Omnibuswoman

On a slight side note, it’s always worth questioning and challenging the costs quoted by the DNO for connecting you as and when that arises. I was initially quoted £15k, but after a long period of questioning the DNO about line loads the quote was revised to a more reasonable £950.

I spoke to our passivehouse builder this morning and he also said he has no issues with 15mm cold and 10mm hot (which is what he has at his house).

I’m following the same plan as you and for the same reasons - 15mm feeds for showers but 10mm for taps to reduce heat waste. Trying to do our bit for the planet etc. Maybe the way to think about it is to reframe the idea of what ‘a long time’ to fill a kettle means. Perhaps 20 seconds more than usual? It probably feels like an age when standing waiting for the kettle to fill, but compared to the time I spaff away on other things like looking at my phone, I would have to accept that it’s the least time wasting thing I do… You could use the time to practise standing on one leg - good for your balance and future falls prevention!!

We used wood fibre board on the outside of our frame/ roof, with blown cellulose as insulation underneath, then passiv OSB on the inside.

I had a problem with one of mine for a while. In the end, I stuck it in the airing cupboard for 24 hours to dry it out (in case of water ingress) and it started working perfectly again afterwards. Alternatively, maybe try adjusting the movement detections sensitivity in the settings.

I use a vodaphone smart sim, £4 a month. I’m not sure that it has a data limit. If you look on vodaphone’s website you should find it. They don’t work in ordinary mobile devices and are especially for this kind of tech.

Bought! Thanks Steamy

Yes, that's the one! It's reduced to £50 to clear their stock. We borrowed one from a neighbour last year when building the workshop - made measuring, especially working solo, so much easier!

I have just managed to track down one of the last Bosch laser measures B&Q are selling at a very reduced price, but I can't get down to collect it until next weekend. Is anyone local to Taunton B&Q who would be willing to pick it up for me please?? I'm worried they will give it to someone else, and they won't take payment over the phone. Would be enormously appreciated, and well rewarded with cake/flowers/thanks/quid pro quo assistance. Cheers M

Thank you Ian. Much appreciated.

Our builders stuck down flooring on the first and top floors with plenty of adhesive. So much so that we now have adhesive ridges sticking up between the boards, and piles of it both on the ground floor and in my wheelbarrow 🤦‍♀️ Should we expect the builder to remove the excess, and if not, what is the best way to remove it?

I’m glad Mrs B is on the mend. Just LMK if or when you have any remaining spoil to get rid of. I’m also looking to the local quarry for material. The scaffolding has just come down, so the outside looks quite naked at the moment! Inside is a shell, waiting for me to organize the various first fix installations. There appears to be a real lack of ASHP installers locally, and not a great deal of MVHR installers either. It’s hard finding quotes, and those I have got are steeper than we’ve been expecting. Still, it’s great to have a weather tight house, and we can take the time we need to make it habitable. Next project is the rainwater management system which will be some storm water planters and a retention pond. Very excited about seeing that in action.

Thank you both, much appreciated. @ToughButterCup is it this place

We are looking at ordering 26 rolls of Tescon Profil tape from Daemstoff in Germany (E26.00 v £31.80 here) - has anyone made an order from Germany since January 2021, and if so do you know what rate of Customs Duty applies? I know that they add VAT en route, which we can reclaim, but not sure how the customs charges affect the overall cost, and it seems not to be possible to find out from HMRC's website. Danke!

Coming along beautifully! How is Mrs Botus doing? If you have any spare spoil that you are looking to rehome, we are looking for some to raise our ground levels around the house....

I repaired our acrylic bath a few weeks ago using an epoxy kit that I bought online for about £30, after it was cracked and chipped in several places by the glass shower screen falling into it. The repairs are almost invisible, and the bath seems to be absolutely fine. Top tip is to make a v shaped groove along the crack to better allow the epoxy into it. I'm now absolutely up for picking up a fancy looking but massively reduced price bath in need of repair, for our new house. I used one from www.bathtubrepair.co.uk (other brands are available!)

