ad14306931694c368dac553b5152d984

Short Term Holiday Let Licensing Scheme

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Wed, 25 May 2022 15:26:34 GMT

Short Term Holiday Let Licensing Scheme

If you run a Holiday Let or Serviced Accommodation, you'll want to hear why we have just obtained Planning Approval for a Change of Use from Residential Flat to Short Term Holiday Accommodation on this first floor flat in Fife's East Neuk...

Earlier this year, The Scottish Government introduced legislation which will require operators of Short Term Holiday Lets to apply for a License to continue to operate (similar to the HMO Licensing Scheme).

The Licensing Scheme is aimed at improving the quality and safety of Short Term Holiday Lets, giving Local Authorities more control over the properties in their area and helping them to manage areas of high density.

One of the main aspects of the Licensing Scheme is that it gives each Local Authority the power to implement Short Term Holiday Let "Control Areas".

Designating all or parts of their areas as Control Areas gives Local Authorities a mechanism to manage the number of Short Term Holiday Lets.

Where Control Areas are implemented, any property operating as a Short Term Holiday Let for more than 28 days of the year will require Planning Consent to approve a Change of Use from Residential to Short Term Holiday Accommodation.

Outside of Control Areas, it will continue to be the case that it is for the Local Authority to consider whether any change of use is material and therefore requires Planning Consent on a case-by-case basis.

The City of Edinburgh Council is the first Local Authority to consult on the introduction of a Short Term Let Control Area. Their proposal is that the entire City should be a Control Area. If this is introduced, the number of Short Term Holiday Lets in Edinburgh is likely to reduce significantly.

There is a concern within the sector that, even if a Local Authority hasn't designated an area as a Control Area, they may still make Planning Consent for Change of Use a requirement of the Licensing Scheme. Or they may not issue a License until a Certificate of Lawfulness has been obtained to formally confirm that Planning Consent for Change of Use is not required.

The Timeline...

• Each Local Authority is required to have it's Licensing Scheme in place by 1st October 2022 . This should include a decision on Control Areas.

• No new Short Term Holiday Lets can be established after 1st October 2022 without a License.

• Operators of existing Holiday Lets will need to have applied for their License by 1st April 2023 .

• All Licenses must be in place by 1st July 2024 to continue to operate a Short Term Holiday Let.

This Licensing Scheme will have significant implications for the Short Term Holiday Let and Serviced Accommodation sector so, if you are operating a Holiday Let and want to know more, feel free to get in touch.

How to use Householder Permitted Development Rights to avoid Planning

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 10:09:12 GMT

How to use Householder Permitted Development Rights to avoid Planning

There are 2 different types of approval that may be required if you are proposing to alter your property: Planning Permission and Building Warrant .

This article aims to help you understand what Householder Permitted Development Rights are within the Planning system and how to use them to your advantage to avoid the need to jump through hoops to obtain Planning Permission.

Firstly, what is the difference between Planning Permission and Building Warrant ?

Planning Permission deals with the Use and Appearance of the proposal.

Use : They will consider whether the use is inline with or suitable for the local area i.e. are you proposing to build a new domestic dwelling or a nightclub. In this article, we will be concentrating on extensions to existing domestic dwellings.

Appearance : Is the appearance of the proposal (size, height, materials, proximity to boundaries etc.) suitable and either inkeeping with or complimentary to the surrounding area. Here we will look at how to keep the size, height and proximity to boundaries within the parameters of Permitted Development to avoid the need for Planning Permission.

Building Warrant deals with the Technical Compliance of the proposal.

Building Control assess the proposal in terms of insulation, structure, ventilation etc. to ensure compliance with the Technical Standards or Building Regulations.

What is Permitted Development?

Permitted Development is legislation which has been put in place by the Scottish Government to streamline the Planning process to avoid the need to consider minor or uncontroversial proposals. Designing within these parameters means that Planning do not need to consider the proposals - they are automatically allowable.

