Ferdinand

Treat it as a special area in the garden. Do you have children or grand children? Make it into a play / relaxing area, with railings round the edge, treated as a roof garden. Why not have one of those large chess boards made out of pavers, or Nine Men’s Morris, or similar, or several. And seats in the sun. And a fountain, and so on. Or a labyrinth? Or a deck. And a BBQ and a barrel o beer. F

If I bought it for the current bid and sold it to you for the price of 3 brollies I would still make nearly a 50% margin...

I could speculate on this by offering £3 and then waiting for @Sue B to have a hole in her roof when it is raining..

This is interesting: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208954/Amended_Guidance_for_Applicants_and_landowners_and_or_occupiers_-_June_2013.pdf see para 3.9 . Revocable at will if no express or implied agreement or contract. Hmmm. ??? But needs some checking and contextualisation. The possible implication is that if the DNO cannot demonstrate a current agreement, either written or by proving that the landholder has accepted money, then they can be instructed to remove their equipment at any point. I think that suggests 3 months notice but I am not certain. That is a very valuable document. Ferdinand

It reminds me of how Car Insurance can revert to Road Traffic Act only, though that may have gone by now as a rule.

I think that the situation around sales of properties is more ambiguous in practice. When we had electricity cables removed, they were quite happy to proceed on the basis of a wayleave from 1958 and three owners ago. ”Bare Wayleave” sounds like an arsecovering word for “O Fook, we haven’t got a Wayleave”. Or perhaps it may be the legal minimum that automatically exists with a cable and no other documentation or agreement. F

What is underneath? can you just take it away? It classically needs to have a surface 150mm below the dpb, and everything sound and functional eg air bricks. It may be that it is worth doing more given that you have to start eg put a gravel path and French Drain in, or go deeper and put skirt insulation on that wall. What is the situation with the remainder of the house? F

Cheers. F

Make sure that it is a fag packet with one of those coronary warnings, to make sure you are ready for the number he Is about to give you ?

just had this email. It is 3 years since my freebie car charger was installed in the garage. I have never had an Ev. —————————- As a loyal customer to Chargemaster (now trading as BP Chargemaster), we hugely appreciate your commitment to shaping the future of the Electric Vehicle industry by purchasing an EV and a BP Chargemaster Homecharge Unit. When you originally purchased our Homecharge Unit it came with a 3 year communications package providing access to BP Chargemaster’s ChargeVision platform. This package period has now come to end. However, as a thank you for your custom we are offering you an option to extend this package and access to the ChargeVision platform for a cost of only £50 for the next 3 years (usual price £95). To take full advantage of this offer, please email comms.pack@bpchargemaster.com stating your name, and your contact telephone number, and if you have a preferred time/date to take a call. One of our team will then ring you to confirm the renewal of your access to ChargeVision and to take payment. If this offer is not taken up over the next 30 days, we will send you a confirmation saying that the comms element within your Homecharge unit will be deactivated and your login in details to the ChargeVision platform will be no longer apply. We also would like to take this opportunity to share with you about our Polar Plus membership, which for £7.85 a month you can access the UK’s largest electric charging network away from your home. For those first-time users, the first three months’ membership is FREE! Please visit https://polar-network.com/ for more information. ————————- Hmmm. A solution to the Big Brother problem that goes with these? Are there any gotchas hereeg could it disable the whole thing? Ferdinand

@NeverEnoughCake I think your big thing over the next couple of weeks is getting to grips with the planning system and what it will require of you. It may be about to hit you like a steamroller if you are not already familiar with things. Can I suggest that you read several of the blogs here and elsewhere of projects with similar aspects (and I mean every word of the blog). That will I think be really helpful. Can I suggest for offsite blogs: Jeremy’s blog here http://www.mayfly.eu/ . Read it end to end. Dip into Life at the end of the Road, which is off grid https://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ For onsite, pick a few and read the earlier posts about planning stuff. Other people may have good suggestions; I am now out for the day. F

That gate would kill the Wicked Witch of the East.

Imo it may well be their cockup so perhaps you should expect some rebate or no extra charges. F

Watched this last night. I think they are trying hard, and the judges grew on me, but that the format is a mongrel for something looking for a Home of the Year, and that partially cripples it. 1 Three houses. 2. Couple talk about their home, and are taken away, Identify Favourite Place. 3. Judges .. an architect, an interior designer, and a lifestyle blogger, are dropped off and walk up to and around it. They explore the house for some time - the meat of the prog. then mark it out of 10 for functionality, design, and something I have forgotten. 4. The houses are compared by score and one shortlisted for the final prog. Problems 1. Scoring like washing machines does not work. 2. If it is about Home then the judges should interact with the people who live there, and how the people interact with the house. They should not judge just the house. 3. too much depends on the personal prejudice of the judges. 4. the houses are far too samey .. they are all well off people building detached on idyllic sites. And it is sign done by region, so this could continue. They should have made it granular eg one below 200k, one 2-400, and one unlimited. The format is like one from a minor Tv station ... Best House in Town from last year, which avoided the issue by having everything from refurbed terraces to big detached. Ferdinand

Do self-builders not have a right to display Builder’s Cleavage? I have not seen an exclusion in the site T&C. It is even demurely hidden by the cropper-chopper until you explicitly go looking for it. *hard stare* That last sentence is TMI, though.

