We are often asked ‘What are Building Regulations, why do I need them, does my project need Building Regulations approval?’ In most cases the answer is "yes", in almost all residential development work, even if you believe it to be minor works you will need some form of Building Regulations approval.What Are Building ... Read more >>
Categories: Architecture
A leasehold owner proposing structural or material changes to their property will generally require the consent of their Landlord under the terms of the lease. Such consent must not be unreasonably withheld but will typically be provided in the form of a written Licence to Alter (or License for Alternations) so that the interests of the Landlord ... Read more >>
Categories: Surveying
Clients tend to ask us the question ‘Should I go through planning permission or should I go through permitted development?’ To answer the question it is important to really understand the difference between the two first starting with an understanding of each.What is Planning Permission?Planning permission or planning consent is the ... Read more >>
Categories: Architecture
All new leases with terms of 7 or more years or assigned leases with at least 7 years remaining must be registered with Land Registry and to do that a lease plan is required.A Lease Plan is an appropriately scaled metric drawing depicting the land or part of a building over which the lessee has exclusive or shared access.For a Lease Plan ... Read more >>
Categories: Architecture, Surveying
Writing as the owner of a surveying practice that undertakes a large volume of party wall work I have to say I’m happy that not all party wall notices are consented to but it does concern me how poorly the Act is understood by the general public and how many unnecessary party wall disputes arise as a result of that poor understanding.If you ... Read more >>
Categories: Party Walls, Surveying
The UK, like any other country in the world, has various requirements and limitations in respect to non-citizen’s living and working arrangements. As we are part of the European Union (for the time being anyway) workers from within this economic area benefit from the operation of what is an internal/single market which allows free movement of ... Read more >>
Categories: Valuation
Accurately recording the condition of adjoining properties is an important part of the process of producing a party wall award (many owners think it’s the only part!) so I thought it was worthy of a blog post in its own right.When our trainees start working on party wall files the skills involved in preparing schedules is the first thing ... Read more >>
Categories: Party Walls, Surveying