A couple of points to note:

Permitted Development only eliminates the need to seek Planning Permission. In the case of single-storey, 2-storey and dormer extensions, Building Warrant will still be required. For some porch extensions, standalone buildings and decking projects, Building Warrant may also be required depending on the particulars of the project.

Permitted Development doesn't automatically apply in Conservation Areas - these areas are more stringent and Planning Permission is generally required.

Single-Storey Extension (Class 1A)

Any enlargement of a dwellinghouse by way of a single storey ground floor extension, including any alteration to the roof required for the purpose of the enlargement.

Development is Permitted if you keep the proposal within the following parameters:

The extension is not to be sited forward of the principle (usually the front) elevation or the side elevation if that elevation fronts a road.
If you intend to extend within 1m of the boundary, the extension doesn't project more than 3m from the rear elevation of a terraced house or 4m from the rear elevation of a detached or semi-detached.
If you intend to keep the extension more than 1m away from the boundary, you are not constrained by the extent you project from the rear elevation. You still need to comply with the following points below.
Keep the eaves height below 3m above the adjacent ground.
Keep the ridge height (or parapet) below 4m above the adjacent ground.

There are a couple of additional points regarding the area of the site covered by the footprint of the house and extension but they don't come into play regularly. For the most part, the points above are the main determining factors.

2 Storey Extension (Class 1B)

Any enlargement of a dwellinghouse by way of a ground floor extension consisting of more than one storey, including any alteration to the roof required for the purpose of the enlargement.

Development is Permitted if you keep the proposal within the following parameters:

The extension is not to be sited forward of the principle (usually the front) elevation or the side elevation if that elevation fronts a road.
The proposed extension must be kept a minimum of 10m away from the boundary on all sides.
The proposed extension can not be higher than the existing house.

Again, the same additional points regarding the area of the site covered by the footprint of the house and extension apply but they usually aren't relevant.

T his one is usually more difficult to accommodate because of the 10m restriction to boundaries.

Dormer Extension (Class 1D)

Any enlargement of a dwellinghouse by way of an addition or alteration to its roof.

Development is Permitted if you keep the proposal within the following parameters:

The dormer(s) are not to be sited on a roof forming the principle (usually the front) elevation or the side elevation if that elevation fronts a road.
The front face of the dormer is at least 10m from the boundary it faces.
The proposed dormer(s) can not extend higher than the existing roof.
The combined width of the dormer or dormers must be less than half the overall width of the roof measured at the eaves: a + b < 1/2 x
The dormers are kept a minimum of 300mm from the edges of the roof.

V elux windows are also Permitted Development so, if you have the head height, attic conversions can be carried out with a combination of Velux's to the front and dormers to the rear without the need for Planning Permission.

Standalone Building (Class 3A)

The provision within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse of a building for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of that dwellinghouse or the alteration, maintenance or improvement of such a building.

Development is Permitted if you keep the proposal within the following parameters:

You don't intend the building to be a separate dwelling
The building is not to be sited forward of the principle (usually the front) elevation or the side elevation if that elevation fronts a road.
Keep the eaves height below 3m above the adjacent ground.
Keep the ridge height (or parapet) below 4m above the adjacent ground.
Ensure any part of the building within 1m of the boundary is kept below 2.5m above the adjacent ground level.

As with single and 2-storey extensions, there are a couple of additional points regarding the area of the site covered by the footprint of the house and standalone building but they don't come into play regularly. For the most part, the points above are the main determining factors.

If you want to explore this further, I looked at the approvals required for Garden Rooms in more detail in this article .

Decking (Class 3D)

Yes, technically some decking projects require Planning Permission.

The erection, construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration of any deck or other raised platform within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of that dwellinghouse.

