planning permission

[Bluestone]

Hi everyone, Any help with this would be great!

I recently built a partition wall in one of bedrooms of my two bedroom house making it in to a three, also adding a window and corridor...With the advice form a builder I was told that I should really get planning but it would not be necessary, So work was carried out without the planning permission.

I'm now thinking of taking out a dividing wall downstairs to make open plan living, on searching advice on this I was told from a friend (who had recently done the very same job) that all was fine with his new open plan living, but for the fact that he also had no panning permission for the work carried out on his house and was worried about this....

My questions about all this are:

Do I need planning permission for the work I have done to the bedroom of my house?

If so how do I go about getting this....Or is it to late?

If I do carry out the work downstairs in my house (taking out a wall and blocking up a doorway) without planning is this anything to worry about, or can I just apply for what I'm told is called retrospective planning?

Help/comments please...Cheers!

 

[Softus]

With the advice form a builder I was told that I should really get planning but it would not be necessary

This is gibberish. Firstly, you don't need planning permission to do something that doesn't affect the envelope or external appearance of the house. Secondly, you're saying that the builder told you that you needed it and then told you that you don't need it. WTF is that all about out?

So work was carried out without the planning permission.

So in your own mind you've already broken the law.

I'm now thinking of taking out a dividing wall downstairs to make open plan living, on searching advice on this I was told from a friend (who had recently done the very same job) that all was fine with his new open plan living, but for the fact that he also had no panning permission for the work carried out on his house and was worried about this....

You don't have the slightest clue what you're doing. Removing a wall means that you must start by considering the loads bearing on the existing wall, and how to support those loads when the wall isn't there. A builder can advise you, and do the work, but an architect, or architectural engineer has to work out what support is needed.

Do I need planning permission for the work I have done to the bedroom of my house?

No. However, work that you do that affects fire escape routes must take into account the Building Regulations.

If so how do I go about getting this....Or is it to late?

If you had needed it, then it would be too late, but you didn't need it.

If I do carry out the work downstairs in my house (taking out a wall and blocking up a doorway) without planning is this anything to worry about, or can I just apply for what I'm told is called retrospective planning?

Forget the planning - you need Building Regulations approval. If a builder is taking responsibilty for overseeing the work and obtaining approval in stages, then you don't need to obtain approval in advance, otherwise you do, but in either case you need to send notification of the work to the LABC.

If you don't get BR approval first and/or during, and a certificate afterwards, then you can be forced to carry out remedial work, which is always more expensive than doing it right in the first place.

If you never get a certificate then the value of your house might be affected when you come to sell, if, for example, the buyer asks for the certificate, as is increasingly commonplace.

If you don't do the work right then you risk part/all of the house collapsing.

If the house collapses with anyone inside it then you risk injury, maiming and death.

If you die then you can't have sex and drink beer. Is that what you want? Is it? Hmm? Hmm?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Blimey Softus, that was one hell of a rant, are you sure its not you not getting any sex?

 

[Softus]

Blimey Softus, that was one hell of a rant, are you sure its not you not getting any sex?

Oh trust me - that was no rant.

 

[^woody^]

You don't need planning permission for internal work.