No Planning Permission - Buying Freehold

[sue white 10]

Hi

I bought a Leasehold semi detached house in Sheffield 2 years ago. The Freehold is owned by Shef council and I do not pay any ground rent. My solicitor advised me that after two years I can apply to the council to buy the Freehold.

 

The previous owner built a conservatory and porch without planning permission.  The porch is one storey high and about 1sq m, nowhere near any public pathway or road. The conservatory is on the back of the house and just over 3m deep.

 

I believe the council will visit the house to work out how much they want to sell the Freehold for. I'm wondering if I'm likely to have any issues if/when they realise there is no planning permission on the porch/conservatory.

 

If anyone has any useful info I'd appreaciate it.

 

Thanks

[lobster 54]

The Law was changed a few years ago ,Planning permission is not required if the Conservatory meets certain criteria . Suggest you check out on Google

[bassett one 450]

second that no p/permission needed and what a lot of folk are doing is glass roof and doors and as brick is cheaper than d/glazing they are having walls each side,so they can later add solid roof and it becomes a room,whether the need permision later for that i dont know,but a cheap way to extend i would say,the later is advice for you later if you may need it,in fact on tv they are advertising changing from one to the other.

[ttparsons 10]

If the porch was outside permitted development but has been there five years without objection you should not have to apply for retrospective approval.  Rear conservatories do not usually require planning permission as they are ‘temporary’ constructions but the 5-year principle still applies anyway.  Worst case scenario, assuming your neighbours have no reasonable grounds for complaint is you have to supply drawings and pay a fee of £206 for planning consent.  Potentially there is also a fee to the freeholder for permission to alter the property separate to planning consent if that has not been obtained at the time - check your lease.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Voluntary improvements by the tenant (leaseholder) should not really affect the cost of buying the freehold reversion- simply because the lease is unaltered and so is the ground rent. Post #1 says that " I do not pay any ground rent." That sounds a bit odd- SCC is usually quite vigilant about issuing demands- but maybe the lease demised > 1 houses and another of the tenants is paying all the houses' ground rent without collecting their apportionments.

[stylefree 14]

Would you need freeholders permission for the porch/conservatory/extension oris that included in planning permission 

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

On 21/01/2020 at 23:38, stylefree said:

Would you need freeholders permission for the porch/conservatory/extension oris that included in planning permission 

These are entirely separate issues.

 

Applying for planing permission is a statutory matter. It depends on what you propose to do and the location of the property. The Local Planning Authority cannot take into account who owns what nor what the lease provides.

 

Applying for consent from the landlord (freehold reversioner) is a contractual matter. It depends on on what you propose to do and what  the lease provides. You might even need consent from the landlord before applying for planing permission .

[spider1 11]

On 16/01/2020 at 16:31, ttparsons said:

If the porch was outside permitted development but has been there five years without objection you should not have to apply for retrospective approval.  Rear conservatories do not usually require planning permission as they are ‘temporary’ constructions but the 5-year principle still applies anyway.  Worst case scenario, assuming your neighbours have no reasonable grounds for complaint is you have to supply drawings and pay a fee of £206 for planning consent.  Potentially there is also a fee to the freeholder for permission to alter the property separate to planning consent if that has not been obtained at the time - check your lease.

 Potentially there is also a fee to the freeholder for permission to alter the property separate to planning consent if that has not been obtained at the time - check your lease.

Yes and that will not go away and should be the first thing you do

If you build first without lease holder consent they can up price you leave yourself wide open 

 

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

On 23/01/2020 at 18:40, spider1 said:

 Potentially there is also a fee to the freeholder for permission to alter the property separate to planning consent if that has not been obtained at the time - check your lease.

Yes and that will not go away and should be the first thing you do

If you build first without lease holder consent they can up price you leave yourself wide open 

 

That last sentence is wrong.

It should read: "If you build first without freeholder/landlord consent they can charge a penalty for non-compliance, although this does not affect the f/r value/price."