Development is Permitted if you keep the proposal within the following parameters:

The decking is not to be sited forward of the principle (usually the front) elevation or the side elevation if that elevation fronts a road.
The decking is not more than 500mm above the adjacent ground level at any point.
The combined height of the deck and any wall, fence, balustrade, handrail or other structure attached to it, does not exceed 2.5 metres above the adjacent ground at any point.

Flowcharts

For each of the above classes of Permitted Development, the Scottish Government has produced flowcharts to assist in establishing whether the proposals fall within Permitted Development or whether they require Planning Permission.

Simply answer the questions as you work your way down the flowchart until you reach a decision.

The full list of Householder Permitted Development flowcharts can be accessed here .

These are very handy references which can help save a lot of time, hassle and expense of jumping through hoops to obtain Planning Permission. A minor change to the proposal could bring it within Permitted Development and significantly streamline the whole process of obtaining the necessary approvals.

Feel free to get in touch if you are looking to alter your property and would like some assistance navigating the Permitted Development route.

How do I know if it's a Loadbearing Wall?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 18:16:02 GMT

How do I know if it's a Loadbearing Wall?

One of the most common alterations to a property is to reconfigure the internal layout by adding, removing or altering walls.

The most common of these at the moment is removing a wall between a Kitchen and Dining to create an open plan layout.

Internal alterations don't always require building warrant, especially if they are non-loadbearing.

If the wall is loadbearing, it will most likely require the services of a Structural Engineer and an Architect to submit a Building Warrant to get approval for the alterations.

A common question is: how do I know if it's a loadbearing wall or not?

Here are the 6 techniques I use to establish if a wall is loadbearing

Each one in itself can't definitively confirm that the wall is loadbearing but, when you add the clues together, you start to get a better understanding of the likelihood of it being loadbearing or not.

The Location of the Wall

If the partition has a floor above (i.e. the ground floor of a two storey house), it might be supporting the floor joists (usually timber beams which make up the structure of the floor). If it is on the upper floor with only the roof above, there is less chance that it is loadbearing. Usually , especially with a simple front-to-back roof, the internal partitions of an upper storey are non-loadbearing because the roof trusses span from external wall (front) to external wall (back).

The Layout

Sometimes the layout can give clues as to whether walls are structural or not. Take a large Lounge/Dining on the ground floor of a 2-storey house, 8m x 4m. It is likely that the floor joists above will span the shorter 4m as opposed to the longer 8m. Therefore, the 8m long walls might be loadbearing.

Partition Thickness

If there are 2 different thicknesses of partitions in a property, it might be that one is loadbearing and one is non-loadbearing. This can be easier to tell at door openings where you can measure the overall thickness of the partition. If you have a mixture of 75mm thick partitions and 150mm thick partitions, it might be that the 150mm thick partitions are loadbearing.

Floorboards

If you can see the floorboards above the partition that you are looking to alter, this can be another clue as to what way the joists run. The floorboards will run perpendicular to the floor joists. If the partition that you are looking to alter below runs parallel with the floor joists, its most likely not loadbearing. If the partition is perpendicular to the floor joists, it might be supporting the floor joists and, therefore, loadbearing. This is more difficult to establish in newer houses with chipboard floors upstairs but the same principle usually applies if you can see what way the length of the chipboard has been laid.

Holes in Ceilings (or Floors above)

Sometimes when all the clues above have been added together, it's still not 100% clear which partitions are loadbearing. In this case, cutting a hole in the ceiling next to the partition, enough to see which way the joists are running, can give you the answer. If you can clearly see that the floor joists rest on the top of the partition, it's loadbearing. If the joists run parallel to the partition or you can clearly see that there is a gap between the top of the partition and the underside of the floor joist, it's probably not loadbearing. Bear in mind that this may need to be done on both sides of the wall to be conclusive - the span of the joists might change on the other side of the wall.

Tip : if the property is fitted with downlights, pop one down and have a look up through the hole. You should be able to see the joists above to establish which direction they run. This potentially avoids unnecessarily cutting holes in ceilings.

