Council wants to enforce loft

I've been out in the sun all morning so forgive me if my brain is a bit fried but this is confusing.

The 200mm set back only applies to the roof eaves. It is perfectly acceptable to raise the party walls to form the cheeks of the dormer.

What the OP has done is ignore the 200mm set back at the eaves and built the face of the dormer flush with the rear wall of the house. The drawing even seems to show a small offset between the dormer and roof eaves. Haven't we been here before and got into an argument about LDC's ?

Hi, not sure if I can help but I can provide some general advice-

Based upon your photo of the dormer it looks like the potential conflicts with the PD legislation are as follows:

1. The dormer may extend beyond the boundaries of your property as the party walls have been built up. Some councils will take the view that development can only be PD if it is entirely contained within the boundaries of a single dwellinghouse.

2. The dormer is not set back 200mm from eaves and you will probably struggle to convince the council or an Inspector that this was not practicable. The set back would have been achieved but would have increased the cost of the build- in most cases like that I have seen Inspectors have taken the view that the dormer does not comply with PD legislation.

3. Materials- these should be of a similar appearance to those used in the construction of the exterior of the existing dwellinghouse. Not sure from the photos how close a match the tiles and walls are, the windows are brown framed which is not a similar appearance to the white framed windows of the house. It looks like the council have not raised this issue but an Inspector may do if you end up at appeal.

Your main options moving forward are:

1. Wait and see if the council does actually decide to serve an enforcement notice. They may not and if so after 4 years the dormer will be immune from enforcement action. If they do you can appeal on various grounds and may succeed. If the appeal is dismissed you may have to remove the dormer or carry out works to make it PD compliant.

2. Apply for planning permission for the dormer and appeal if it is refused. If the appeal is dismissed you can then move on to option 1.

3. Carry out works to make the dormer PD compliant. If you are going to do this it may be worth applying for a LDC for the revised dormer design just to be 100% sure the council are happy that it complies with the PD legislation before you spend money on further works.

I will follow option 2 and if required it will be followed by option 1. Meanwhile i have employed another arhitect who said we have a 50% chance of succeeding. Hopefully i wil not get to option 1. Thank you very much for your honest opinions. Really apreciate all your coments.
Also i agree that the set back would have been achievable as the builders inserted a steel beam 10 cm in so the dormer is not on the existing first floor. The issue was the builder inspector who dodn't see it as an issue even if we verbally discuss it. I guess i could ultimately remove the tiles, insulate the first floor and use thinner tilles which can get me very close to the 20 cm setback... Not sure if they will be happy though

Where's the set back measured from... maybe you should use your PD rights to apply external PIR insulation to the rear wall of your house

Thought of that but this will not restore original eaves and it will be noticeable in comparison with the neighbours house.