Just to be clear that there are two different levies being discussed here: SDLT and CIL. Very different rules apply. HMRC’s definition of a residential plot (which would potentially attract a higher rate of tax) is not whether or not it has a building on it at the point of sale. It is whether the land itself is ‘residential’. So, for instance, if I took part of my garden and sold it off as a building plot, it would most likely be seen by HMRC as residential. A plot that has previously had a house on it may well be seen by HMRC as ‘residential’ for SDLT purposes, even if the house has been knocked down. In my case, the plot we bought had been a field designated as ‘agricultural’ (prior to planning permission being obtained). Our build converted the land to residential, but at the point that we bought it, and SDLT became due, it was not yet ‘residential’. You would be well advised to seek professional advice, or to ask HMRC for advice on the question about whether or not your particular plot might attract the residential or the non-residential rate of SDLT. As for CIL, which is essentially an infrastructure development fee, I’m not sufficiently genned up on that to say anything specific. What I do know from reading the forum is that it would be sensible to ask the Council in writing for their opinion, as you may want to rely on that later on.

Yes, I’ll contact them and ask if their response to my letter has been lost in the post. And if it hasn’t, will ask if their decision maker would kindly like to set out their reasons for accepting our request. When I get a reply, I will share it here.

Thanks Joe90. I have the advantage of having previously been an independent adjudicator on complaints that had been through HMRC’s own complaints process, checking the exercising of their discretion and their recognition of their own maladministration. I’m sure this helped me in constructing the arguments!

When we purchased our plot in early 2020, I decided to do the conveyancing myself (as I'm basically a tight-arse). I didn't want to pay a solicitor to take months to do something I could easily do myself. Having completed that successfully, the purchase was finalised, and I then filled in the SDLT form and sent off a cheque for the tax that I believed was due. At that point, being aware that this was a second property, I calculated that we owed SDLT at the higher rate, so £5,000 on a plot purchased for £150,000. Skip forward to September 2022, perusing on Buildhub I discover that a building plot is not necessarily a residential property for the purposes of tax. News to me! I went back to HMRC's website, and learned that if the plot was non-residential, then the tax I owed would have been £0 (as the threshold starts at £150,001). As the plot we bought had previously been an agricultural field, prior to the vendor having obtained planning consent, then it was indeed non-residential for tax purposes. I contacted HMRC's helpline to discuss, and the chap I spoke to kindly explained that I could write in and ask them to repay me. I'm not sure whether he was aware or not, but at that point there was actually 0% chance of HMRC repaying us. The rules said that I had only 12 months from the date of completion (June 2020) to revise my SLDT submission. After that, tough luck. Any incorrectly paid tax would not be repaid. HMRC replied to my first letter, rejecting my request on the grounds that I had not quoted the piece of law I was relying on to ask for it. I then spent an entire weekend researching caselaw on situations such as mine. What an exercise in disappointment that was, to put it mildly. I read every single published judgement on SDLT cases for the previous 5 years, as well as the relevant regulations themselves, and concluded that there was simply no basis for me to persuade HMRC to repay us. I was crestfallen, and had to admit to HWMBO that I had gifted £5k to the Treasury out of my own ignorance, and my unwillingness to pay legal fees. Still, I decided that it was worth one final try, and I sat down in January to write the mother of all letters to try to persuade HMRC to repay us. I explained my mistake, cited the regulations, and asked if they could exercise discretion to allow a late amendment to the SDLT1 form on the grounds that they had themselves checked the form at the time and had not identified my error, despite there having been enough information on the form for them to have reasonably suspected that the property was not residential. I said that if they would not do that, would they please consider opening an enforcement case against us so that they could review whether we had paid the right amount of tax, and calculate for themselves what we owed (which was the only legal route that would allow them to revise the SLDT1 form beyond the time limit). Then I went for the heartstrings, saying that we really couldn't afford to gift this money to the Treasury, and if they could please see their way to reimburse us, we would be eternally grateful. A couple of weeks ago HWMBO found a credit in his bank account of £5089.00 with a reference of 'HMRC SDLT'. They had not only repaid us, but added interest for the time they had had the money. They haven't written to us to say why they decided to do this, so I've no idea which part of the letter was effective, but it feels churlish to question it. A very salutary lesson in there for me. And perhaps for some of you too.

You are likely to need the assistance of a solicitor well versed in property and tax law for this. If a mistake is made and you over or underpay tax, getting it put right can be costly.

Thanks for the figures - that's a very helpful starting point for when we speak to Dan about him meeting some of the exess cost. Yes, we are 240 miles away, so are only visiting once a month on average for a long weekend. We were meant to go down this evening for a few days, but we both have covid so have had to postpone the visit.

No, we're not liable - the site is insured by the builder, as per our contract, so it's his liability if anything is stolen from site.

It's our workshop - we built it prior to the build commencing for welfare facilities (it has a tiny kitchen and a loo), and to store materials and tools.