Your solicitor will be able t9 put in this query through the Professional Support side, if they have the appropriate business service from the LR. Might that be a better route? F

I thought it was on Fridays. Oooops. Since a family member has just confessed that she thought it was Saturday, I have part of the morning free to watch it ?. [update : just went to watch it online. “Ad one of ten”. Nooooooooooooooooo... It feels like Homer Simpson and the Electronic Voting Machine ]

They need something big to keep him from getting out too often.

What was the date on your original PP decision notice? 1) Under some circs you get the right to a "Second Go" at little cost. The main thing is iirc you lose a lot of free options after 12 months. This is the place to look, under "Exemptions": https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574500/When_are_applications_eligible_for_a__free_go_.pdf https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fees-for-planning-applications If your PP decision date is within say the last 10 or 11 months, then look at this NOW (not tomorrow - today), as you could lose a lot of value in fee-avoidance. If you are at 50 or 51 weeks since your Decision Date, then you can do it if you get your skates on. If you are over 12 months then it is a little less urgent. 2) Or you could see if you can go for a thing called a Variation to your existing PP, which may be a Material Variation or a Non-Material Variation, depending on the impact of your proposed change on the evaluation of the development from a Planning Viewpoint (mainly, does it look different, or impact on third parties differently). Simply repairing a wall differently may be arguable to be Building Control matter. Some consultancy may be useful in either case, as there are intricate arguments which could be made. eg A new PP needs to start from where you are now, or conceivably they could argue that development have started, and that therefore you have no CiL Exemption if that applies). (I think I am right here, but others may comment usefully). Take care not to lose any other rights if you are in a rush. "Praise the Lord ... and pass the ammunition." (*) Ferdinand * I love the 'planning' line from the song ... "We stand between the Deep Sea and Perdition" ?

Yes, but they will evaluate that against all the relevant policy etc. I would start by talking to your Local Planning Authority about the site, and asking them what you need to do. Ferdinand

That will need secondary treatment or similar. You are likely to end up with extra expenditure of at least a couple of thousand for that. See Welsh Building Regs. F

Welcome to the pleasure dome. Take your time and get it right so you stay there as long as possible, as by definition we only have one forever home. Ferdinand

PS Do you want this person for a neighbour . Savour that you are in the overall position of gatekeeper not supplicant, here - albeit with attached costs.

Morning @Hecateh. My comment. I think there are strands to this. 1 - Your buyer says he has walked away, because he believes he has been deceived. He will very likely only be convinced that it is a mistake by a communication from the LR (or on their headed paper), or his Solicitor. Your solicitor or you will probably only do that via his solicitor, although a confirmation of an issue by the LR in writing my give him pause direct from you by email. If you want to keep him, ideally you need something in his hand today, or at worst early next week. Your Plan B here is that the selling season starts in full over Easter Weekend, so a chance to start again if you need with an Open House etc, so you have a few days to try and fix it, and then a few days to start again. 2 - Facts. Based on your post, to me this looks like a provable error, as you have: a - A LR document showing the questioned bit of front garden as yours when you bought it. b - An acknowledgement from next door (ie Council) that it is yours, in the (reasonable) request to reopen the right of way. c - Very much plan B, but in any case, even if a did not exist you have fenced and unquestioned use of it for the period for a claim of adverse possession, and can supply Statements of Truth. That latter may not cover the RoW, but that is minor as a concern. 3 - What to do? As you say approach the LR this morning, first thing. I have always found them helpful. Frame the conversation as correcting an inconsistency that seems to have come up and is threatening your house sale by worrying your buyer. You are quite clear that the bit of land is yours because of 2a and 2b, and because when you look on Google Earth it seems that the boundary features / indicators are consistent. (By that I mean eg where the lines on the ground - fence, RoW etc, line up with on the Gospel Hall opposite, which is on the various LR Deeds and still there. Evangelical persistence can be useful sometimes! They use such indicators when maps are ambiguous; by showing it now you may get a quicker answer from the LR). (Make sure that you have to hand on your PC a screenshot from Google earth which shows the alignment of boundary features in favour of your case, already on an email that you can send whilst talking to them. Mention it fairly early. Add in the docs above, and include a piccie of the Council letter asking you to move the footpath if you have it. Be ready to make it 2 emails in case their system chokes on the attachments.) Ask how do you proceed, and how does it get sorted, and will they be able to confirm by letter / email that there is an issue which will be sorted so that your buyer can be reassured, or have you lost the sale? (I think the LR will likely make it official that it is a problem which is being addressed, but that it will take some time (weeks or months) to do so in the records, and may give you or your conveyancer official confirmation that it is in the queue. That should satisfy potential buyers if they have concerns.) 4. Then go from there. IMO your Conveyancer should have spotted this early if they had access to all the docs, and should therefore sort it as a priority, in accordance with whatever the contract says. It may be that the other side just have a teeny-bopping conveyancer who is not confident. I had a hell of a problem when the other side refused to believe that we had the right to access our drive from the road, when we had been using it for 40 years. The issue was that the road had been realigned for the M1 to be built in 196x, and the 4 or 5m of land that were in the wider verge had some difference imposed by the then relevant government department, and it was a sod to find the records. I disagree with others that all conveyancers are not that good - the skillset and knowledge may be narrower than a solicitor, but it can be deeper within a specialist area. eg for many years the boundary site expert on GardenLaw was called Conveyancer. Your hard call may be at what stage to call time on this buyer, since there may already be signs of nitpicking beyond the call of duty wrt electrics. Ferdinand

I read that as chimp. Sorry. ?