Fan Ducts

Cooker hoods and extract fans can sometimes shed some light on the situation. You may find that the ducts for cooker hoods or extract fans go up into the ceiling. These will then, most likely, run in the same direction as the joists and out through an external wall. Looking at the outside of the building, if you can find the extract grille, you can establish which direction the ducts (and usually therefore the joists) run.

These techniques can be used to establish whether you think a partition is loadbearing or not. There are always exceptions to the rule:

steel beams within floors which mean that no walls are actually loadbearing

walls which are part loadbearing and part non-loadbearing if they change direction or the floor joists above change direction

although a wall isn't loadbearing, it might be used for racking (providing stability to the overall structure as opposed to directly supporting another element)

and many other weird and wonderful variations of different construction techniques over the years

I wouldn't advise ripping walls down using these technique above as your sole basis for making the decision - it is always advisable to obtain feedback from a professional.

This should, however, give you an idea of the process I go through when trying to ascertain the structural implications of internal alterations.

Feel free to get in touch if there are any alterations that you are considering which you'd like a second opinion on.

How to Find Off-Market Building Plots and Development Sites

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 23:42:12 GMT

How to Find Off-Market Building Plots and Development Sites

If you're looking for a building plot or a potential development site, there are a number of ways to carry out your search; online search engines, estate agents, property development magazines etc.

The main problem with this approach is that, generally, the sites that you find will already have some form of Planning Approval in place. This means that most of the value of the site has already been unlocked.

If you are looking to maximise profit on a project like this, ideally, you would find a site before it has Planning Approval.

Land can be worth very little (or sometimes nothing at all) without Planning so finding sites before they have Planning Approval allows you to negotiate a much better price with the owner.

I spend a lot of time driving around looking for potential sites which I can add value to by obtaining Planning Approval

Here are my tips on where to look for sites which might be available before Planning

Derelict Buildings - Does the building have the potential to be refurbished brought back to life?

Blocks of old Garages or Sheds - Are these no longer used and may be better suited to a building plot?

Disused Farm Buildings - Is the buildings suitable for conversion or can it be demolished and a similar building be built in its place?

Large Gardens - Does the garden have the potential to be split up to create a building plot?

Replacing an Existing House - Some houses aren't worth keeping in their current state but the site or local area is desirable. Can the house be demolished and replaced? Or is there a small house on a large site which, if demolished, could accommodate more than one house?

Buildings at Risk Register - The Government publishes a list of buildings which are falling into disrepair. Some of these may be suitable for conversion.

Gap Sites - These may be sites where buildings have previously stood or awkward shaped parcels of land with no real beneficial use.

Why these sites may currently be liabilities rather than assets

A vacant site or derelict building may be worth nothing and may actually be costing the owner money to maintain it. If you are looking for a building plot, these can be valuable negotiating tools in discussions with owners.

Planning approval can turn it from a liability into an asset.

Maintenance - Some land and buildings will clearly not be being maintained at all. But some may be costing the owner money through security, grass cutting, utility standing charges etc.

Repairs - Things like bad weather, burst pipes or vandalism can also incur costs to the owner.

Danger - If a site or building is a health and safety risk i.e. falling masonry, asbestos or open excavations, and the owner has not made sufficient efforts to ensure that it is secure and doesn't cause a risk to the public, they can be liable for injuries caused on site.

Council Tax or Business Rates - Unoccupied properties can often be exempt from Council Tax or Business Rates because they aren't habitable but some may still be costing the owner money each month. In some cases, when a property has been unoccupied for a certain length of time, rates can be increased by as much as 200%.

Nuisance - Derelict buildings can become places where people congregate and can be a source of crime and disorder.

Eyesore - Derelict buildings and vacant sites can generally become eyesores in the community and can attract dumping and litter if not maintained.

How to find the owner

Once you have identified a site, you must find out who owns it to initiate negotiations.

