Built house too tall

[Water]

Hi all,

 

Would really appreciate some advice,  I got a call today from my contractor to say there has been a cock up and the house has been built too tall, the roof is aprx 1.25ft too high. This only came to light after the roof was finished. So far no one else has said anything.

 

I guess we have the following options

Do nothing and hope no one notices

Go talk to the planning dept

Get the builder to redo it (they have offered to correct it free of charge but it will be very disruptive and we want to get in asap)

 

What would you do?

[Onoff]

Can you raise the ground? ?

[the_r_sole]

Did you have a strict height set in your planning conditions? 

It doesn't sound like a perceptible difference although I have had planning departments measure ridge heights on occasion...

[JFDIY]

Is it just the pitch that is wrong or are the floor levels and other aspects affected?

 

Might be disruptive now but I wouldn't want to have to correct it once the place is finished, and the planners could force you to if they got wind of it.

 

I guess it's difficult to judge without seeing it in context of the surroundings. Might go un-noticed, then again would planners object to an amendment if you held your hands up, got to be worth asking before you pull it to pieces, and they can see it in person to judge it properly rather than off-plan.

[Water]

20 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Can you raise the ground? ?

 

Ha great idea sadly not going to be possible

 

1 minute ago, the_r_sole said:

Did you have a strict height set in your planning conditions? 

It doesn't sound like a perceptible difference although I have had planning departments measure ridge heights on occasion...

 

No where does it explicitly say the ridge height. I am not familiar with how it works, do the planners always come out to inspect?

 

I genuinely didn't notice so I don't think its that obvious. 

[Conor]

Think you'll be ok unless somebody complains. Depends on your neighbours and your local planning authority. A developer near us decided to stick on another metre or so to half a dozen houses to get an extra floor in (2.5 story houses instead of 2) initiating a cascade of complaints form locals as they obviously blocked views over Lough for loads of people... Put in a retrospective application and surprise surprise were granted almost immediately. Get your brown envelope loaded up.

 

 

[PeterW]

Is the house in a street scene or standing in its own in a plot with no real reference points ..? 
 

 

[Water]

To give an idea the planned ridge height was 27ft 3in.

[joe90]

When I was fighting for my planning permission the planners kept referring to my neighbours roof height, so I measured it (when they were out) and it’s 1200mm higher than the plans said and they never noticed that???. I think you will be alright unless it’s obvious like @PeterW says above.

[nod]

If no one has noticed it by now 

I would do nothing  

[ZacP]

7 minutes ago, nod said:

If no one has noticed it by now 

I would do nothing  

+1 but get the builders acknowledgement that it’s his mistake and will correct it in writing just in case! 

[LSB]

don't do anything unless you have to and then claim ignorance and go for retrospective.

we have a strict height restriction in our plans so they might check ours, but if you haven't then unless to even be spotted

[joe90]

I had a height restriction but the planners never came back (fir anything).

[Gav_P]

The closest our planners did to checking was driving by (and they would see anything from the road). In my experience, the planners only care if someone complains. 

[Jason L]

Just leave be and only deal with it if you have to, it will most likely go unnoticed. 

[Ferdinand]

Fairly clear suggestions.

 

Remarkable unanimity.

[Big Jimbo]

My mate got done for being 500mm than his drawings. He got it passed as retro, but wasted a lot of time. Some neighbours can be a nightmare. Mine complains if i go out to my bins. I have had planning enforcement out 5 times in about 5 months due to my neighbour. In the end i had to write to the council and tell them that if they came out again, without doing due diligence first, i would sue them for harassment. I haven't had them out since. P.S. I hadn't done anything that was not permitted in on any of the 5 times. If it does get flagged up, it could cause you a nightmare.

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Big Jimbo said:

I have had planning enforcement out 5 times in about 5 months due to my neighbour. In the end i had to write to the council and tell them that if they came out again, without doing due diligence first, i would sue them for harassment. I haven't had them out since. P.S. I hadn't done anything that was not permitted in on any of the 5 times. If it does get flagged up, it could cause you a nightmare.

yup, been there done that, whilst fighting fir my planning permission I used my JCB to do work in my field and general work on my plot, not building related, my neighbour from hell called our planning officer out So many times that in the end I rang him EVERY MORNING to tell him what I planned that day, he stopped coming despite the calls ?

[SteamyTea]

is there any advantage to you having a taller house?

Will your builder pay for the retrospective planning application? And then if it fails, put it right?

[Ralph]

I don't know about anywhere else but here building control are not coming out to check anything. It's all videos and photos. I think you'll be fine.

[harry_angel]

Planning departments are insanely overstretched and massively underpaid, for the power they wield.

 

Unless you are really taking the mickey (and from the info above, you aren't) then I wouldn't tell anyone about this in a month of Sundays!

[rh2205]

Wouldn’t even stress you wouldn’t be the first just don’t say anything, it’s very unlikely to be spotted unless you have an immediate reference point next door, and let’s be honest there’s probably quite a few different points on most plots that ground level could be measured from for a small discrepancy! Best now you erase from your mind this conversation was ever had with the builder or partner to never be spoken about ever again.

[aConfusedNinja]

If you are happy with how it looks and its structurally fine I would go to the planning office and ask if they will sign off the change.
If they do then your all good and covered if any neighbour complains

If the planning office decline, then get the builder to rectify the issue. Its better than taking the risk and having to pay out of pocket to fix it