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Another day, yet another little gem of learning. I've been getting a bit worried because although I got the bat licence last week, my glacial paced architect had done nothing about getting the pre-commencement planning conditions discharged for several weeks, even though everything was in place for some time. But that's another grumble for another day. Anyhow, I've got to get the roof off by the end of April, which is why I was getting my proverbial knickers in a twist over the pre-commencement stuff, so I decided to cut out the middle man and rang the planning officer to ask whether, pleeeease, nice Mr Planning Officer, would you mind awfully, as you're such a nice chap, if I sort of, kind of, well, take the roof off the bungalow to make sure no pesky bats come back? Pretty pleeeeeease? Nice Mr Planning Officer said 'no problem at all, no need to grovel, you are entitled to re-roof your house any time you like. Just because you don't get around to putting new tiles back on, that doesn't stop you taking off the existing ones to begin with. Now stop grovelling.' He didn't really tell me stop grovelling, but his tone implied it, along with the strong impression that he couldn't care less about the bats. Either way, result. Fate being the fickle creature that she is, but no more so than the aforesaid architect, I got an email from the architect's admin person late this afternoon to say that they had submitted for discharge of the initial planning conditions. I prodded them with a very sharp stick on Monday morning - the architect has possibly just taken this long to notice. I'm waiting to co-ordinate availability of ground worker and bat guy over the next 2 weeks, then off comes the roof. Followed by the rest of the house shortly afterwards, with luck.

I have my bat licence! Woohoo! Albeit that ours was a pretty simple case (summer roost only, no breeding evidence, unoccupied building and no big trees in close proximity), I'm chuffed that we got our licence through quite speedily. I nagged our architect yesterday about the lack of progress with discharging the planning conditions and this has rather caught him out now, as that's the only thing standing between me and having the property demolished, so time to get on with things. As soon as the roof is off, I will contact the VOA and have the property de-listed to save on council tax - because the property had been vacant for so long, I didn't get any reduction for it being unoccupied, so I'm keen to get this done. I've got my site insurance quotes yesterday and my groundworker is on notice, so we're under starters orders.

Can you hear that? It's the sound of my fingers tapping as I find myself waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn. This time, it's the turn of Natural England and their (hopeful) approval of our bat mitigation strategy and licence to remove the roof from the old bungalow. It takes around 6 weeks for them to decide on a licence application but they are behind by a week or two right now, so that means it could be anything up to 2 months. 2 months! Unbelievable! I've come to the conclusion that this part of self building is like being stuck in the mother of all traffic jams, one that lasts for months and years on end. Still, all I can do is sit and wait and hope to hell that the licence is granted before the bats decide to move back in for the summer, some time in early May, possibly. I've planned to within an inch of my life for stuff to do with the house and I don't think that there's much more I can do at this stage that will be of practical use or run into the danger of overthinking things. My boredom was slightly relieved last week by having the asbestos survey done prior to demolition - nothing nasty, all standard - and getting all the hedges in close proximity to the bungalow taken out by my trusty groundworker. Actually, I do need to have a look into site facilities for once demolition is done as I can't go for a discrete pee behind the hedges now that they are down. Things could get tricky if I start mooning the neighbours. The asbestos survey chap was a pleasant fellow. I rang around for quotes and they seem to all come in at a similar price, in the region of £350 + VAT. I used Mark Harverson of Four Paddock Ltd. He is in Lymington but is happy to travel and was nice to deal with. So, I'm waiting for the soil survey report, the asbestos report and the bat licence, for the architect and MBC to finalise drawings for the building regulations submission. If things get really desperate, I won't be able to ignore work and housework for much longer. Tap, tap, tap...... Edit: A small addition about the asbestos survey. In theory, unless the householder suspects that there is asbestos present, there is no legal obligation to have an asbestos survey carried out prior to demolition. In practice, however, no groundworker will demolish without knowing that you've had one done and what the results were, so best to get it done and out of the way in good time before knocking things down.

We should be in a position to discharge our initial planning conditions in a couple of weeks and the first thing we will do then is get the bat man in and dismantle the roof of the existing bungalow. I know that the VAT reclaim usually relates to goods, but can I reclaim the VAT on the bat guy's services on the basis that it's a planning condition? I seem to recall seeing something alluding to this on BH before but can't find it now.

I need to get hold of some material samples for a house that will never be built. Bear with me, it will make sense in the end! Earlier this year, OH and I bought a site in north Dorset with an old woolaway type bungalow on the plot. There was an attached full planning permission to demolish and re-build; the proposed house is fairly ordinary, 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 storey. We are in the throes of applying for a new permission to build the house that we actually want, but between the backlogs at the council and an architect with no sense of urgency or even speed, this is likely to take some time to be agreed, even if it goes through without any objections. I want to demolish the bungalow under the existing planning permission because it has been confirmed as a summer roost for bats and this needs to be done before the end of April, when they come out of hibernation and may take up residence in the building again. It's quite likely that we won't get the new permission in time to satisfy whatever permission conditions are attached and give notice to building control, hence my desire to use the current permission. To do this, the existing planning conditions require me to submit samples of the external materials that will be used in construction, as well as windows and doors. I have been advised by the planning department that the tech drawings supplied by window and door manufacturers in their brochures will suffice for that part, but I still need to get hold of some bricks and tiles, etc. Can anyone point me in the right direction for this that won't cost me too much and that the council will accept?