There are a few methods I use:

Land Registry - For a fee, the land registry can provide the most up-to-date records of ownership of properties and land.

Neighbours - Speak to the neighbours. Neighbours can often be the best lead in finding the owner of a site. They can also be very valuable in giving you some of the backstory of the site. They may even go as far as revealing what the owner is like and can give you tips on how to best tailor your approach to them.

Previous Planning Applications - Applicants and owners can sometimes be found by searching through previous planning applications. Ownership may have changed since the applications were submitted but it's a start.

Companies House - If there are unoccupied buildings which were previously commercial or, in the case of a derelict farm buildings, the site appears to be part of a farm, using Companies House can identify the directors of the company and their registered addresses. There is no guarantee that the companies registered at the address actually own the site but it can be another piece to the puzzle.

So, how much can Planning Approval add to the value of a site?

The answer is: potentially ifinite.

If the site is worth nothing and currently costing the owner money, the additional value that can be realised through obtaining planning approval can be infinite.

There are too many variables to accurately forecast how much value obtaining planning approval will add but, at the very least, it can be said that it can drastically increase the value enough to warrant giving it serious consideration.

Of course, obtaining planning approval is not a formality and finding the site is just the starting point. You must carry out due diligence on any potential site to establish its suitability for obtaining planning approval.

If you have a potential site that you'd like to discuss, feel free to get in touch.

Will my Building Plot or Development Site get Planning Approval?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 20:08:35 GMT

Will my Building Plot or Development Site get Planning Approval?

When searching for a Building Plot or Development Site, one of the main aspects of the site appraisal will be to establish what type of Planning approval may be possible.

If the site is on the market, it will generally have some type of planning approval (be it historic or current, outline or full), a description of which will usually be included in the sales particulars.

Tip: carry out your own due diligence on the current Planning status as it is not always described accurately in sales brochures. I've seen instances where a site's potential for obtaining Planning approval is described very positively but, upon digging into the Planning documents in more detail, this isn't the case.

If the site isn't on the market, you must carry out your own research on the different aspects relating to Planning.

The value of a site can be increased dramatically (sometimes infinitely if it is costing money and worth nothing) by obtaining Planning Permission.

When assessing the likelihood of being able to obtain Planning Approval for a potential development site, this is my 3 step due diligence process:

1. Research the planning history of the site.

Search the local council planning applications to establish if current or historical approvals exist for the site. The opportunity to develop this site may never have been previously explored or you may find multiple historical applications. These may have positive or negative outcomes but they will potentially help you build up a picture of what may or may not be possible with the site.

For example, a previous application to build 19 houses might have been refused but a subsequent application for 6 houses was approved. This gives you a broad indication of Planning's appetite for what can be accommodated on the site.

If you find an application which has been submitted very recently, you might come to the conclusion that someone has beaten you to this site.

There are generally two different types of Planning permission - Outline and Full (or Detailed).

Outline Planning provides a decision in principle on the type of a development proposed i.e. the applicant is looking to establish if the site is suitable for, for example, 3 single-storey houses. The detail is yet to be developed but the principle can be assessed. Once a decision has been made on Outline Planning, Full Planning permission must still be obtained.

Obtaining Outline Planning approval is no guarantee that Full Planning approval will also be forthcoming. When developing the proposal to a sufficient level of information that it can be assessed as a Full Planning application, previously-unexplored issues may arise such as drainage design or flooding.

Full (or Detailed) Planning allows the Planning Authority to assess a fully developed proposal against all relevant planning policies and make a final decision. If the approval is recent enough, the approved documents are usually available through the local council's planning portal. If you intend to deviate from the approved Planning drawings, you must obtain further approval either by amending the current approval (if the deviations are not too significant) or submitting a further Full Planning application for the revised proposals.

