Alan Ambrose

I nominate @SteamyTea as BuildHub treasure of the month.

Couple more possibilities - pipe wasn't deburred and/or o-ring is torn (look closely). Star washer thing is a bit snagged or on at an angle. Took me a while to figure out that the seal on these is only the o-ring. Any tape / gunge is just covering up a bodge and there'll be an underlying reason to look for.

Ah I just read your post again - the situation is a bit complicated. This is a matter of timing and/or of paying the CIL on what might be a self-build for someone else? Amount not high enough for legal work? No harm in arguing the point with them. I've actually found the East Suffolk CIL guys to be OKish, although they're clearly a revenue raising department.

Ah, that old trick. Which Suffolk borough are you out of interest - East I think? I think I might have seen that property for sale a while back - mill is very beautiful, with a mill pond, not so far from a train line? >>> Don’t know if we have any redress. Yes, I think you do and I assume the amounts are large. Suggest engage a CIL lawyer asap. There's some discussion on BH about finding and using one. CIL seems to be one of those things that unscrupulous councils take the piss out of. Put one foot out of wrong will ya - that's you nailed.

As a follow on (as is common here with the post-and-dash brigade, we have not heard again from the OP)... I'm finding this strategy is working with the PHPP calcs - so I can try out the variations of brise soleil, external blinds, low-G glass etc ensuring that I limber under the PHPP overheating limit. I'm aware though that this is a somewhat fragile strategy (the PHPP overheating calc itself is a bit fragile anyway) and, in practice, reducing the glazing a bit might make the chosen solution a bit less brittle. This does also force you to start selecting particular frames / glass / blinds for the modelling, which I guess is good.

One thing I found recently was that annual property taxes in the US can be 2-6% p.a. (!) based on market value. That means that people (e.g. retirees) can get priced out of their homes if market values move up sharply. Estate agent fees (Realtors) used to charge a standard 6% (!) and that has recently gone free market. It makes our council taxes (mine is ~0.5%) and our estate agent fees of ~1% seem seem puny by comparison.

Maybe it depends on how fast your LDC is and on the delivery time for your windows. Is one strategy to file for the LDC and get an order in the window queue at the same time subject to your final decision on colour?

I would like a double external door, PH level and modern security which I can cover on the outside with old oak planks similar to the barn-like building it's going to go in. Ideally I would like to buy ready-made double door blanks with good quality insulation and a multi point locking mechanism, so I can just cover the outside surface. I know this is not the way that particular industry generally works. Any leads or ideas?

You can buy a bunch of plastic packers in different thicknesses. This kind of thing: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Assorted-Glazing-Plastic-Variations-Available/dp/B0B21KQJW3

Even with a highly insulated slab?

I guess the tactic of intelligently heating the slab with UFH, used by a few people here on BH, is the simplest version of this?

>>> anyone self building from applying for a CIL exemption if they have a holiday home Interesting question. I'm obviously trying to not fall accidentally foul of the rules as the penalty is large. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/community-infrastructure-levy#para082 Individuals benefiting from the exemption must own the property and occupy it as their principal residence for a minimum of 3 years after the work is completed. Now it does say 'sole or main residence' in the actual act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/948/regulation/54A and the form to be submitted at the end is this: https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/1app/forms/form_7_self_build_part_2_exemption_claim.pdf and says 'sole or main residence' again, so maybe having a holiday home or even a rental property isn't a problem. But nothing about the period where you may have two homes temporarily while you're selling the old one.

Ah so assuming you have no other pressing matters (e.g. mortgages) you could potentially be living in the new place, paying council tax etc, but hold off on the completion cert until your old place has sold? Often the question here on BH is ‘how quick can I get my cert…

>>> is the planning permission for self-build housing? There's a couple of plots near me that have been advertised as self-build plots that are not selling and I wondered why they didn't then agree with the LPA to sell them as standard plots. As to the OP's question - my understanding is that the CIL self-build legislation is fairly vague and thus open to interpretation by your LPA (I've never read all the way through it)). I think the only option might be to trawl (yourself or via a lawyer) through the legislation or simply ask your LPA. In any event if your LPA says 'no', regardless of the legislation, I suspect you're not going to court and will have to suck it up. Worth asking though.

OK so you're near the completion of your self-build and ready to move in. You've avoided the huge CIL levy payment by correcting filing the CIL self-build paperwork at the right time. You put your old house on the market, expecting it to take anywhere between 3-12 months to complete as is normal. But CIL doesn't allow you to claim the self-build exemption if you have two homes - which you will have from the moment you get BC final sign-off on your new one until you sell your old one. Strictly, 'you're breaking the rules'. Is there any known provision for a grace period to allow for this practicality?

@SteamyTea - that's below the belt, bothering us with the data dammit...

I think 5m is, in practice, an ambition rather than a hard rule. What's the best you can do?

Well if the vermin risk is low: 99+% of UK houses use pinned T&E only so that's an option. But you'll of course need to agree any method with your sparky. Discuss the many options with him or her and go from there? Be interesting to know what you jointly decide.

I appreciate you would like this solved quick and without too much fuss …. But … I think it depends on how bad the vermin problem is, how difficult it would be to take up the floor again to repair vermin damage, and how difficult it is to wire all the way back to the CU. If your electrician has suggested plastic conduit then it indicates they think the vermin risk is high and it won’t be so easy to take the floors up again. So, if you’re not so bothered by the vermin risk or the floor is just screwed down and easy-ish to lift - then just run standard T&E without conduit as normal. (Or maybe if you’ll be moving in a couple of years anyway.) If the floor is not coming up again for another 80 years or the vermin risk is high or you’re planning to live there for a long time, then I would go a bit off-piste and run singles in metal flex conduit without any sharp bends. Then (a) it will be easy to pull new cables in 80-years time and (b) the vermin will end up with blunt teeth. Metal flex isn’t crazy expensive either. I’ve used 25mm OD / 20mm ID in a domestic context and would suggest that if you have room. You may find one size down will work, but you’ll want to check ‘pullability’. Check that the metal flex end glands work with your back boxes OK. Sure, if you can get all the way back to the CU without too much difficulty then radial if you prefer, but I don’t think it’s the major issue here. If you go for the non-vermin proof solution you might consider an AFDD in the CU to mitigate fire risk a bit. Oh and a flexi for each run of course - there’s no Y connector that will help unfortunately.

So apologies to @Mr Blobby, but having never done it before, this is why I think I'll get a better result on my windows than the average window fitter.

>>> do what they always do Which is bodge it in the hole roughly square and then fill all the gap with crazy foam?

I seem to remember Planning Docs - presumably so they can check that the building is legit and that the costs & materials make some kind of sense for the dwelling. The latter is just my supposition though - knowing central government, it is even more likely there are no checks at all and it's just a tick box item for them

It looks like a mis-measurement or mis-manufacture to me.

>>> I’ll cross that bridge You're planning a bridge too ?

As a low priority I might email your planners, explain the detail and ask them what they want you to do. They should be perfectly reasonable as you have acted in a sensible and cautious way. In the worse case, they might ask you to apply for a retrospective amendment to your original permission or alternatively for a 'lawful development certificate'. I would present them with the problem though and follow their solution if any. They probably won't care much. You might only care when you come to sell, and then only if it is sometime soon-ish i.e. before the 4 year enforcement period has passed.