Urgent help re. CIL please

[SBMS]

5 minutes ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

Yes agreed. The fact that they made the effort to hunt down my e-mail address to send me the email today regards the surcharges once they discovered that I’ve started the build is what’s making me super angry. They had the opportunity to send me a letter, hunt down my email address, and then would not be in this position.

Did you receive a full liability notice and was it in your name?

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

1 minute ago, SBMS said:

Did you receive a full liability notice and was it in your name?

It’s addressed to my architect. I’ve been cc’d on the e-mail: 

 

Dear Sirs,

 

We have been informed that the above works have commenced.

 

CIL forms 2 (Assumption of CIL Liability) and 6 (Commencement Notice) have not been submitted. Therefore, if works have commenced, the full CIL charge plus additional surcharges have become due immediately plus additional surcharges for failure to submit the required forms.

 

If you believe that works have not commenced, please contact us by the close of business tomorrow with evidence to support this.

 

Kind regards

 

 

[Jilly]

1 hour ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

Hi all. Thanks so much for the helpful replies. My contract with the architect was up to Building Regs I believe. He completed the CIL1 form and uploaded into the planning site. His argument is that as the contract was up until building regs only, that the local authority should have contacted me and not him. But surely that’s no excuse, if he has simply forwarded me the email, I would have easily filled it in. This is unbearably stressful at the moment.  

OMG I can only imaging the stress of this. 

 

It’s  very unfair, and not uniform across the country. Some councils don’t charge CIL at all.

 

I think you have a case to try to claim against the architect’s personal indemnity (PI) insurance. It’s an unkind thing to do, but that’s a heck of a lot of money. If he uploaded the CIL1 form, he was aware that he was doing this on your behalf. Presumably he will not be allowed to admit liability but I have no doubt he will be making a phone call. 

 

As others have said, get legal advice and maybe close the site whilst you resolve the situation? 
 

Write to your MP, Angela Rayner and Radio 4 whilst you are at it. 

 

All the best.

[Russdl]

What a nightmare. I, like you, had no build experience and when I first heard someone mention CIL I had absolutely no idea what they were on about. 
 

Fortunately for me I learned how important it was not to f*ck up the form submission from the predecessor of this Forum (not from the architect). 
 

It’s a kind of extortion isn’t it? They’ve got you on a technicality. One or two pieces of paper that actually say very little are a bit late arriving with the authority, submitting them now would change nothing but they won’t let you so you have to pay over a hundred grand.
 

They are probably more than aware that it’s a newbie making a newbie mistake.
 

I’m sorry I don’t have any constructive solution but it’s making my blood boil so I had to get it off my chest. 

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

Thank you all for your advice and pointers. I will get onto the phone to solicitors tomorrow to see where I stand. I have already emailed the local MP, councillors and also Angela Rayner. I really really hope this is resolved swiftly with minimal stress and costs. The thought of having to shell out £127k is unthinkable at the moment. The only thing coming to my mind over and over is letting down my wife and my 2 young children. These costs, and potentially not having a home at the end, is soul crushing.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

28 minutes ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

Yes agreed. The fact that they made the effort to hunt down my e-mail address to send me the email today regards the surcharges once they discovered that I’ve started the build is what’s making me super angry. They had the opportunity to send me a letter, hunt down my email address, and then would not be in this position.

@Berkshire_selfbuidTake up this with point your MP & councillor. It'll be difficult, but be very objective, factual and succinct in setting out your situation and facts - as much as you have a right to be angry and emotional (which can come across when you meet them), you want the written statement of the issue that they leave with, to be really easy for them to take on and get actioned.

 

One suggestion - write out your situation in full (especially adding the comment by @Alan Ambrose above) and then get Chat GPT to re-write it for you. Caution: I think Chat GPT works ok to give you a starter for ten, but I find any output needs adjusting to put it into your 'voice'). For example, this is what it did using just your first post...

