The Property Speculator » Project Manager

Understanding Building Regulations

Building Regulations are as important to a property developer as Planning Permission is. For all new-build, newly-converted and renovated buildings, the building works carried out have to comply with Building ‘Regs’ by law.

According to the UK Government Planning Portal, if you want to:

1. Put up a new building

2. Extend or alter an existing one

3. Provide services and/or fittings in a building such as washing and sanitary facilities, hot water cylinders, foul water and rainwater drainage, replacement windows, and fuel burning appliances of any type.

…the work must be compliant with current (that is, current at the time of work being carried out) Building Regulations. They must also not make other fabric, services and fittings less compliant than they were before – or dangerous.

Building Regulations will very likely also apply if you intend to change the use of a property, for example a shop being converted into a residential dwelling. Although a property in its original use might have been building regs’ compliant, the proposed new use may have different requirements.

To summarise, any work that involves the following, falls under the term ‘Building Work’ and will therefore be subject to Building Regulations:

1. The erection or extension of a building

2. The installation or extension of a service or fitting which is controlled under the regulations

3. An alteration project involving work which will temporarily or permanently affect the ongoing compliance of the building, service or fitting with the requirements relating to structure, fire, or access to and use of buildings

4. The insertion of insulation into a cavity wall

5. The underpinning of the foundations of a building

6. Work affecting the thermal elements, energy status or energy performance of a building.

Before commencing work you should refer to Regulation 3 of the Building Regulations for the full meaning of ‘building work’ or, if you are unsure, seek advice.

Speaking from experience, Building Regulations are not the easiest publications to work through. They are changed very often and tend to be quite ambiguous in many aspects. A link to the 2010 Building Reg’s is here.

If you are planning on using a builder to carry out renovation or development for you, then the responsibility to comply with Building Regs is on him. However, I advise you make all possible enquiries to check that not only are your builders indemnified by insurance, they know their way round the regulations too. Once the work is finished, it is likely to be very difficult to get the builders back to rectify any non-compliant work.

If you are carrying out the building work yourself, then you must be familiar with the regulations to ensure that the workload is planned correctly, the materials are compliant and the standard of workmanship is also high (yes, this is enforced as well). If you are not familiar with the regulations, then it is very advisable that you recruit the services of an appropriate professional consultant such as a Building Surveyor, Architect or Structural Engineer (as appropriate to the work that is being carried out).

Building Regulations are enforced by the Building Control Service. This can be provided by either the Local Authority Building Control Service, or an Approved Inspector’s Building Control Service (they should be registered with the Construction Industry Council (CIC)). The Approved Inspectors though are less likely to be able to work on plans for new-build houses, flats or private-rented property. They are better suited (for insurance reasons) to working with extensions and additions to properties.

If the work is substantial, a ‘Full Plans Application’ is made to the Local Authority. It involves the submittal of detailed plans and material specifications of the intended work. The plans should be drawn up by an architect or designer (this might be a bit expensive). The point of this approach to obtaining approval is that any ‘glaring’ problems can be rectified before the project starts and it becomes even more expensive to remedy.

The cost for the Full Plans application is collected in 2 lots. The first payment (the plan charge) accompanies the plans when they are submitted. The invoice for the second payment (the inspection charge) is sent after the work has begun. This charge is to pay for inspection(s) that will be carried out on the site during the build. Once the design problems are resolved, an approval notice will be issued. Work must then commence within 3 years from the date the plans were deposited. When the build is complete and is judged compliant with the Regulations, a certificate is issued to confirm this.

The alternative route to Building Regulations compliance is based upon smaller scale projects such as property extensions, alterations etc. It’s known as ‘Building Notice’ procedure. This cannot be used for buildings that have to be compliant with Fire Precautions/Regulations, or work that will be carried out near or over rain water or foul drains. The building notice approach does not provide for the plans to be scrutinised prior to build. This means that in the inspection phase, any non-compliant work will need to be removed or made-good.

The disadvantage of the Building Notice approach is that a certificate is not issued to confirm Building Reg’s compliance. If the work you are carrying out on the property is funded by borrowing, the lender might very well require the certificate of compliancy.

Note that Building Regulations are only applicable at the time the work is carried out. Once a property has been issued a compliance certificate, no updating is required unless other legislation requires it.

For help in understanding the Building Regulations, there is an explanatory leaflet that answers many questions. The link can be found here.

Apr 19th, 2011

“How do I get Planning Permission”?

