Planning permission to renovate cottage (local needs area)

lainypips

Hi,

I live in a 'local housing need' area when it comes to planning permission for building a new house and this rule is strictly enforced.

There is an old cottage that has just come on for sale that I would be interested in buying to renovate. However, as it stands, the property would be too small and badly proportioned as it is very old. What I would like to know is, does local housing need apply when renovating a property into something that is different and larger than the existing property. I have contacted the planning dept who were very vague and the impression i got was that applying for any type of planning permission would be in vein as I am not from the area.

If anyone can provide any information or has any advice on this, I'd appreciate it.

spockety

Is the cottage a protected or listed structure? If not, you could buy it and do all the internal renovations you want with no permission, and if you think you could do enough with an additional 40 square metres of space then do it as exempt development which doesn't need any planning permission.

BryanF

OP is the cottage derelict ? Does it have a septic tank?

spockety wrote: »

Is the cottage a protected or listed structure? If not, you could buy it and do all the internal renovations you want with no permission, and if you think you could do enough with an additional 40 square metres of space then do it as exempt development which doesn't need any planning permission.

the above questions need to be answered before this assumption can be made. There's a bit more to it than you make out

Victor

Moved from Accommodation & Property

Moderator

spockety

BryanF wrote: »

OP is the cottage derelict ? Does it have a septic tank? the above questions need to be answered before this assumption can be made. There's a bit more to it than you make out

I guess my main point was that there may be ways to get the right work done without falling foul of local need rules etc.

Obviously talk to an architect or planner..

lainypips

Thanks for the replies guys. Yes the cottage is derelict and does have a septic tank.

The overall size is only about 55 square m so even with a 40m2 extension it would still be too small for us, so we would need to apply for planning to build to the size that we require.

Clseeper

Lainypips,

Obviously not knowing your location or the specifics of the property it will be hard.

However this is exactly what i have done recently. I bought an old, what I call rural farmers/council cottage in Meath and applied for planning permission to demolish and build a new house on a different foundation onsite. This would have been in a local needs area and I'm from a rural background but not this area, I did not need to fulfil these conditions. I followed the Meath CoCo rural guide very closely, pitched the application with much better energy efficiency, orientation, setting within the site and thankfully all went through smoothly apart from a further information request. The cottage wouldn't have been in great shape but was habitable which was key (ie good roof, all windows and doors in good shape)

Restrictions imposed were standard enough, must install a new treatment system (old septic tank there currently) & raised percolation area (based on my soil conditions). Also the total occupancy of the new house couldn't exceed the old house +2 - I don't think that's a hard rule, just something which was worked out with my arch & CoCo engineer.

The planning departments are purposely vague in most situations like this as they don't have a file or know any specifics on the case. However through my process, I've found them very helpful & prompt. Probably best to get a local architect/arch tech to have a look and give you their opinion.

sydthebeat

Clseeper wrote: »

Lainypips,

Obviously not knowing your location or the specifics of the property it will be hard.

However this is exactly what i have done recently. I bought an old, what I call rural farmers/council cottage in Meath and applied for planning permission to demolish and build a new house on a different foundation onsite. This would have been in a local needs area and I'm from a rural background but not this area, I did not need to fulfil these conditions. I followed the Meath CoCo rural guide very closely, pitched the application with much better energy efficiency, orientation, setting within the site and thankfully all went through smoothly apart from a further information request. The cottage wouldn't have been in great shape but was habitable which was key (ie good roof, all windows and doors in good shape)

Restrictions imposed were standard enough, must install a new treatment system (old septic tank there currently) & raised percolation area (based on my soil conditions). Also the total occupancy of the new house couldn't exceed the old house +2 - I don't think that's a hard rule, just something which was worked out with my arch & CoCo engineer.

The planning departments are purposely vague in most situations like this as they don't have a file or know any specifics on the case. However through my process, I've found them very helpful & prompt. Probably best to get a local architect/arch tech to have a look and give you their opinion.

just as an aside.... this isnt policy throughout the country.

In Laois you will NOT get permission to demolish a one off rural house without and engineers report to say it is structurally unstable.

If you tried this, you would have to design an extension sympathetic and subservient to the original building.

lainypips

Excellent information everyone so thanks again. The area is Kinvara, Co Galway so like in Laois, we would need a structural engineer to say that it's structurally unstable. Roof and windows are intact so I doubt we'd get this.

There are no real redeeming features about the house so I wouldn't be interested in developing back to it's supposed former glory even with an extension. So i think we may have to leave this one and hope that something more suitable to develop comes up.

bertie 56

sydthebeat wrote: »

just as an aside.... this isnt policy throughout the country.

In Laois you will NOT get permission to demolish a one off rural house without and engineers report to say it is structurally unstable.

If you tried this, you would have to design an extension sympathetic and subservient to the original building.

In Co Galway, you won't need the house to be structurally unstable to knock it down .

I have an example here of a 19 years old house, in perfect shape and that was occupied by tenants until it has been knocked down 2 years ago.
They got new planning permission on the grounds that the house didn't met anymore the fire regulations ( ! )

The house of 150 m2 ( triple glaze, HRV and all, nearly passive ! ) was destroyed , they build a 470 m2 house instead .
The site is of course in full " local housing need " area, they got rid of this part easily( Policy HP19 of Galway County Dvpt Plan )
The place is at 15 km from Galway, and 20 meters from Galway Bay Complex SAC , and Inner Galway Bay SPA.

Nice, he ?

( Planning Number in PM if interested )