Lack of Planning Permission - Extension on Ground Floor Maisonette

[Nakajo]

They would be called separate dwellings.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Hmm, still not convinced, separate dwellings are not single dwellings. And I've never converted a single dwelling to flats and called them separate dwellings on the form.

 

[tony1851]

In planning terms, thereis a difference between a dwelling, and a 'dwelling house'.

Extensions to flats and maisonettes will always need planning permission, but in the OPs case the extensions would still come under para (1) as the extensions are > 4 years old.

 

[goodtyneguy]

The bricky that built the extension is arguing that the structure is not an extension but a conservatory. If that were true would that exempt it from planning permission?

Thanks

 

[tony1851]

The bricky that built the extension is arguing that the structure is not an extension but a conservatory. If that were true would that exempt it from planning permission?

Thanks

No; complete nonsense.

 

[goodtyneguy]

Thanks tony1851, I've just been reading elsewhere that flats and maisonettes do not have permitted development rights.

 

[tony1851]

I think the top and bottom of it is; that the extension should have had planning permission at the time (ie because maisonettes have no p.d. rights),
but that because it's well out of time by now, the council can do nothing about it.

 

[goodtyneguy]

The leaseholder down stairs has been getting dampness in the extension on the ceiling i.e the underside of my balcony. His contractor reckons it is coming through cracks where the railings of my balcony are secured in the balcony floor. A bit of dampness here would not have been a problem had the extension not been in place as this would have been outside. Some of the other maisonettes I've seen have the same thing, probably all of them in the street but no one bothers to fix them as the damp does not harm anything. My neighbour and I share equally in the costs of repairs and maintenance to the structure of the up and down maisonettes. He is saying that I should pay half the cost of getting the damp/ingress of water fixed. Do you think I should be paying my share?

 

[Nakajo]

Everyone should pay their share.

 

[^woody^]

Do you think I should be paying my share?

Generally, the costs of maintaining the communal structure are shared pro-rata by each occupant.

Fundamentally, this only relates to the parts of the structure that are necessary or beneficial to individual flats. The foundations, the external walls, the roof, the stairs and lobbies, the drains etc.

These items are either defined or implied into the lease at the time the lease is taken on.

What this means, is that if one flat extends, then the rest of the leaseholders are not responsible for the costs of maintaining that extension, because they get no benefit from it. Nor was it there when the lease was taken.

Additionally, despite the extension being beyond enforcement, that does not make it lawful. And you can't be made to contribute to something that is not lawful.

 

[goodtyneguy]

Thanks for your input woody!

 

[PTS2]

The extension is lawful, but in any event that's totally irrelevant to the other problem which is the damp.

Not sure I get you. I'm assuming your balcony was there first. Are you saying the downstairs flat is using your balcony for the roof of the extension.

 

[goodtyneguy]

The extension is lawful, but in any event that's totally irrelevant to the other problem which is the damp.

Not sure I get you. I'm assuming your balcony was there first. Are you saying the downstairs flat is using your balcony for the roof of the extension.

This from my first post:

The original structure of the block was such that the downstairs maisonettes had a recess in the building which ran about a third of the way along the building from the centre line of the block. These formed a little patio area outside the kitchen doors of the ground floor maisonettes and the corresponding recesses in the upstairs maisonettes are cement and asphalt balconies outside their kitchen doors. The difference to the structure now is that my downstairs neighbour has an extension added where his patio recess was, as described above. So his extension roof is my balcony floor and some additional pitched polycarbonate sheeting to take it out about 1 metre proud of the original structure.

 

[PTS2]

Yes I read that and you can requote it until the cows come home and I'm still not sure. Is there polycarbonate sheeting in between your balcony and his roof or is your balcony the roof. When you say 'pitched' is that 'at an angle' or 'covered in bitumen'. I'm trying to help so if you can help in return and not requote a paragraph that would be good.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Come on PTSE its not Rocket Science or even Brain Surgery, though a photo would have made things a lot clearer.

Are you saying the downstairs flat is using your balcony for the roof of the extension.

So his extension roof is my balcony floor

Then beyond the balcony that doubles as a flat roof there is an additional pitched polycarbonate roof that extends beyond the OP's balcony. So the extension sticks out beyond the balcony.