Just wondering if someone can help. I moved into my present house two and a half years ago. I chose it for my retirement because it is quiet and not overlooked. My landlord without consulting me has put in plans to convert a disused barn into two 2 family homes. The barn is next to my house at right angles, so both houses run down two sides of the garden. So we will have children able to look in my windows at all times, share my garden and generally ruin my retirement. My gf is autistic and no way could we stay if this all goes through, so we will have to move. Apart from the £5,000 we've spent on the house, the labour and love we've put into this place cannot be quantified. Do I just have to call it a day and move on, leaving a stunningly decorated house with my central heating, or can I get compensation.
We'll be greatful for any hope whatsoever, so many thanks in advance.
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The landlord has no need to consult an adjoining tenant on his proposals, though the Local Authority will send you the planning details and tell you how to appeal against the permission.
Best bet is to move if it doesn't suit though.
By all means find out your legal rights, but if you are in direct contact with him, try and discuss this and come to a compromise. If you put in an objection to the planning he is hardly going to be happy with a tennant stopping him making money, he probably thinks he is just trying to make some money, perhaps he just has not concerned himself with your concerns/rights. He might also appreciate a face to face discussion. I am sure you could object, and nothing wrong with getting advice, I would myself. At the very least he cannot accuse you of being difficult as he did this without discussing it with you.
Sorry to hear your dilemma.
If he is a complete shit, then get the local paper on to it, and speak to your ward councillor, ask other locals?. He may well go ahead and build it, but might be prepared to modify the design, I know if I valued a tennant I would try and take into account there concerns, and obviously you seem to value the property. Why should you leave?. Why should he loose a good tennant?
The local council's planning department should write to you but in case they don't you should contact them and your local councillor as well as any other residents nearby who might be affected by the decision. The Duty Planning Officer at your council will be the best person to contact and discuss the matter.
You might also want to review the local planning policy, it might give extra reasons why you can oppose the suggested development (on the other hand it might not - but you won't know until you have a read of it).
Try and find out also if there have been previous planning applications on the property (or any nearby) and see if they were refused and why. If so that could give you grounds for your objection.
Lastly, list your objections in a concise manner with supporting evidence. You might also want to have a chat with your landlord and politely make your objections known, it might be that he would modify the plans to accommodate your concerns, such as building a taller wall/fencing off an area that is "yours" or whatever would satisfy you.
Lastly, you are entitled to attend any planning committee meeting where the project will be discussed and you should get an opportunity to speak at this meeting, but check as you might have to register/notify someone beforehand that you would like to speak.
If the meeting goes against you then you can lodge an appeal.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'd be amazed if any money spent on decoration is recoverable. TBH whenever I've been renting the contract forbade redecoration at all. If it was me, I'd go to the landlord and say this development will make your tenancy unbearable so you'll have to submit a planning objection, but if he was able to pay £X to cover your moving expenses then you wouldn't need to any more. It's not exactly a low risk strategy though.
Piss him off too much, he can always serve you notice to quit.
'Planning officer wrecks listed barn' is hardly going to go down well splashed across the local paper is it?.
As my old magazine stated.....
The way local authorities interrogate plans for barn conversion is getting stricter. What would have passed even five years ago as a design methodology now often needs to be supported by independent advice and reports. Often we find the local authority will delegate detailed inspection of the plans to historic building officers, and they increasingly require such work as independent structural surveys, to prove that these buildings can be converted without significant reconstruction or compromise to the original fabric.
http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/existing-homes/converting-barn/design-solutions
http://www.realhomesmagazine.co.uk/home-improvements/redesigned-tudor-home
The second one shows what you can do, with the money and the right design ideas..... bit out of my league I am afraid....
Sadly that's not the case. An applicant can appeal to the planning inspector if the application is refused by the council, whilst the only route for an objector to an application that's been approved is to seek a judicial review which is a)expensive and b)only results in the decision being taken again. Sorry about that.
I'm a councillor here and have done my time on planning committees. Without knowing where you live it's hard to get specific but:
1) From what you say, the application has been placed at the council and has been validated. That means it's a 'live' application and will have an application number. You need to try and find some time to look at your council's planning policies. This is possibly called a Unitary Development Plan, Local Development Framework, possibly a Core Strategy. There may also be other relevant Special Planning Guidelines. If you want to PM me with details on any of these I'm happy to take a look.
2) Is the aplicant, your landlord, a planning officer in the council where you live? If so, then it is very likely that the application will have to be put in front of councillors on the planning committee if the planning department are minded to approve it. Thiis is good, as some applications can be approved by planning officers without them going near councillors making theirdecisions in public.
3) To help prevent this, don't be frightened to ask your friends and neighbours to object. There is often a threshold number of these letters that push the application into being discussed by councillors rather than being approved by planning officers.
4)Talk to a local councillor. S/he may be brilliant or rubbish, so it's hard to say how useful they will be. Hopefully they will help navigate the planning policies.
5)Reasons for refusal have to be based on planning policies. Overlooking is rarely a reason for refusal. This is usually dealt with by specifying minimum distances between properties.
6)There is a lot of literature on barn conversions and the planning policies may well be specific on this.
7)Is the barn listed by English Heritage or is it a local listing? The latter is a thing some councils do. It doesn'tactually make much difference.
8)If the applicant works for the local authority you live in, ask that the application be reviewed at a senior - ideally Director - level.
9)Unfortunately, a landlord nearly always has the upper hand. What tenancy are you under?
Good luck to you.