Search the Community

Hi Everyone, I am a Planning Officer for a local authority in London so I thought I would offer my services...for free! Please feel free to ask me any planning related questions you have and I will do my best to answer them. If you're not quite sure what to ask, as a rough guide I can offer advice on the following things to name a few: Permitted development rights (also known as PD); Extensions (including basements); Sub-division of residential properties; Changes of use (Office to residential for instance); Things to look out for in terms of impacts on neighbours; General procedural queries. Look forward to your questions! Thanks, Ian

Hello, I'm looking for some advice around making offers on properties which may be suitable for conversion. I'm interested in converting commercial properties to residential but I'd also be interested in what people with purely residential development have to say. I've not bought a commercial property before and I'm wondering about the following actions and whether they would normally be conducted before making an offer or after an offer is accepted: - Appointing a planning consultant to advise on permitted development for change of use. - Appointing an architect and having them advise on the potential reconfiguration. - Engaging with contractors/builders for quotes or full tender process. I may be 90% sure that permitted development would be granted, have a good idea of what configuration might work and have a reasonable idea of what the development costs would be, but still not quite be willing to committing to buy it without being more sure about the project's viability. If I did all of the above before offering, that could cost thousands of pounds only to have my offer rejected. If I did all the above after an offer is accepted and it emerges that permitted development is less likely that I thought or the development cost is going to be a lot more than I thought, is it normal for a developer simply to pull out of the deal at that point? Not having done the whole process before, I'm keen to know how people de-risk this process. Looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks in advance!

I applied for Prior Approval Permitted Development in 2017 I believe and the time scale to complete this was May 2019. However the law changed and I was advised that the time scale for works to be started had been extended permanently. Prior to this the system had been set up in 2013, with a deadline of 2 years, which was then extended by the government again. When I contacted the council about my plans they said it had lapsed. Yet at the time they advised me that all Prior Approval applications were extended indefinitely according to the government guidelines. Have I missed something as I don't want to argue with them if I'm in the wrong - but the idea of this permanent extension was to save the planning departments time on trivial matters. So reapplying seems a paper exercise. Any guidance? Many thanks. Suzie

Hi, I am new around here but thought I would put my expertise out there for those in need! I have experience in both the public and private sectors in London and the south east, and am more than happy to answer planning questions that people have - just pop a reply below or feel free to message me directly if you prefer. No topic is off limits - just let me know what you want to know and I will do my best to help out Looking forward to hearing from you all! Tom

Hi Everyone, I am a Planning Officer for a local authority in London so I thought I would offer my services...for free! Please feel free to ask me any planning related questions you have and I will do my best to answer them. If you're not quite sure what to ask, as a rough guide I can offer advice on the following things to name a few: Permitted development rights (also known as PD); Extensions (including basements); Sub-division of residential properties; Changes of use (Office to residential for instance); Things to look out for in terms of impacts on neighbours; General procedural queries. Look forward to your questions! Thanks, Ian

Hello everyone, Am I obliged to hand over reports and surveys to the new owner of a property? We got Prior Approval for change of use under the permitted development regulations, to convert a small, run-down commercial site into residential, and then sold it via auction recently. We assume the new owners will want to submit a full planning application to knock the current buildings down and develop flats from scratch. As part of the PD process we paid for various plans, surveys, reports etc. My question is: which, if any, of these plans, surveys etc are we obliged to hand over to the new owners? Or are we entitled to negotiate a fair price with them for any they want? This is my parents’ retirement money so if we can recoup some of the thousands we paid then I feel we should. Many of the reports were submitted to the council as part of the PD application and the council published them on their website along with our application form, their decision notice etc. Are there specific documents which have to be publicly available? I can’t find a list or details anywhere. I’ve emailed the council to ask them to remove any non-essential ones, no reply yet. The entry in the auction catalogue only referred to Prior Approval being granted, not to any specific reports etc, so I assume there’s no issue there. The buyer would have been sent the legal pack (contract etc) when registering interest before the auction so I assume that would’ve included everything which was legally required at that point. Thanks for your help! Lee

