original dwelling Original dwelling sub divided

[NEproperty]

A tenant has added a garage to the side of his property. We agreed to the wooden structure as it was well within permitted development requirements. The property was originally one detached house but was split into 2 semi detached houses. The planners are saying that because the property has been subdivided the measurements for the garage are too wide as they can only take them from the subdivided part. However I understand original dwelling to be as it was built. Can anyone help clear this up? Thankyou 

[Ferdinand]

I'd recommend PropertyTribes or LandlordZone or a local planning consultant for this one TBH.

 

You'll get lots of opinions but we have only a small number of experts on stuff this detailed in this area.

 

If the Council think you will get planning either with a retrospective, or with a CLD because you are beyond the enforcement time, that might be worth a try.

 

Or can you say "we agreed to the structure and relied on you to build it, Mr Tenant - if it is not lawful we require you to restore the property to original condition", and just slope shoulders on the whole thing.

 

Or can you argue that it is a Covered Way, or some other structure that does not require PP, or make it into one?

 

Remember you may need to think about both Building Regs (eg flammable material on boundary such as wood) *and* Planning.

 

This may be useful:

http://www.home-extension.org/downloads/B-Regs-exempt-guide.pdf

 

Or a convo we did have:

 

ATB. Ferdinand

[Temp]

13 hours ago, NEproperty said:

A tenant has added a garage to the side of his property. We agreed to the wooden structure as it was well within permitted development requirements. The property was originally one detached house but was split into 2 semi detached houses. The planners are saying that because the property has been subdivided the measurements for the garage are too wide as they can only take them from the subdivided part. However I understand original dwelling to be as it was built. Can anyone help clear this up? Thankyou 

 

I would ask the planners which part of the General Permitted Development Order they believe has been breached or can they refer you to case law, because the Technical Guidance here..

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/830643/190910_Tech_Guide_for_publishing.pdf

 

Says you need PP if..

 

Quote

 

Page 22..

 

j) the enlarged part of the dwellinghouse would extend beyond a wall forming a side elevation of the original dwellinghouse, and would –

 (i) exceed 4 metres in height,

 (ii) have more than a single storey, or

 (iii) have a width greater than half the width of the original dwellinghouse

 

 

But it defines original as..

 

Quote

Page 6..

 

“Original” - means a building as it existed on 1 July 1948 where it was built before that date, and as it was built if built after that 

 

There might be case law which covers the particular situation you have. Hopefully they will cite it when you ask but they might not. If they don't you an either pay for advice or wait to see if they issue an enforcement notice.

 

When the planners find something they think might require planning permission they normally send a scary letter with a heading like "Notice of Intended Enforcement Action" which says something like "if you don't remove the building within 4 weeks they intend to initiated enforcement action". Don't panic because nothing will happen until after they actually issue the enforcement notice and that will give you another deadline. Only once/If a real enforcement notice arrives do you need to do anything. At that point and can either take it down, apply for planning permission or appeal. In some cases they only ever send the first letter and never follow it up with the actual enforcement notice, especially if they can't actually find any case law.

 

Keep the tenant informed and make sure he passes on any letters that arrive to you. 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Temp

[NEproperty]

Thank you very much for your advice. 

As the building was originally one building and the garage has been built far less than 1/2 the width of this original dwelling. I understand that even though the building has subsequently been split into 2 separate houses the original building was built as one.

I think I will take some advice as we would prefer not to go for retrospective as its gives a bad name amongst local councillors and community and the other option is to remove or reduce it but this is costly and for the sake of 20cm doesn't seem worth it...!

[Temp]

2 hours ago, NEproperty said:

Thank you very much for your advice. 

As the building was originally one building and the garage has been built far less than 1/2 the width of this original dwelling. I understand that even though the building has subsequently been split into 2 separate houses the original building was built as one.

I think I will take some advice as we would prefer not to go for retrospective as its gives a bad name amongst local councillors and community and the other option is to remove or reduce it but this is costly and for the sake of 20cm doesn't seem worth it...!

 

I wouldn't pay too much/anything for advice initially.  I would write to the planners and say you would like to understand which part of the General Permitted Development Order they believe has been breached as the guidance says "as originally built" and defines that in your favour.

 

If they don't come back with a justification/case law I would wait to see if they send a formal enforcement notice.  They may never send one if they cant find case law to support it. If they do, then at that point I'd pay for advice, probably an initial opinion from a Planning Consultant.