Homebuilding and Renovating RSS : Forum topic

Discharge of Conditions

Emily Richards — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:46:21 +0000

Hi there,
We have secured planning permission to build a 4-bedroom house in our garden. We have applied to the Local Authority for a few amendments to the plans however, and have been informed that the latest date we should hear about that is 20 March.

We then understand we have to wait up to a further 8 weeks before we can commence the house build, as there are a number of conditions to be discharged by the Local Authority.

Plot Size?

Geoff Baxter — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:20:53 +0000

I am planning to build a modest property that will not exceed approx 1600 sq ft.Are there building regs that state what the minimum frontage has to be for a property of this size, as I have found two potential sites that appear to be borderline in terms of their overall frontage,which might work unless there is now a requirement that states you require, say a metre either side of the property walls.

Back issues of Home Building and Renovating

nigel silveston — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:19:51 +0000

I have the following back issues which I would like to sell as a job lot: October 1997 and January 1998 to March 2007 except March 2006. They are all in good condition and some are mint (i.e. not read).If someone would like to make me an offer. Buyer collects (West Sussex).
E-mail: nigel.silveston@tesco.net

Low energy windows article

Mikki Storey — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:54:41 +0000

In this month's magazine Tim uses a graph to show the energy balance of various windows over the course of a year.

He then uses this to imply that on a south facing aspect, it might be more energy efficient not to use highly insulative triple glazing because the is would reduce the solar energy gained from the sun.

I'm not sure that the evidence is really supporting this though.

Surely to demonstrate this you would need to exclude the results from June, July and August when the solar heating effect is highest, but also unwanted.

Connecting to mains sewer a condition of approval

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:50:27 +0000

Hi,

Need some advise please. We have been granted planning permission, however one of the conditions is that we have to connect to the mains sewerage infrastructure in the village and our drawings showing the Klygestor has been knocked back. We are currently using a Klygestor for our temporary accommodation and once the house is built we would connect the new build drains to the kylgestor. Is there anyway we can appeal to this condition? Any advise would be very much appreciated and the way to move forward.

Thanks,
Nics

Connecting to mains sewer a condition of approval

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:50:27 +0000

Hi,

Thanks,
Nics

Using solar thermal for space heating

Mark Boulton — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:28:23 +0000

Not sure if this is the right section but here goes . . .
We are building a well insulated timber house using a passive slab and hemcrete walls and hope to heat using a large solar thermal installation (8-10 sq m) on south facing kitchen roof. These will feed to a large 850L thermal store augmented from a Yorkshire Dunsley wood stove with back boiler. Might also have a small immersion fed from our large PV installation.

Solus 2 heat stores have excellent stratification so DHW would come from the top and the central area would supply UFH. House would also have MHVR system.

My Project

Choosing builders to obtain quotes from

Deb — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:40:16 +0000

We are just about to submit our planning application and I would like to start looking at potential builders from whom we will invite quotations. I have posted a couple of letters through doors of new build houses in the area which look to have been well constructed in the recent past asking whether they would recommend their builder but apart from this I am at a loss where to start.

VAT reclaimable on materials only, or labour too?

Deb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:26:22 +0000

In the 'Beginners Guide - Tax' on the Homebuidling website, it says, 'All of the building work on a new home is free of VAT, which means a saving of 15%. If you are using a VAT-registered contractor, then all of their invoices for labour and materials should be zero-rated to exclude VAT'. I've had a look at the HMRC site 'VAT Notices VAT 431NB' and I'm a bit confused as it says you can can only reclaim the VAT on materials, not labour or services? Can anyone clarify??? Many thanks. Deborah

VAT reclaimable on materials only, or labour too?

Deb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:26:22 +0000