Hello everyone, Has anyone got any tips, opinions or comments on the best way to market and sell our small site? We’ve had some rough valuations and been told we can expect offers of over £350k. Any comments on any of these points would be appreciated! • Perhaps most importantly, auction? Or invite closed offers in a set (maybe 1 month?) timeframe? Which is likely to get us the best price for this sort of site in the current market? • If auction – any suggestions for the best firm, or any other tips? What sort of fees should we expect? • If closed offers – advertise it and deal with the sale ourselves or use an agent? We’ve had some direct contact from developers and we could advertise on websites, but is it worth paying for an agent to ensure we get the best price? • If using an agent how much should we expect to pay? I’ve contacted a few and the rates seem to vary widely! Some have suggested a flat fee but a percentage seems better as it gives them an incentive to get the best price. • In fact I’d prefer to offer a ‘staggered’ fee e.g. with a low percentage of the whole sale price, but a higher percentage of the amount achieved over (say) £350k. This would really incentivise the agent to get the best price possible. Has anyone done something similar before? • Should we expect to give the agent a set of keys and leave them to organise viewings etc, or should we be more involved? • Re: the sale process one agent’s recommended a small (£2k?) deposit and an exclusivity agreement with the chosen buyer in return for 28 days to exchange contracts, at which point the remainder of a 10% deposit would be payable with the rest of the money due in another 2 weeks. Does this all seem fine? • Obviously we’ll also need a solicitor to deal with the sale; again what sort of fees should we expect? Some background: We’ve now got Prior Approval under the Permitted Development regulations to convert the current 2 light commercial workshops into 4 small residential units. The site also includes a yard area. We could submit a planning application to knock the workshops down and make the best use of the whole site (using the PD scheme as a ‘fallback’ to negate any concerns the council may have re: change of use etc) but we’re not interested in developing the site ourselves and planning consultants have advised us that any buyer’s likely to want to develop their own plans anyway. We’ve no experience of development so we’re happy to get a slightly lower price and to leave the rest to someone else. The site’s in Catford, see my other 2 posts for a bit more information. Thanks! Lee

Hello everyone, We've just been granted Prior Approval for change of use from B1(c) to residential, to turn 2 former car workshop buildings into 4 small ground floor 1 bed apartments, of awkward sizes & shapes due to the shape of the current buildings. This would leave a large yard area of the site under-utilised, just for 3 or 4 parking spaces and some landscaping, bin & bike storage etc. We'd previously looked at submitting a full application to make the best use of the whole site; 3 much nicer, larger 2 bed apartments with private outdoor space and still room for 3 parking spaces etc. Due to overlooking constraints etc we couldn't use much more of the space for buildings so they'd still largely be on the same footprint, but two storey. However the council indicated at the pre-application stage that they'd have issues re: change of use due loss of employment, even though the site's run-down and all other formerly commercial sites around it have already been converted to residential. So we went for Prior Approval (Permitted Devlopment regulations) instead. It's been granted on the basis of just outlines of the apartments, so theoretically the next stage is to submit a full planning application to detail how we'd turn the current buildings into accommodation. My question is - now that the council can't prevent the site becoming residential, can we ask them to be pragmatic and allow the best use of the site, i.e. something similar to our original plans? Obiously this would mean submitting a new full planning application. Surely this makes more sense than them insisisting we build the smaller, uglier scheme which would house less people? What are the regulations / guidelines? How would we go about this, has anyone experienced a similar situation? Thanks for your help! Lee For reference this was my previous thread (March 2017) re: different queries about the same property: https://thepropertyhub.net/forum/topic/5836-how-much-should-i-expect-to-pay-for-a-planning-and-change-of-use-application/?tab=comments#comment-23299

Hi All, Quick question, I have identified a couple of guest houses that would convert into 2 and 3 bed flats in a nice part of town, does anyone know off hand what liklihood there would be in change of use from C1 to C4 (I'm in York) is it generally difficult? I see from the planning Portal this does not fall under permitted development. What are your experiences ??