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My parents have just had their old conservatory replaced, the new one is around 4mx5m, the old 3mx4m. The works included removing the old base and constructing the new one, building the conservatory, electrics, underfloor heating. Yesterday the old man phoned the planning department asking about insulation on this build but the planning department had no knowledge of the new build. The contractor was taking picks all through the build for their 3rd party planning consultant who was meant to be dealing with the application but it appears didn't do it.
Obviously my parents will not be paying for the job until the council have rubber stamped it, somewhere around £30,000. The planning department have said that they may have to dig up part of the floor to check things and also the footings.
Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation? apart from bumming the contractors dog and hammering sausages in to his lawn what would Singletrack World do?
Make it the contractors problem. Seems like they've been paid to get planning sorted and haven't.
So until it's signed off, withold payment.
Have your parents started occupying the space yet?
If it's a traditional conservatory and less than 30 square metres does it even need building regs?...
https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/conservatories/building-regulations
...if it's really an extension by another name then time to start having strong words with the contractor and 'planning consultant'.
Does it need planning permission, or is it being done under permitted development? Still need to comply with building regs obviously, but PP may not be needed
Probably covered under permitted development unless in a conservation area, in which case you probably don't need planning. We didn't for ours and it was roughly the same size.
If it's a conservatory, isn't it covered under Permitted Development Rights?
If he's calling the council about insulation then is he actually wanting building regs rather than planning permission?
The planning department rarely talks to the building regs department. If they want to check footings, it will be the building regs department (which may be outsourced) - if you have detailed photos of each step they may be happy with that.
@Ewan's advice is correct. A Planning Department will solely be concerned with whether it needs planning permisison or not (i.e. is Permitted Development). They have no interest in construction/fire safety etc which is squarely a Building Regulations issue. Whether it is PD or not is a little less straight-forward as it depends on its siting as well as size.
Having pictures of the work in progress should help - and you can use a private Building Regs company to sign off the work too (you don't have to rely on a council BR department). We had a similar thing happen when having a big kitchen project done and the builder 'forgot' to get the BR people in to check some steels they put in. I called the BR company (ASK in Harrogate) to come in and fortunately I had taken pictures of the work before it was plastered over otherwise they would have had to hack the finish off to check and approve the work.
For building regs, pictures taken during the works also worked for me when I had an extension done.
Sounds to me like a buildings regs issue rather than planning. I used to have similar issues working on new build shops - we used a private building regs consultant for every job as it was one contact and someone we could regularly deal with, rather than multiple contacts at multiple councils.
When ever a local raised a complaint or queries with the local council, the local council building regs dept would get upset that we hadn't gone through them - I'm sure it's a local council fees issue, as local council fees were often more expensive that private building regs.
I'd clarify things with their builder before doing anything else as I'd guess that they are using a private consultant.
I believe that If it's a planning issue (unlikely), it'll be your parents who are directly responsible, not the builder, for making sure they have permission before works started.
If an enforcement notice is raised, it's still the client who is at fault. If check that they instructed the builder to obtain planning if required & make sure that they have this in writing, and any issues will be come a civil matter between them and the builder separately to the enforcement
as above planning and regs are different departments.
planning = am I allowed to build?
regs = has it been built correctly? (well to regs)
likely there is no planning submitted due to it not needing it under PD.
insulation questions are regs, not planning
tell your folks to phone the correct dept!
photos taken are common practise for building regs.
Why did he phone the planning dept directly asking about insulation? Has he had an issue with the builder ?