 

********

Website: https://chatgpt.com

 

Text entered into ChatGPT (Short intro then copy/pasted your first post)

please re-write the following into a short brief to my MP setting out the situation:I'm currently part way through my self build (started Sept 24). The local authority emailed me today (9th Dec 24) notifying me that they are aware that works have commenced and that the CIL forms 2 and commencement notice have not been submitted. Therefore, if works have commenced, the full CIL charge plus additional surcharges have become due immediately plus additional surcharges for failure to submit the required forms. This is £124,000 plus £2500 surcharge!!!! I can see in the email chain that my architect was reminded in Oct 23 and again June 24 to complete the form. He never sent these to me. I’m a first time self builder so am not experienced to know the process inside out. Had I of known and been contacted directly by the local authority, I would have filled out the forms. I competed a demolition notice as requested on the local authority portal and sent to BC before commencing in Sept 24, I assumed this was all that was needed. Someone please help! I don’t know what to do

 

Chat GPT response:

 

Certainly! Here’s a more concise, formal version of your message that you can send to your MP:

---

Subject: Urgent Help Needed Regarding CIL Charges and Surcharges for Self-Build Project

Dear [MP's Name],

I am writing to seek your assistance regarding a serious issue with my self-build project, which began in September 2024.

Today, I received an email from the local authority notifying me that they are aware work has commenced, but the required CIL Forms 2 and commencement notice have not been submitted. As a result, I am now being charged the full CIL liability of £124,000, plus an additional £2,500 surcharge for failure to submit the forms.

I have reviewed my correspondence and found that my architect was reminded in October 2023 and June 2024 to submit the necessary forms. Unfortunately, these forms were never forwarded to me, and as a first-time self-builder, I was not aware of this specific requirement. I had assumed that the demolition notice I submitted via the local authority portal in September 2024 covered all necessary notifications to Building Control.

Had I been directly contacted by the local authority regarding these forms, I would have completed them promptly. I am now faced with a significant financial burden through no fault of my own, and I urgently need advice and support to resolve this situation.

Could you kindly advise on how I can proceed or help me liaise with the local authority to seek a fair resolution?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Kind regards,
[Your Full Name]
[Your Address]
[Your Contact Details]

---

This version is more structured and highlights the key points, making it easier for your MP to understand the situation and potentially offer support.

 

***********

 

Combining the additional detail, context of governement housing policy etc. I think it could do well. In setting the task you can constrain the length by stating 'no more than 2 sides of A4, or number of words, or how long it takes to read (I thought I was going to have to go to committee and had it turn our planning statement into a speech lasting less than 4 minutes - gave me a great starting draft).

[Russdl]

“The only thing coming to my mind over and over is letting down my wife and my 2 young children. These costs, and potentially not having a home at the end, is soul crushing.”

 

 

I bet it is. As if self build wasn’t stressful enough for us novices. 

Edited December 9 by Russdl

[torre]

What a horrible position to be in, unfortunately I doubt if your architect was your agent for the application you'd be able to argue the council hasn't notified you. I agree getting legal representation urgently is your best option here.

 

Is there any chance in your rush to start you've ignored any pre-commencement conditions? Anything that would invalidate your commencement?

[nod]

9 hours ago, SBMS said:

It’s a bonkers price per sqm @nod - £365. Think you’re up north like me where we pay around £65. 

I did wonder if the charge percentage varied from LAs 

We were asked for 48k within six weeks of starting Later 0 rated 

 

On our first build we had never heard of Cil and found it very strange that the Architects Took care of everything 

But wouldn’t have anything to do with the Cil 

Second time round Different Architects Exactly the same attitude to Cil 

 

When we signed off Someone on here said don’t forget to complete your Cil 

Again No mention from Architects 

Seems very strange to me 

 

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

@Great_scot_selfbuild thanks so much for the chat GPT info. Very useful.

 

I am touched that so many of you have reached out to provide support. Time is money, and I appreciate that you have spent your time to provide myself with very useful information and insights. 
 

I literally didn’t get any sleep last night, but will be spending today progressing with some of the advice provided above. Thank you.

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

8 hours ago, torre said:

s there any chance in your rush to start you've ignored any pre-commencement conditions?

I don’t think so. The only thing I can see in the pre commencement is EV charging, which we should have covered.

[Jilly]

1 hour ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

I am touched that so many of you have reached out to provide support. Time is money, and I appreciate that you have spent your time to provide myself with very useful information and insights. 
 

I literally didn’t get any sleep last night, but will be spending today progressing with some of the advice provided above. Thank you.

There but for the Grace of God go all of us. Sleepless nights included. The forum has been invaluable for me. 

Try to visualise things going well. If nothing else, you’ll feel better. 

Other thoughts, could you reduce your plans, to have a smaller, more basic house to house your family and extend later? (You can’t claim the VAT back on that bit tho’, there’s always something…)

Or if you are renting, move into a static on site to save money? Lots of advice about this on the forum. 