If you are considering developing a property to either sell or rent out after the work is finished, it is quite likely that you will need the grant of planning permission. This is needed by law if you intend to build a new-build property on a green/brownfield plot, build a substantial extension or convert a retail or agricultural property to residential use.

In the last few years, planning laws have been slightly relaxed. This was for the intention of reducing the workload for local planning authorities who do not have the resources to analyse every single application from people who simply wanted to extend their kitchen or build a conservatory.

Under regulations that came into effect on the 1^st October 2008, residential alterations or development is known as ‘permitted development’ (meaning that no planning permission is needed) as long as it meets the following criteria:

1. No more than half the area of land around the “original house”* would be covered by additions or other buildings.

2. No extension forward of the principal elevation or side elevation fronting a highway.

3. No extension to be higher than the highest part of the roof.

4. Maximum depth of a single-storey rear extension of three metres for an attached house and four metres for a detached house.

5. Maximum height of a single-storey rear extension of four metres.

6. Maximum depth of a rear extension of more than one storey of three metres including ground floor.

7. Maximum eaves height of an extension within two metres of the boundary of three metres.

8. Maximum eaves and ridge height of extension no higher than existing house.

9. Side extensions to be single storey with maximum height of four metres and width no more than half that of the original house.

10. Two-storey extensions no closer than seven metres to rear boundary.

11. Roof pitch of extensions higher than one storey to match existing house.

12. Materials to be similar in appearance to the existing house.

13. No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.

14. Upper-floor, side-facing windows to be obscure-glazed; any opening to be 1.7m above the floor.

15. On designated land† no permitted development for rear extensions of more than one storey.

16. On designated† land no cladding of the exterior.

17. On designated† land no side extensions.

* The term “original house” means the house as it was first built or as it stood on 1 July 1948 (if it was built before that date). Although you may not have built an extension to the house, a previous owner may have done so.

† Designated land includes national parks and the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites.

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk

If you plan to make alterations that fall inside these conditions, you are strongly advised to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness, this will protect against any changes in the law. You will no doubt have noticed that one or two of the above conditions are somewhat ambiguous and this certificate will aid in ensuring the work carried out is compliant. It will also be easier to sell the property if you have the document in place so that the purchaser’s solicitor can check it.

A Certificate of Lawfulness is obtained by making an online application through the government’s planning portal (link above). The content of the application will be virtually identical to that required for a planning application. The application fee for a Certificate of Lawfulness is currently £75 (half that of a planning application) and the statutory period for processing an application is 8 weeks.

The planning departments of local authorities are now far different places to the stuffy, faceless departments you might expect them to be. They are very co operative if approached in the right way and a phone call to speak to a member of the planning team can be of great benefit to your plans.

The 2 principle types of planning permission are:

1. Full (or Detailed) Planning Permission. This is required if you intend to change the use of a property, for example converting a retail property to residential. It is also necessary when detailed consideration of a development is required (not just the principle of it). This is the most common form of consent that is required for carrying out property development and renovation.

2. Outline Planning Permission. This is normally cheaper to acquire than full consent and enables developers to establish whether the principle of the work they plan is acceptable to the local planning authority. If this is granted, then the remaining details (reserved matters) can then be confirmed and agreed to at a later stage. This type of consent however, will not be appropriate for renovation only projects (i.e. not a complete build).

In the case of most residential properties, detailed planning permission must be acted upon within 3 years. In the case of new developments where outline planning permission has been established, consent will last for 3 years but the reserved matters must be submitted within 2 years of the date of outline consent approval, if they aren’t then the works cannot lawfully start. Detailed permission for new house builds must normally be acted upon within 5 years. However, when the confirmation of planning consent is received, a condition is normally attached stating the period within which it must be acted upon. If the work does not begin within this period, planning permission will be considered to have been abandoned and a new application must be submitted.

A further sub-division of detailed planning consent is known as householder planning consent. It is aimed (as the title suggests) at residential householders that intend to make alterations to their own homes.

To submit an application for planning consent, a visit to http://www.planningportal.gov.uk is recommended. This is the government’s online resource for all matters relating to planning permission. Registration is required, and the online application runs as follows:

1. Application form. This should be filled out in order if possible as it will automatically grey-out the non-applicable questions.

2. Submit supporting documents. These are most likely to be plans and should be in pdf format if possible; or failing that in jpeg or bmp. The number and scope of these supporting documents will depend on the type of permission required.

3. Application fee calculation. This is done by providing a number of boxes to (electronically) tick, this is fairly self-explanatory.

4. Fee payment. This can be done in one of three ways-online payment by credit card, cheque payment by post or payment by telephone.

