trying to run down the clock, which is not something I expected to experience. Thanks everyone for help so far, just didn't expect them to completely blank me.

I have called every day, with no reply from the enforcement officer, left voice mails, sent emails .....nothing! The 3 week period is up on 16th June, so starting to panic.

Thanks for this. The original letter referred to "the structure being built on the flat roof" After I had spoken to them and mentioned that it had been there circa 20 years, sent pictures of the deck from when I had purchased the property 12 years ago together with the sales details mentioning the deck, they replied with the following letter: "Thank you for your emails and phone calls regarding the above property. I sincerely apologise for the delay in contacting you. Having had a discussion with the Planning Services Manager, I can confirm that the roof terrace erected does not benefit from the 4 year 'deemed consent' rule because the structure has been significantly replaced. I therefore ask that the roof terrace is removed within 3 weeks of the date of this letter. As stated in previous correspondence, we are not inviting a planning application for this structure as we deem it unlikely consent would be given in its current form. However, you are still entitled to submit a planning application which would be assessed without prejudice. If this application was then refused, you would have a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate." The neighbour, removed their deck a couple of years ago as it was too costly to repair and they were intending to rent out the property. I contacted them and they are in full support of my deck and had intended to reinstate their deck when they moved back to live in the house. I don't know who complained, but it is likely to be the tenant in the house next door. I spoke to the enforcement officer and she said I could not appeal until they issued the enforcement notice. She has been on holiday since...

Temp and Ian, many thanks for the information. I will have a good read of the links. I spoke to planning yesterday to see if I could appeal, but they have said I can’t until the enforcement notice is issued. Thy said I could apply for planning permission, but they were not inviting me to apply?. They didn’t mention the CLEUD, but I asked them about it and they said I could apply via their website providing the application was made before the three week date they gave on their letter to remove the deck.

Thanks for this. The terrace was unusable for only a very short period (a week or so). Spoke to planning today and they said that as it was mostly removed, even though it was to make the base safe for my tenant, they consider the change to be significant and the clock restarts. Is there anywhere I can read information/rules on the 3 month break in the continuity of the breach consensus that you mentioned? Thanks again

Many thanks. There is no significant difference between the old deck and new deck. It has probably been there around 20 years as it was old when I purchased the house. As it is a property I rent out, the repairs were essential to ensure my tenants safety. Most of the original deck was removed to treat the roof underneath, but at no point was there nothing left and many components were re-used. Is planning an easy process? Where do I find out what to do and costs involved. What grounds for appeal might I have and is this something I can do myself? many many thanks for your help so far..the whole thing seems silly, but it is causing me a lot of anxiety.

Hi, a bit stressed and very confused and wondered if anyone can advise me. I purchased a house around 12 years ago that had a small first floor terrace (decking ) on top of a downstairs bathroom. Both the house I purchased and next door house (terraced) had the same deck. After years of repair and patching, the deck had become dangerous and very rotten in places so we decided to take the frame off and rebuild most of it. There are some original bits, but a lot was beyond saving. I assume someone has complained and we received a letter from an enforcement officer to remove the deck. I sent them photos of the deck from when I purchased the house, the original sales details from the estate agent describing the deck when we purchased and some photos of the rot that forced the repair. After around a month ( today) I received a letter again asking us to remove the structure within 3 weeks. The letter said “ I can confirm that the roof terrace erected does not benefit from the 4 year ‘deemed consent’ rule because the structure has been significantly replaced” I have googled ‘deemed consent’ and 4 year rule and can’t find the regulations that determine this. Can anyone help? Do you know if we can appeal the decision (tried calling but voice mailbox full)