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

am touched that so many of you have reached out to provide support. Time is money, and I appreciate that you have spent your time to provide myself with very useful information and insights. 

This is why this forum is such a great asset. Thinking about this you could argue YOU were not Emailed and you have no control over the architects.

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

This is why this forum is such a great asset. Thinking about this you could argue YOU were not Emailed and you have no control over the architects.

I spoke with a planning consultant this morning and they mentioned that as the planning dept contacted the details provided on the planning application, in this case my agent’s, they have gone by the book and done all they could with the reminders. It should have been down to my architect to pass on that email to me. 
 

I have contacted local Councillors and the MP and they seem helpful. Not gotten into the full flow on conversations yet but they have acknowledged my emails and will be looking into this. 

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

This is why this forum is such a great asset.

100% agreed!

[joe90]

As an aside…… my brother in law ran a Garage and for whatever reason a customers gearbox failed and it went to court, despite evidence that the garage did nothing wrong the judge declared that as a business/professional and the customer a “layperson” my brother In law should take responsibility and recompense the customer. 🤷‍♂️

[Alan Ambrose]

One useful thing to do would be to ask the architects for a formal letter to you or (even better) a witness statement saying what they received from the LPA and when (re CIL) and what they communicated to you re CIl and when.

 

Also ask the LPA for similar for their communications re CIL, this time as a witness statement.

 

Also prepare a witness statement for yourself re comms with architect & LPA while it’s fresh in your memory. This s.b. purely factual and as detailed as possible and contain copies of the written comms or your detailed description of any verbal comms.

 

This step should focus everyone’s attention. Also ask both parties for the contact details of their lawyers. Don’t offer yours up yet though.

[Alan Ambrose]

Next suggest write to the head of planning explaining the situation. Attach copies of the statements and asking for his/her intervention. Suggest all this on paper with recorded delivery.

[Adrian Walker]

Your architect will have professional indemnity insurance. 

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

37 minutes ago, Adrian Walker said:

Your architect will have professional indemnity insurance. 

Yes indeed. I’m hoping this would be the possible route to closure. However at £127k, I’m sure the insurance company will try to do all they can to shift the blame.

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

Update: Received the following just now- 

 

“Please accept our apologies in regards to not informing you when we issued the CIL Liability notice out at that time, as the originally email with the notices was sent out to your agent directly dated 04/10/2023 (attached).

 

Due to the situation where development has commenced on site and you didn’t get notified, on this occasion we will allow discretion whereby you can submit the relevant forms, and we will grant the relief. Please do note that the full CIL charge plus the additional surcharges will not be imposed.”

 

Thank goodness! These last 24 hours have been traumatic to say the least. But it appears that they do have some heart following my email to them detailing all the flaws in their process conducted.

 

Thank you all for your input and advice. What an amazing platform we have here 😀

[Russdl]

Excellent news.
 

Don’t put your faith in any other professional. Check them and check them again. 

 

Oh, and what ever you do, don’t forget the final CIL form when you’re finished 😱

[Redbeard]

Hoo-bl***y ray!!!! I have had some worrying times but I cannot begin to think what the prospect of 'losing' £130k would have done to me. Now BREATHE!

 

(And God Bless the LA).

[SBMS]

16 minutes ago, Berkshire_selfbuid said:

Update: Received the following just now- 

 

“Please accept our apologies in regards to not informing you when we issued the CIL Liability notice out at that time, as the originally email with the notices was sent out to your agent directly dated 04/10/2023 (attached).

 

 

Due to the situation where development has commenced on site and you didn’t get notified, on this occasion we will allow discretion whereby you can submit the relevant forms, and we will grant the relief. Please do note that the full CIL charge plus the additional surcharges will not be imposed.”

 

Thank goodness! These last 24 hours have been traumatic to say the least. But it appears that they do have some heart following my email to them detailing all the flaws in their process conducted.

 

Thank you all for your input and advice. What an amazing platform we have here 😀

Absolutely amazing result and fantastic news. Fair play to the other person that dealt with this. I bet your build just become a lot brighter! After that you’ll be able To deal with any issues that come up and think at least it wasn’t as bad as your last 24 hours! 

[Berkshire_selfbuid]

It seems like there should have been a hardcopy of the CIL liability notice posted out to me but was never done and they have no record of it ever being sent. This is what has allowed for them to apply discretion in this instance. Although in all fairness, if I had received it through the post then I would have 100% done something about it. Anyways, back to try to enjoy the process and worrying about the usuals daily build issues! 😉