development contribution scheme, overcharged??

CamperMan

OK, we got planning granted but we were stiffed with the development contribution scheme charge of 3136 euros, now the house is only 224 sq/m (the archtitecht put down total 309 sq/m), do they take the garage into consideration?, I thought it was based on the dwelling only?

muffler

The garage wouldnt be included when calculating the devp. contributions.

You are fully entitled to query this. Go into the planning office and ask to see your file and look up the planners report and see how they came to this conclusion.

Jimbo

Alot of councils have the development charges online now.

They usually charge seperate for roads, sewer and water mains, so if your connecting to watermains and/or connecting to a public sewer it will be expensive.

ThePiedPiper

Jimbo wrote: »

Alot of councils have the development charges online now.

They usually charge seperate for roads, sewer and water mains, so if your connecting to watermains and/or connecting to a public sewer it will be expensive.

I paid over €4,000 for road improvements and amenity (whatever that is) before we were allowed to start building.
We've our own sewerage system, our own well, etc. so hard to know what the money was for really.
I made sure when I was paying it to complain about every pothole on the road. I wanted to get some value for my money. The potholes were fixed within a fortnight. Might've been a coincidence but it made it easier to swallow forking out the cash..

CamperMan

muffler wrote: »

The garage wouldnt be included when calculating the devp. contributions.

You are fully entitled to query this. Go into the planning office and ask to see your file and look up the planners report and see how they came to this conclusion.

Thanks Muffler, I have asked the architect to query this a couple of times and nothing has been done by him, I do know that on the application form for the planning, the architect put a figure of 309 sq/m but on the house plans including upstairs and downstairs only comes to 224 sq/m.

I have phone the planners today to query this and they were asking why I din't appeal it... I explained to them that I had questioned this with my architect.

We will see what happens

CamperMan

RunForestRun wrote: »

I paid over €4,000 for road improvements and amenity (whatever that is) before we were allowed to start building.
We've our own sewerage system, our own well, etc. so hard to know what the money was for really.
I made sure when I was paying it to complain about every pothole on the road. I wanted to get some value for my money. The potholes were fixed within a fortnight. Might've been a coincidence but it made it easier to swallow forking out the cash..

I thought that's what your road tax was for!

CamperMan

Jimbo wrote: »

Alot of councils have the development charges online now.

They usually charge seperate for roads, sewer and water mains, so if your connecting to watermains and/or connecting to a public sewer it will be expensive.

we will be having a private well, septic tank system and paying for our own road!

Jimbo

It does seem a bit steep so.

The roads contribution is for the local public roads, not your own access road.

Do you mind me asking what local authority it is?

CamperMan

the council won't budge, the house is 224 sq/m and the architect put down 309 sq/m, the council have told me I should have appealed the charge at the start, what is annoying is that the day planning was granted and I saw the high charge I contacted the architect and have done so since, he failed to do his job.

so where do I go now?

muffler

CamperMan wrote: »

the council won't budge, the house is 224 sq/m and the architect put down 309 sq/m, the council have told me I should have appealed the charge at the start, what is annoying is that the day planning was granted and I saw the high charge I contacted the architect and have done so since, he failed to do his job.

so where do I go now?

First port of call is the planning department as I advised earlier. Put it in writing to them - asking them to outline the basis on which the development contributions were calculated. Ask them for a full breakdown together with a detailed list of how their devp contributions are derived. Sometimes this is contained in their development plan. You might want to check out contribution charges imposed on other recently granted permissions and make the comparisons with your own.

If after that you feel you were overcharged the you can either take it up with your architect if you feel he was derelict in his duties or alternatively push the council into agreeing that there was an error made.

CamperMan

good news.... the council reduced the charge by €1500

muffler

You always have to go fighting for these things at times. Glad to hear you got the reduction.

Poor Uncle Tom

Nice one, persistance pays off.....

uxak

they were looking for 6500 euro from us. we got on to them and they misculculated it and went down to 6000 euro.
there is a town sewerage system in place here but it does not reach as far as where we are building. it seems like thay are charging us for it. i have to put in my own treatment system so i think they would have to deduct that from my bill as well.. or hopefully connect me to general sewerage since they are charging me for it.
any ideas how to tackle this issue?

thanks

muffler

uxak wrote: »

they were looking for 6500 euro from us. we got on to them and they misculculated it and went down to 6000 euro.
there is a town sewerage system in place here but it does not reach as far as where we are building. it seems like thay are charging us for it. i have to put in my own treatment system so i think they would have to deduct that from my bill as well.. or hopefully connect me to general sewerage since they are charging me for it.
any ideas how to tackle this issue?

thanks

Read a couple of my posts from above.

You need to see the list of charges they have adopted and look at your planning file and see how the planner derived the figure. Then chase them up on it.

sydthebeat

CamperMan wrote: »

good news.... the council reduced the charge by €1500

great, now hows about a contribution towards some christmas beers :P


(kidding, good news!)

CamperMan

sydthebeat wrote: »

great, now hows about a contribution towards some christmas beers :P


(kidding, good news!)

I'm skint