Consequences of starting renovations without planning permission

lunamoon

I've just finished renovating my house which required PP. My neighbour objected saying that I would block off his light. DCC said I needed to reduce the size, I appealed through ABP and they granted me permission. It was long drawn out process and almost every 2 weeks I had someone from planning enforcement out to look at the house. Half of the time they didn't even get out of their car. All of this has left a sour taste in my mouth.

My neighbour has now decided to just go ahead and copy my extension. Grand, good for them. But they've no planning permission. They applied for it, they got asked for the additional information from DCC and instead of giving it to them just went ahead with the build. The build, at a guess would be 25% done. All demolishing work has been completed.

I mentioned it to the builder in passing as I was leaving one morning and he said 'Sure they aren't selling the house, they don't need the PP now. If they do need it in the future they'll just apply for retention'.

Is this true? And if so why didn't my builder recommend the same to me?

sydthebeat

no its not true

dont ask builders about planning law, its not there area of expertise.

notify the council that unauthorised work has commenced

alias no.9

lunamoon wrote: »

Is this true? And if so why didn't my builder recommend the same to me?

Perhaps because you hired professionals and while some people might baulk at the cost of professionals, just wait and see how much it will cost them when they hire amateurs.

If they have no planning, they likely don't have any signoff for building regulations either, the builder is right, they won't be selling anytime soon, not even if they want to.

lunamoon

sydthebeat wrote: »

no its not true

dont ask builders about planning law, its not there area of expertise.

notify the council that unauthorised work has commenced

I already have. I got a letter saying they'll look into it. What will the outcome of that be? Is there a fine of any kind?

alias no.9 wrote: »

Perhaps because you hired professionals and while some people might baulk at the cost of professionals, just wait and see how much it will cost them when they hire amateurs.

If they have no planning, they likely don't have any signoff for building regulations either, the builder is right, they won't be selling anytime soon, not even if they want to.

What's the consequence of no sign off for building regulations though? They have no plans to ever sell I don't think. They are mid 60s-70s and one of their kids lives with them and I don't imagine he'd sell the house either if the parents passed away. So if the house won't be sold in just say, 50 years, what's the issue with not having pp?

Edit:
I would guess if someone from planning enforcement contacts them they'll continue with the direction from DCC to provide more info and eventually get PP. I assume (correct me if I'm wrong) that no work should continue on the house while this is going on. So the only thing that will have happened is that they got a headstart on the planning. But I wouldn't put it past the builder to just continue on.

Gumbo

If they got asked for FI, then they don’t have a valid permission.
Enforcement can instruct works to stop u til planning is granted. Or force them into a retention process to retain what’s already there and apply for permission to finish.