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What you have is a house that has had some walls built up next to it. The work, as it stands, is not in accordance with the building regulations (you should assume they are not until it can be demonstrated that they are). You do not have a house with an extension and so you certainly should...

You talk as though paying less than £200 to the council to assess an application is daylight robbery. This is a meagre amount of money for the amount of time and effort that a planning officer has to put in in order to assess an application. I'd be all for increasing the fees associated with...

[/url] ^This. Concrete will corrode copper. You need to take steps to protect the pipes. Even if you are not filling around them it may still be worth using denso tape to protect them in order to account for any future pipe movements or what have you. Id use a tray with clip on cover...

Bizare!? Doesnt look like this could have been caused by weight of snow on roof. The only thing i can think of is ground movement. The only thing i can think of is if the icy cold conditions could freeze the ground and lift the foundations before dropping them back. This wouldve caused all...

Whilst the party wall act certainly will not apply they may be able to gain access under the 'Access to neighbouring land act'. Effectively the PWA has this access allowance built in but where it does not apply (as here) then the access act allows the neighbours to present the case at...

Agreed, you need to seek proper advice from someone who can assess all of the facts and details in one place and be able to supply you with contextual info.

A competent builder should be able to deal with this under a building notice. However I'd always recommend taking the time to have plans drawn up and submitted to a building control body in the form of a plans application. You get the added benefit of being able to use these plans to give to...

You can, but it may or may not be applicable. Remember that whilst a rear extension may not be visible from the front of a property, it may be visible from the rear, or side - ie, from the end of a run of terraces or from public or private land (rear neighbours). Some authorities are keen to...

What you have is basically a combined drainage system. There is nothing particularly wrong with this. The alternative you describe is to have separate foul and rainwater drainage - each system having its own underground drainage and access manholes. However, ultimately they tend to both end...

Running a new flue all the way down from the chimney stack to the ground level is probably not a bad idea. Similar to installing a new flue lining using appropriate ductwork (such as a flexible metal liner). This would provide the most minimal invasion, particularly if you want to try to avoid...

Hollow bricks of various styles are commonly used across europe. I agree that this is what it sounds like you've drilled into. You may find that your wall is actually made up of two different types of brick, which could explain why hole 1 and hole 3 are different? The plugs work by...

The party wall act cannot be used to prevent development. In other words as long as you have all the necessary plans, details and approvals in order then they cannot "disagree" with the award. They will of course choose to select their own party wall surveyor, and will probably try to...

Permitted development can also be used to build a side extension. Assuming you can design an appropriate one you could really annoy your neighbour by threatening an extension they have absolutely no way of stopping! Of course, they could still cause you trouble under the party wall act... and...

HMOs are a separate use class also, so would themselves require consent. This does not necessarily mean that you will not be allowed to do it, but you will have to seek permission first. If the site is suitable then it will be permitted, if it is not then it won't. Now, This is mainly...

Prior notification is used for specific types of development, your wood store may not have actually fallen under this, but would have been permitted under your legal permitted development rights (associated with the main property). Removing permitted development rights on barn conversions...

No, you cannot legally rent this. Read this again: ''A residential annex ancillary to the enjoyment of the main dwelling house" If you rent out the annex then it is no longer used ancillary to the enjoyment of the main dwelling. It has become its own self contained dwelling. The use...

Hi, The "current" Approved Document K, paragraph 1.16 says that doors may open across landings only if there is a clear space of 400mm. In your picture, the door does not open across the landing, and the 400mm clear space will always be maintained. To my knowledge, this guidance does...

There may be differences between the developments yes. For example, the nearby development has neighbouring properties, but they are all of similar plot and building sizes, therefore the development may have been considered to be in keeping with the character of that area. However, the...

There certainly looks like there is a lot of scope and potential here. Though looking at "just" the floorplan can sometimes be quite misleading. There are other factors that may need to be considered in order to be able to put together a layout that will work the best... for example, the...

These days, good design practice would be to sit joists on joist hangers, not build them into the walls.