5. Check application. The site will automatically do this and let you know if there is anything you have omitted.

6. Submit application. Once this is done, no subsequent changes can be made to the application without making an amendment. If this is done, the site will register the amendment as a next version number.

After around 8 weeks, a decision should have been made by the local authority. If the consent has been turned down, an appeal can be made. This is submitted using another form and a decision should be made again in around 8 weeks.

If the permission has been granted, it is likely to have some conditions attached to it. These conditions form part of the consent and must be met to stay within the law. If the conditions are not adhered to, the authority might consider the development work unlawful. Authorities have the power to reduce a property to rubble if there is persistent contempt of planning laws; this is however an extreme and rare outcome. They are far more likely to take the time to help you comply with the law and if a breach is reported, encourage you to apply for planning consent retrospectively.

Dec 13th, 2010

Planning the Workload in your Property Development

Picture the scene, you’ve just completed on your first property development project. The keys are yours and for the last month or two, you’ve been mentally running through what you can do to this, your very development property and the first step on the ladder to becoming a professional property developer. You might have a very long list of things that need replacing, reworking, extending, removing or simply repainting. Tempting as it is to get stuck right in, I urge you not to rush in quite so quickly.

There is always a logical order to the various tasks that need to be completed; if you are using a builder he will advise you on what you can do first (if you intend to carry out some of the work yourself). If you intend the builder to complete pretty much everything, then depending on the scope of the work, a Project Manager might be needed.

If you are planning to carry out the majority or all of the work yourself, then a plan must be put in place to avoid some potentially expensive rework later on. It may seem obvious to many novice developers that certain jobs need to be progressed to a certain point or completed before other work can be started, however it just doesn’t occur to others. For example, an expensive floor might have been laid in a kitchen or bathroom; this should not be the point at which you begin to consider the plumbing requirements. The plumbing should really be almost completed before floors are laid.

Again, it may seem obvious, but you must have a plan in place before you start trying to progress individual tasks. A logical approach is suggested as:

All mains services should be located and well marked. This is so that any potential hazards or financial disasters (such as a mini-digger damaging a water-main) are avoided as much as possible. If the existing property is going to be demolished, the location of the services will also need to be incorporated into the design of the new development. These mains services MUST be disconnected by a qualified tradesman, through the appropriate company). If the water supply onto the site is working, a lockable box should be fitted around the standpipe for security.
Look at the ‘largest’ aspects next. This would be any possible extensions to the property, any groundworks such as underpinning, additional foundations, anything involving drainage, mains services or tree-roots etc, and any structural work on the building as a whole, such as brickwork or the roof. There will be overlap of various trades and jobs during this process because there is never a ‘clear-cut’ boundary between work stages.
Next, the property should be made ‘weatherproof’ as soon as possible. In large projects that involve extending the property or replacing the roof coverings, this work should be completed before most other work is begun. Weatherproofing the property simply means ensuring that if it rains or snows, the inside is dry so that work can continue within. External doors and windows are normally fitted at this point.
Electrics and plumbing should then be planned out. It is often said that you can never have too many electric sockets; however if aesthetic appeal is important to you, plan carefully where the outlets will be placed to make them discreet (such as behind where furniture is likely to go). If you make a drawing of each room with the location of the electric sockets, this should form part of the contract with the builder/electrician. Plumbing should be equally as carefully planned. This includes provision for any en-suites, additional cloakrooms, utility rooms, outside taps, underfloor heating etc. The electrical cables and pipework can be routed through the floors/ceilings before the boards are put down.
The property can be made to look much smarter because it is then time to plaster over all the conduit for the cables, and the floorboards and ceilings can be put in too. Included in the plastering, is coving and tiling.
The walls are coated with a watered-down mixture of PVA glue to seal the dry plaster. Once this has dried, the walls can be painted. This is also the point where kitchens and bathrooms can be fitted.
There will now be many tradesmen progressing different aspects of the development. At this point, 2^nd fix carpentry (architrave, skirting boards etc), electrics (light fittings, wall switches and sockets) and plumbing (taps, toilets and showers) can all be fitted.
The final phase is really only carpet fitting and decorating. These are the two finishes to the property that are most likely to show sign of marks (like muddy boots or scrapes along the wall). Therefore it makes sense to have these jobs completed as the very final activities.

The above is merely a suggestion, every property is different and the scope of the work carried out in each development project will vary a great deal. The main point of this post is that a plan should be established to place the activities into a logical order. This will minimise the risk of expensive rework.

Nov 8th, 2010