Ferdinand

Heh. It was advertised at £170k. Which is a bit of a push. https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/71732071/

OK. After a bit of round-the-houses, Building Control have agreed to "have a word", on the basis that it may be unauthorised work and it is quite recent, or the householder may have disengaged the safety-limiters on how far it opens, and is an obvious hazard to public safety. I spoke to planning first, and the Duty Planner said "we can't do anything because it is signed off, so it is likely Highways". (Our BCO operation is run by a neighbouring Council, so Planning could not talk directly easily and gave me their number.)

ir is a converted shopfront, which is quite unusual in having been attached to the house that is an L round it before being separated off. It is tight at the back, so probably required escape windows, which they probably did not think about enough.

I'll try it. I rather expect them to "No Further Action" it, as they did last week with a wheelchair blocking barrier ("does not meet our criteria for intervention") which requires a mobility aid user, or some pram-pushers, to go an extra half mile to get into teh local churchyeward from their estate.

Nothing for weeks, then two questions come along together. Spotted today about 100m short of our local marketplace. This was a former barbers modified to be a small bungalow within the last 2 years. Is that outward swing allowed? It used to be a plate glass shop front. The pavement is about 2.2m wide. AIUI they can only swing out over 2.4m in height. I'm not happy about that as it is a busy route into town, I think it is unacceptable under both Obstruction of a Public Highway, and Building Regs "Safety from Collision". I'm thinking eg of Vision Impaired Long Cane or Guidedog Users, who in our town may be at the wall not the kerb because pavement parking is endemic - they put their vehicles halfway over the pavement so they can get out inside the marked parking bay, everywhere. (My thought: I think not and this is down to both designer and District Council uselessness and / or laziness - continental style inward-going tilt and turn windows are available everywhere, and would be more secure anyway.) I think the fix is to replace the lower pane with a fixed light. I would welcome any comments. Cheers Ferdinand

I hope this is a simple one. Can a planning permission be granted on land which is not registered with the Land Registry? As I understood it, either proof of ownership, or proof of consent by the registered owner for the application, was required in order for a Planning Application to be validated. Thanks F

I'm still running one of the portable ones with a claimed COP of 2.5 to 3. I'm sure that I have some of the issues mentioned by @SteamyTea but I do not have my engineering head on today. It is more than covered by the solar and will only be used a little to keep the house at around 23C, so I'm not worrying. But when my gas boiler goes pop, or I am so inclined, it will be a carefully designed A2A installation that replaces it. Here's the thread from 2022:

So if it is "50% or more", then you can raise 40% of the floor boards for access or repair and it does not apply !!!! With a single bound you will be free !!! (I think) Though you may have already gone past this.

The last one of these I did we discussed on here. Rather than microfitting rigid boards between wonky beams I used rock wool and a staple gun to take the insulation to the bottom of the joist level, leaving the underside exposed to help prevent damp. That is flexible enough to cover the variations simply. The rock wool was out of the roof, so the roof would be under 100mm and I got the full 300mm from the ECO programme because it was then uninsulated. I also used "snorkel" vents in one or two places to adjust the level of air inflow to be below the insulation (the airbricks were at ground level when I wanted them one course up to prevent water ingress). Then I also put celotex on top of the floor, with a click-fit Quickstep laminated floor on top of that. I (just) had the height to trim my doors. We were able to do all that without replacing the entire floor by my handyman raising one floorboard every couple of feet. I would give some thought as to which point you let Building Regs see it - I'm not sure what the current required standards are exactly, but for me it was quite tightly constrained. They were not happy with me doing the "fill it all with polystyrene beads" in a waterproof envelope thing. It's had tenants in it for nearly a decade now, and they all love it. There is a thread called "little brown bungalow" about it, and we discussed the floor setup over in the Boffin's corner, here: This was my buildup:

Yes - they could be excluded in the same way as "no washing on the balcony" in the contract. But I can't see that sticking for ever, once they are in safe use.

Thanks @Mattg4321. The angle I am coming from is risk management - a huge part of effective landlording is understanding the locus of potential tenant behaviours and lifestyle, and having a robust property that manages the risky ones out before they start. The reason is that once it gets into the consequences the implications become horrific because a Council will go in feet first and HARD, and a single problem can destroy an entire business - or in my case future pension provision. The blame will *always* be on the LL not the T. Equally something like a gas problem born from simple neglect can have consequences up to and including death, and constant sweating of the detail is the only strategy. My risk management for that as soon as I can will be all electric houses. And risks can only be managed in advance - which is why credit checks etc need to be obsessive. Three examples of strategies I pursue routinely are to install enough sockets so that extension leads will *never* be needed - in the last 8x8ft kitchen I renovated there were about 11 double sockets plus appliance ones below the worktops. And provide constant trickle ventilation (poor man's MVHR - loft PIV fan and a trickle HR ventilator downstairs) to maintain a fresh atmosphere just in case eg washing is dried inside, and install shelves immediately above every radiator so washing physically cannot be added. So I'm just thinking through balcony solar. I suspect one I need to look at is the type of RCBOs. Cheers F

These would usually be in terms of "the build", which is building the house itself ignoring the plot, possibly split into with / without groundworks, and including / excluding extras such as solar. Or it could be shell / first fit / second fit / everything built in. Or a total number. The import thing is to specify, as you have. There are various threads from time to time which collect a few to a dozen or so numbers.

Serious question on this one: As a landlord, what do I need to worry about with electrical systems in rented dwellings wrt balcony solar? My practice has been to rewire or professionally review the wiring, usually with a new consumer unit. These days 5-yearly electrical inspections are required, with potentially swingeing fines (tens of thousands) just from a Council in England, just as a civil penalty before it gets to Court. Are there extra inspections or insurance I need to consider, in case a T gets a balcony solar and just sticks it into one of my systems which has something that is not covered by the standard regimen? This is the sort of thing a tenant would just do. A few would check with the LL; most would not. If they are a T who has had their own house previously they would be aware, but many Ts do not know how to run a house. Around here it is mainly unfurnished, so most have at least some idea of looking after a house. What are the failure modes - will I have an RCBO going pop or a house burnt down? Comments welcome.

UK rental electrics are on a 5 year required cycle. If there is a problem with the specs, then there will be a problem because they are inspected to the specs. So Ts should probably ask.

There was a top gear on that : Oz is the same for over-officious police officers. I was jumped on for crossing a road safely within 3 hours of arriving last time I was there.