I was having a loft conversion done. The cladding was proposed as tiles but when looking at the neighbours conversion they looked bad, Just an eye saw.
A neighbour had plans approved for a loft and kitchen conversion that had wood slats. So I thought Hmm that looks nice but I do not want slats. I think zinc would look better, however zinc is not cheap so looked at alternatives, decided on Euroclad raised seam steel painted/galvanised sheets.
Talked it through with the builder, they said they could not offer the service but it was like a previous job they did where some one else used Zinc. Ok I though I will do it myself. Produced the drawings for the sheets flashings etc and order it.
A while later it was fitted. It looked great (photo below) neighbours thought so as well.
6 months later a letter from the council arrives saying some one had complained that I did not have planning permission. I talked with the builder, they said you do not need planning its permitted development.
Council came round and said you need to put in for planning permission.
The architect put in the plans and submitted it under permitted development. It was rejected. I asked why and was told that permitted development was very strict and should put in for full planning permission. So I did that and it was rejected for the cladding and being too big? What!!! In the letter they berated me for not asking using there pre check service.
Now in person pre check is £1000, letter is £110. So I explained everything and said what can I do.
They wrote back saying the cladding was wrong it was to big and a whole host of other complaints.
After spending some time with my architect it was explained to me (shame it was not before I did the work!)
1 Permitted development on a terraced house as long as it's not to big is a get out of jail free card. You can have it as big as your roof (minus a little at the eves) and as long as it is clad in the same roof tiles type as original you need no permission.
As soon as you put in for planning they will restrict the size to 1/3 of the roof space. And still make you use the same roofing type.
I know I'm in the wrong I have no argument about that, so now I'm reclading in tiles. The only good thing is that even taking into account the 2 x's I have clad the thing its still cheaper than the price for the tiles in the first place.
Now to answer the outstanding questions
1 How was the neighbour drawing passed? They were passed subject to the cladding being approved first. That was in the fine print I missed.
2 How did they get the get the large size using planning. The council ballsed up and should not have passed it.
3 How did they other people the builder said has zinc get away with it. They did not, they got pulled up by the council, they still have it but it's another story.
3 Who complained? Well this took some time to come to light. It was in fact the architect for the neighbours house. In conversation with the neighbour I said those plans look neat I will copy them. Not actually copy them as my layout is not like theirs, just I will start my own conversion. They told the architect and he got mad saying I copied his design.
I know this as they neighbours moved and the new neighbour asked him for the steel calcs as the property was sold with plans. He refused and ranted about being copied by me and he would sue if they used his plans. A real d*ck head!!!!!
And here is what it did look like before I started re cladding.
- Cladded loft.JPG (28.08 KiB) Viewed 6321 times
