Ferdinand

I don't see that changing anything - the original PP has still been started before CiL Exemption was confirmed, and therefore will still apply. I do not see how reality can be changed retrospectively. That surely is why a retrospective Certificate of Lawful Development is actually merely an admission that enforcement is not possible due to elapsed time rather than a full PP. One could argue that the exemption applies to the new elements, but I do not see that being accepted as a valid PP - the correct route would be a variation. Very nebulous, imo and I think the first charge would continue to apply anyway. Ferdinand

What a nice house in a lovely spot. Looks great for children. Ready for a refit by the time it is finished ?

I have you on film ? (Allegedly)

Welcome. Delurking is a wonderful thing.

Don't do that; reserve McGonagall for the kennel or toolshed. He is Scotland's national un-poet. Find something from Burns or Shakespeare for the front door. F

Often documents farther back can be seen by a physical inspection of the Planning File ie go to the Council Office, get the file and go right through it.

In such a case I thought a Statement of Truth should be acceptable proof in eg a court unless someone swears to the contrary. I think there are rules about deemed delivery. Needs a check with an authority. Ferdinand

Welcome to the adventure. Poetry? "The stronger we our houses do build, The less chance we have of being killed." William Topaz McGonagall (Said the person with left arm swathed in bandages having dropped a steak too rapidly into a stonkingly hot wok with some fat in it last week.) On the encouragement side, the best value time you spend is thinking time at the start of the project - costs nothing, saves oodles later in the things you don't get wrong.

You also need family members on side ie beneficiaries.

Do not forget that if the Executors agree, they could do eg a Deed of Variation. Another point for you is that you cannot expect the whole family to kick their heels for months and months waiting for their inheritance whilst you get your ducks in a row.

You have not explained how probate comes in. My only comment is that if some family members getting property (you) and others getting money is involved, then make sure that all transactions are at appropriate values to avoid any future resentments. Such can poison relationships. Is there any reason you can't just increase your mortgage and buy the whole thing from the Estate, perhaps with a suitable agreement in place with your nuncle? F

It's one of the existential questions we sometimes get theological about ? .

Thanks all ?.

I think you ca; also register what is called a Beneficial Interest in it, which avoids some buggering about. Take advice on that, but it is what 3rd party restorers I know do to avoid the need to change ownership. Also, putting charges on is relatively straightforward.

I think you ca; also register what is called a Beneficial Interest in it, which avoids some buggering about. Take advice on that, but it is what 3rd party restorers I know do to avoid the need to change ownership.

Followup. I think that WOW in a hall depends on having a huge space (say with a staircase AND a dining table - in our family small manor house there was a Jacobean staircase with a 15ft high x 6ft wide arched window, and the hall was about 20ft x 16ft in addition), or playing to create perceptions of space. Surprises also help, so eg a dark low ceiling porch into a bright high ceiling space is dramatic - Frank Loydd Wright did this in houses. Perhaps try: Pull sneak corridor into hall. Try some sort of rooflight feature to give something to draw the eye upwards. Try a dogleg staircase across the side and back, which will mean they see the double height space immediately on entering. I think that perhaps your kitchen and office are a little 'average'. In my kitchen I have 30+ 600mm unit spaces in toto (excluding utility, and counting everything), How many do you have? What happens if you pull the secret space into the office. 4m x 3m to me is neither a compact study (which would be 3x3m) nor somewhere sufficient for a big worktable in addition to the desk for holding meetings or doing 5000 piece jigsaws, Ferdinand

I concur on the money saving strategy with @scottishjohn. Reasonable quality then price, with a bit of flexibility in the actual product detail.

*stops digging*

So - doesn't fit in the z dimension. I feel guilty now.

Trust you welcome a candid comment; I am taking it that you are exploring the universe of possibilities. IMO this one will be very (and unnecessarily) expensive to build because of all those stepins from GND to 1st Floor - as I make it you have about 20-25m of upstairs outside wall which is above voids on the Ground Floor, and the corresponding amount of single storey roof. Won't that mean umpteen columns and beams, each of which will cost you £500+ extra? And then you will have sealing and jointing and flashing and cold bridge and access problems. Simplify away the vast majority of it by adjusting your room sizes. On the design approach, I get a feeling that you are still doing a bottom up "sum of parts" thing - here starting with a list of rooms and what you want each one to be, rather than looking at the house as a whole. Even the (good) presentation is a series of tableaux rather than a walkthrough of a house. You need a unified whole. I am slightly reminded of the Windmill Theatre "tableaux vivant" circa late 1930s in the design/presentation; I want a full blown Moulin Rouge Can Can instead. I think you are being driven by what other people do, or find acceptable, rather than thinking about your own requirements. "What is normal" or "what do other people want" are questions for a developer. Self builders can nod to them, but they should imo be subsidiary. Trust yourself. On details, I agree with @epsilonGreedy that there is too much subdivision. IMO the way to get wow in a relatively small house is to have fewer, larger rooms, using vistas etc creatively. There is also imo a too-large amount of circulation space. What is that long balcony expressly to be able to have a pot plant at the end ? ? Put the espace in the bedroom. On that sneak pantry: two points. Firstly the need for it is a symptom of a different problem - access to the kitchen is not thought out thoroughly. Secondly, it is a pink elephant - what does the extra door, the corridor, and 3 cupboards add over a simple door from the hall to the generous utility? Put the space in the hall to give you WOW, make the loo a better size with a shower for infirm visitors, and put the cupboards in the utility. (Were you to stick with the sneak pantry I would say put the 2 doors opposite each other at the kitchen end and make the rest a bigger shower and proper cloak closet.) On fixing the layout, I would probably put the theatre front to back on the RHS, incorporating the playroom (gives you your 5.5m). I would then make the kitchen-diner-living into one room screened off from the theatre, by a wall or those bifolds. (As they are they will mean there is a 1m wide run of floor you can never use). I would make the the theatre the correct size for repurposing as a garage - may never happen but it answers a real question with a "yes, you can". Children's playroom? Somewhere else or "let them watch films" or accept that mutual-murdering and cinema will not often happen simultaneously. As you suggest, I have ignored the upstairs. But how will you clean that window at the front above the door? Ferdinand

Shall we have a sweepstake for whether it fits ? (Sacrificing future invitations to @pocster's whilst he is still alive and in possession of capacity.)

It's the skeleton cupboard ... ? .

Appropriate in a tall, expensive house, perhaps if roof terrace or balcony eating is a use case. And iirc you are building these. I find that the thing that worries me is taking eg furniture upstairs, for which spending 16-18k on a wheelchair lift would be a more reasonable investment. The last time I felt vulnerable was taking the carcass of a filing cabinet upstairs, and feeling that the Centre of Mass might move outside the step I was standing on. I have a location where I can fit one, but it would involve expending the utility into the back of the (24ft) garage. Also it blocks you stairs when it breaks down at the bottom. Could be designed out. Dangerous. I have a relative who slipped down 3 stairs after a trip on this type of stuff, landed on and shattered one ankle, had several months off work, and now triggers security scanners at airports. How do we manage this? Not easy - the best I have is a straight staircase where things can be put under the banister line, and a "dumping chair" at the bottom. Perhaps built-in shelves? Ideas? Ferdinand

Bungalow ?. If you have a dumbwaiter, but no slave, then you have to walk upstairs to unload it anyway. So, staircase and a cruise.

A topic which has been done to death, but student @Lakeside has come up with a short and sufficiently general definition that to me it covers recognised categories of self-builder. It is quoted from this thread. (* What does the piccie of 2 cats shooting a cannon have to do with the topic. Nothing. Explosive debate?)