Planning/Permiited Dev. - What happens when you notify council of completion?

[evrybuddy]

Will soon have completed a conservatory under Neighbour Consultation process - no planning Permission needed or building regs. but had to go under neigbour consultation because of size.

When we submitted the application - a chap from the council turned up out of the blue - no letter no phone call - I just happened to be in when he banged on the door one afternoon.
Don't know whether it was just on spec or whether they would have written if I'd not been in.
He took a photo of the site and put it in with our application and left.

Anyway, it says on the council paperwork that I must notify the council when the job is complete - fair enough.

What happens then?

Do I expect another visit? Randomly out of the blue!

Or do they only call if they have had a complaint from a neighbour?

Or does nothing happen?

Do I get a letter saying well done!

[wowfudge]

Why don't you ask them when you notify them? Or ring to clarify what they need from you, e.g. Is an email to planning support sufficient or do they need something else?

[evrybuddy]

Thanks - I know what they want - a letter notifying completion - I'm just asking of anybody who has experience - whether they then turn up unannounced to inspect at a random later date.

[evrybuddy]

They don't say they do that - but then they didn't say they did pre-build inspections either!

[Sunnyshores]

My council was supposed to send me a letter. They didnt, I forgot about it until we sold and were asked for it. So I emailed them asking for a letter, they emailed back (without visiting) saying it was complete and was permitted development. All seems a bit random!

[evrybuddy]

Cheers @ Sunnyshores - our application was decided as:

"prior approval not required"

which I think is a state somewhere between simple 'permitted development' (where you don't have to ask the council for permission) and formal 'planning permission'

• essentially this is what the 'Neighbour Consultation' route is for - basically saying 'you might be fine as long as your neighbours are OK about it but send us in a form with the details anyway'!
  

So, we did all of the paperwork and everything was fine - out of the blue a council planning chap turned up for a look and a photo before we started the build - we then did most of the build and will befinishing soon and then the final step will be to notify the council of the completion date.

That's the final step that we know about it - the final step as detailed in council information

BUT ... is there an unpublicised additional final step where they come round out of the blue to check what you've actually done?

I haven't built a secret castle behind a wall of hay bales!!! - I'm not hiding secret building abominations - I just want to know.

Anyone any experience of this?