I've applied for a certificate of lawful use for a ground floor
extension which, after reading up on the guidance, I believe is within
our permitted development rights.

Because I'm assuming it will be within our rights, I've not given much
thought to the exact design, and showed it on the sketches as having a
simple pitched roof. I also showed these to the neighbours prior to
applying for the certificate and they initially indicated they thought
it was fine. One of them has now raised a concern about the height of
the roof on their side, so I said I'd be happy to modify the design to
lower it (eg by having a "salt box" gabled roof with a shallow pitch
on their side).

It now occurs to me that perhaps I should have represented this design
on the sketches, but am I right in thinking that as long as the
structure is within permitted rights (volume, height, distance from
roads, etc.), it can be designed however I want?

The planning officer came round today to do some measurements of our
existing lean-to shed and other things but didn't say much. I
mentioned that we thought we might modify the roof design from those
shown in the sketched, but he just said they could only assess what's
before them, which is fair enough.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Will a modification like
this after obtaining a lawful use certificate get me into trouble?

On 27 Feb, 10:02, "BlueJohn" wrote:
I've applied for a certificate of lawful use for a ground floor
extension which, after reading up on the guidance, I believe is within
our permitted development rights.

I "decided" my planned extension was within permitted development, and
therefore does not need planning permission. I asked the council about
lawful development etc, and they denied there is any such thing, so I
just got on with it (plans for building control etc).


Because I'm assuming it will be within our rights, I've not given much
thought to the exact design, and showed it on the sketches as having a
simple pitched roof. I also showed these to the neighbours prior to
applying for the certificate and they initially indicated they thought
it was fine. One of them has now raised a concern about the height of
the roof on their side, so I said I'd be happy to modify the design to
lower it (eg by having a "salt box" gabled roof with a shallow pitch
on their side).

It now occurs to me that perhaps I should have represented this design
on the sketches, but am I right in thinking that as long as the
structure is within permitted rights (volume, height, distance from
roads, etc.), it can be designed however I want?
If it is within permitted development rights, you do not need planning
permission. It appears you can build it how you want, so long as it is
safe and complies with building regulations. Permitted development is
subject to certain design restrictions, but in theory you could still
build a monstrosity.

The planning officer came round today to do some measurements of our
existing lean-to shed and other things but didn't say much. I
mentioned that we thought we might modify the roof design from those
shown in the sketched, but he just said they could only assess what's
before them, which is fair enough.

What's the planning officer for ?
Are you doing other works that are not under permitted development ?
I was advised against mixing the two - apparently the council will get
"confused".

Does anyone have any experience with this? Will a modification like
this after obtaining a lawful use certificate get me into trouble?
What is the legality of a "lawful use certificate" anyone ?
As I said, I could not get one. They said I would have to apply for
planning permission to find out if I needed planning permission.
So I just got on with it, based on their planning guidelines.

Simon.

On 27 Feb, 10:34, "sm_jamieson" wrote:
On 27 Feb, 10:02, "BlueJohn" wrote:

I've applied for a certificate of lawful use for a ground floor
extension which, after reading up on the guidance, I believe is within
our permitted development rights.

I "decided" my planned extension was within permitted development, and
therefore does not need planning permission. I asked the council about
lawful development etc, and they denied there is any such thing, so I
just got on with it (plans for building control etc).



Interesting. I called the planning office (London Barnet), who said if
I thought it was within the permitted development, I could if I wanted
to apply for a certificate of lawful use (an S192 - which is half the
price of applying for planning permission). This is because a) some
builders may not like doing the work without it, and b) house buyers
will probably want evidence that the work was lawful. They said
legally there was no difference between a planning certificate and a
lawful use one, and that most people only used planning permission if
they wanted to go beyond their permitted development rights.

snip



The planning officer came round today to do some measurements of our
existing lean-to shed and other things but didn't say much. I
mentioned that we thought we might modify the roof design from those
shown in the sketched, but he just said they could only assess what's
before them, which is fair enough.

What's the planning officer for ?
Are you doing other works that are not under permitted development ?
I was advised against mixing the two - apparently the council will get
"confused".


All I'm doing is an extension. My assumption is that he was only there
out of due diligence and to make sure I wasn't covering something up
like a huge shed in the garden - which would count against my
development rights. He measured my little tiny shed (which I mentioned
on the application) just to make sure.


What is the legality of a "lawful use certificate" anyone ?
As I said, I could not get one. They said I would have to apply for
planning permission to find out if I needed planning permission.
So I just got on with it, based on their planning guidelines.


My understanding is that you don't need it if you think you're within
your rights, but it's wise to get a certificate of lawful use to make
sure. You can get the lawful use certificate retrospectively too, by
the way. I filled in a "proposed use" version - there is an "existing
use" one as well:

http://www.barnet.gov.uk/planning-la...dcert-form.pdf

Perhaps this is something that's location dependent, but I'm surprised
you were told it didn't exist!

BJ