News1 min ago
planning permission / house purchase
5 Answers
we have seen a house we'd like to buy and the current owners have got planning permission for a 1st floor to be built over a current extension.
We had discussed putting an offer in near the asking price to include the plans and permission that they have but we have found we can only put in a lower offer due to tha actual costs involved in the extension.
If the owners accept this offer but do not include the plans etc would we have to get architects drawings and apply for permission ourselves or would we be able to get the agreed permission transfered to us by the planning office?
We had discussed putting an offer in near the asking price to include the plans and permission that they have but we have found we can only put in a lower offer due to tha actual costs involved in the extension.
If the owners accept this offer but do not include the plans etc would we have to get architects drawings and apply for permission ourselves or would we be able to get the agreed permission transfered to us by the planning office?
Answers
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The Outline Planning Permission (that is, the notion for a 1st floor above the existing extension) will transfer with the property but if the vendors retain the detailed planning you will have to get someone to do this for you plus Building Regulations submission. Architects are very expensive and more often than not disappointing things. There is nothing artistic or architectural in a first floor extension, so save yourself a lot of money and employ someone who is a designer but not an architect.
One would not apply for OPP for an extension - its DPP every time. The drawings are public documents once the Planning Application has been made and you may copy them. The granting of PP goes with the house on its sale.
The second part of the process is getting Building Regs approval. You need to find out whether a Building Application has been made. This typically involves taking the planning drawings and annotating them with structural and other details such that Building Control (another department at the Local Council and nothing to do with the Planning people) can assess that new structure will be safe, hygienic and adequately insulated. These drawings are not public documents and you cannot view them or copy them at the council (unless you are the applicant). It might cost you typically �600 to have such drawings made by a plan drawer (no point having an architect do this - just costly) if you cannot acquire them from the vendor and the Building Control application is about �200ish. An alternative route to gaining Building Control approval is to issue a Building Notice to building control. This involves the same application cost but does not involve putting any plans to them. They merely come around and inspect that the Regs have been complied with during construction. Many smaller extensions are done this way, but an architect who is project managing the job will never follow this route - they will want to follow the full process (and charge accordingly).
In summary, the PP is yours as a right, and any attempt to charge you, the vendor, over the odds for any prepared Building Regs drawings could always be overcome by you. I'd seek to negotiate the inclusion of these drawings in the sale package for a small notational amount - say �100.
The second part of the process is getting Building Regs approval. You need to find out whether a Building Application has been made. This typically involves taking the planning drawings and annotating them with structural and other details such that Building Control (another department at the Local Council and nothing to do with the Planning people) can assess that new structure will be safe, hygienic and adequately insulated. These drawings are not public documents and you cannot view them or copy them at the council (unless you are the applicant). It might cost you typically �600 to have such drawings made by a plan drawer (no point having an architect do this - just costly) if you cannot acquire them from the vendor and the Building Control application is about �200ish. An alternative route to gaining Building Control approval is to issue a Building Notice to building control. This involves the same application cost but does not involve putting any plans to them. They merely come around and inspect that the Regs have been complied with during construction. Many smaller extensions are done this way, but an architect who is project managing the job will never follow this route - they will want to follow the full process (and charge accordingly).
In summary, the PP is yours as a right, and any attempt to charge you, the vendor, over the odds for any prepared Building Regs drawings could always be overcome by you. I'd seek to negotiate the inclusion of these drawings in the sale package for a small notational amount - say �100.
thank you both for your replies.
Buildersmate, the vendor was not asking for an extra payment for this, it was suggested by us that we may pay a fee for them and a lower fee for the house so that we dont jump over that ridiculous stamp duty threshhold of �250k. an extra �5k on stamp wouldve been stretching our budget too far.
Im not sure how far they got with the building regs approval but am aware that they had almost got to point of building it and had a builder lined up for th job before their circumstances changed. I shall try and find out but �800 doesnt seem too bad if we have to do that.
Buildersmate, the vendor was not asking for an extra payment for this, it was suggested by us that we may pay a fee for them and a lower fee for the house so that we dont jump over that ridiculous stamp duty threshhold of �250k. an extra �5k on stamp wouldve been stretching our budget too far.
Im not sure how far they got with the building regs approval but am aware that they had almost got to point of building it and had a builder lined up for th job before their circumstances changed. I shall try and find out but �800 doesnt seem too bad if we have to do that.
Ah, now I understand. That's different.
I think your solicitor would be the best one to advise on this. I'm sure you know that HMRC have clamped down on people separating the payment for fitting and fixtures (to creep under the �250k threshold), but what you are asking is a variant. I suspect the answer is no, HMRC won't wear this, even if the payment correctly reflects the costs already incurred by the vendor in developing the drawings package.
I think your solicitor would be the best one to advise on this. I'm sure you know that HMRC have clamped down on people separating the payment for fitting and fixtures (to creep under the �250k threshold), but what you are asking is a variant. I suspect the answer is no, HMRC won't wear this, even if the payment correctly reflects the costs already incurred by the vendor in developing the drawings package.
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