Demolish & rebuild

[bgwti22]

Hi everyone.

We have found a house currently on sale. It is a detached 3 bedroom situated on approx 1 acres. After viewing the house, it is small & tight. For something on a plot that big the house is definitely disappointing, HOWEVER!!!! we were thinking of the potential there is to demolish & rebuild our house on that plot. Obviously not using the entire land space but building a much more spacious house with 4-5 bedrooms.

Has anyone here ever demolished & rebuilt their house. What was it like? The process, permission etc was it easy or did you encounter slot of problems.

Currently following some pages on Instagram who have demolished their houses & have built one twice the size. Interesting process which I know involves a lot of permission etc.

Do you think it’s worth it?

Planning is very onerous if you push the boundaries to make the plot work. Depends on restrictions and local policies. It’s not uncommon around here to have about 6-10 amendments and certificate of lawfulness to establish what might be allowed. Most extensions don’t have the complexity here.

The reason it’s more complex to rebuild is to get value for money. Most people see this as needing to increase size so basements opening out to sunken patios is the latest idea. Together with barns and stables if you have the space. If not big garages with living space over by raising the roof. Stables for games rooms etc. We have all of these near us and we have very many planning restrictions but architects know the loopholes.

@PresentingPercy

Planning is very onerous if you push the boundaries to make the plot work. Depends on restrictions and local policies. It’s not uncommon around here to have about 6-10 amendments and certificate of lawfulness to establish what might be allowed. Most extensions don’t have the complexity here.

The reason it’s more complex to rebuild is to get value for money. Most people see this as needing to increase size so basements opening out to sunken patios is the latest idea. Together with barns and stables if you have the space. If not big garages with living space over by raising the roof. Stables for games rooms etc. We have all of these near us and we have very many planning restrictions but architects know the loopholes.

Completely disagree that the planning is onerous. The planning process is exactly the same for a large extension as it is for a house. Adhere to local guidance, speak to the planners and no reason to encounter any additional problems or barriers.

I don’t think you really understand the hoops you need to go through to make the most of a plot. Architects and owners simply don’t follow what planners advise so your assertion is fundamentally wrong . They push the boundaries so to speak. I assume you’ve never seen how this works. It’s easy to get pp in an area with no planning restrictions but in AONB and green belt it’s a whole new ball game and it’s very time consuming. You only have to look at amendments and variations on some applications to see that. It makes a difference because it is the difference between it being worthwhile and not worthwhile. The smaller extensions are not the same but there is no permitted development so even they can be subject to various applications.

Then there is non determination and 18 months to agree materials. Never mind bat surveys and highways issues. It’s all good fun! Problems just pile up.

The self same hoops for planning for a whole house or an extension, there's no difference! Regional variations sure, but the self same process and requirements per site.
Ask the planners before starting and you remove / avoid most of the problems straight off.
You make some very rash assumptions about me!

I know someone who did this.

You need a special sort of mortgage which is more expensive while building.

Where will you live during the process? Is it just you and DP or are there DC and pets to accommodate as well?

Will both of you be trying to work FT while doing it?

Doing a lot of the work yourselves or paying someone will affect cost. Some things will need professional input, eg electrics.

We almost did this. Viewed a run down two bed bungalow ion an acre plot. Planning officer told us we could extend by 25% ie put another room on but that a rebuild would need to be the same size. For the cost £450k we couldn't afford to buy it and take the risk of planning and potentially an appeal while living in it. A builder bought it, raised it to the ground and built a big house on it over a period of about 12-18 months. Looks good and while it's a bit annoying, we have jobs so wouldn't have been able to spend the time/money trying to work the planning system.

Ask the planners? That way you get the care minimum. I really don’t think you understand that the process isn’t about getting the minimum if you are in a difficult area. Of course it’s onerous. No one takes what the planners say as gospel. If they did there would be no appeals. Certainly no appeals won. And if course they are. If it’s about maximising space and adding value if can be onerous in areas with planning constraints. Not least because the planners won’t want anything that pushes against planning policies. However the plot owners will push and if the op wants something better than the bare minimum, it can be onerous.

The other very valuable gain from a new house is that you get to extend that a bit later on. The planners won’t tell you that but the new house is the new benchmark so there’s a bigger house just waiting around the corner!

care.... bare minimum

Didrealkysaythat: in effect the planners lied. Not unusual. Even in AONB we are allowed 50% extra volume or area m2. Depends on authority. 25% or same size was challengeable. You have to employ someone who knows these things and yes, it’s not easy and developers know how to get the optimum redevelopment.

@PresentingPercy that was our conclusion. I know that pre application approval doesn't count for anything (currently re submitting an application that was rejected on the basis that the extension would fill an important space in the street scene, something there's handily no reference to in the guidance booklet)

I think many applications are quite difficult and absorb your time and energy to get the best outcome. But the idea of just following ultra conservative planners doesn’t give anyone with grand designs much hope!

The fuss made about ours was unbelievable and we weren’t even pushing the boundaries. One particularly enthusiastic neighbour went door to door drumming up opposition. Incredibly stressful

We have that all the time in our village. Fortunately we don’t have to be mates with these people but rest assured they are everywhere. One thing we notice with the main agitators - they have either rebuilt or extended their own homes. Pot, kettle and black come to mind.

@PresentingPercy funnily enough our ring leader was finishing her extension!
Once we started we had the HSE involved, the council was constantly contacting us, the environmental officer, photos, noise complaints, privacy complaints. Anything to disrupt. I don’t ‘think’ she started covid

My DH wanted to buy a plot of land and build a house one of those "flat pack/prefab" ones (they're not what you might think they can be absolutely stunning). We were told by a company that does it all the time to budget £400K to build the sort of house (4 beds eco friendly) we wanted and the land was coming in between £80-100K. In the end we purchased a house from a man who had purchased a piece of land and built his a designer dream home for significantly less than £500K.

One nasty person here said a site had asbestos in it. All work held up. No asbestos was found of course. No reason to think there ever was any. We feel that vexatious complaints should have some consequences and maybe fines would make them think twice.

We changed the window positions when we remodelled our house inside. It made it look more symmetrical and suited the room usage. Our neighbours complained. We had the planner come and investigate. The elevation was submitted to the planners because we were extending our porch further along the house but on that elevation. We had no more glass than the previous window positions and the rooms involved were a cloakroom, a bathroom and the laundry room. They are all at least 30ft from the neighbours house and they have no windows overlooking us at all! Just unpleasant interfering people.

Villages seem to bring out this attitude in people. I think conservation areas can have the same “guardians” putting their views in all the time too. We have a self styled village preservation group. We think the planning department now does well to ignore most of the bile they write.