When researching the Planning history of a site, Full Planning approval is, generally, more valuable than Outline Planning

Planning Conditions - If you are considering a site which you establish has Planning approval in place, be sure to review the conditions of the Approval. Planning may have issued an Approval on the condition that the applicant provides further information. This may be relatively straighforward such as providing further details of finishing materials for Planning to agree upon or they might be more onerous such as specific drainage designs or further reports/surveys to be carried out. These conditions may have cost implications which need to be factored in to your site appraisal.

2. Establish Planning Restrictions

Local Development Plan - Each council has a local development plan which sets out their objectives and designations for the various different parcels of land within their council. Check the local development plan to establish if the site is already designated for a particular use i.e. employment land, housing etc. Or if it is in the greenbelt and, therefore, how that will affect the planning policies against which the application will be assessed.

Building Listing - Historic Environment Scotland assign listings to buildings of historical and/or architectural importance. The higher the designation (A being the highest and C being the lowest in Scotland), the more onerous the Planning process becomes. If there is an existing building on the site, is the building listed? What is the listing and how will this impact what alterations you can seek approval for? Can it be demolished or does it have to be retained?

Conservation Area - If the site is in a Conservation Area, what are the relevant planning policies and how might this affect what is achievable on site. The proposal will be assessed in greater detail to ensure that the development maintains or enhances the character of the local area.

3. Find Precedent Examples

If there are good examples in your locale where a similar project has already obtained planning approval, this will stand you in good stead in your future discussions with planning. The fact that the precedent has already been set, generally, gives a level of comfort that an approval is possible.

For example, if all of the houses in your street are identical and they have all split their garden up to create a new plot at the rear and yours is the last house on the street not to have done so, it would be a relatively safe assumption that Planning will not be fundamentally against the proposal. The detail will need to be ironed out as you work through the process but you at least know that the principle is acceptable.

However, the opposite is also true. If there are multiple examples of similar applications which have been refused or withdrawn, it might be that these projects go against planning policy and will find it very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain approval.

Drawing your own Conclusions

Ultimately, if you intend to submit or alter a Planning Application, you should enlist the services of an Architect and/or Planning Consultant.

However, at early stages, it may not be feasible to have these consultants on board.

By following the due diligence process above, you will be in a better position to build up a relatively-informed understanding of the opportunities and risks relating to Planning.

If you have a site that you'd like to discuss, feel free to get in touch.

My Top 4 Most Efficient Ways to Add Value to a Property

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:49:43 GMT

My Top 4 Most Efficient Ways to Add Value to a Property

Whether your strategy is to flip or hold property, the main aim of property investing is usually to add as much value as possible.

Adding value to a flip will, of course, help you achieve a higher sale price.

Adding value to a property you intend to hold will allow you to market the property for a higher rental, allow you to release more equity when you refinance and, ultimately, achieve a higher sale price when you come to sell on.

Because I have a background in architecture, my first instinct when I view a property is to look for ways to unlock latent value through changing the layout.

In all of my property deals to date, I have carried out some form of alteration to the layout to add value to the property. In all of these cases, it has cost significantly less to carry out the alterations than the subsequent uplift in value achieved.

I generally invest following the BRR (Buy, Refurbish, Refinance) Model:

Buy : at as low a price as possible
Refurbish : as efficiently as possible. This doesn't always mean spending as little as possible. It's about being efficient with your money and always looking for the best ROI. It's better to spend £5000 to add £15000 of value than it is to spend £500 to add £1000. Spending £500 keeps the cost down but spending £5000 sees a better return on your investment.
Refinance : to pull as much money back out as possible

Top 4 Most Efficient Ways to Add Value to a Property

Counting Windows

Counting windows is a tactic I use regularly - predominantly bedroom windows. If a property has a bedroom which has 2 windows in it, there is a good chance that I can come up with some sort of alternative layout which lets me turn 1 bedroom into 2. By altering the layout and arranging the rooms so that each bedroom has 1 window in it, I can unlock a bedroom which didn't exist previously. I have been able to do this with a number of properties I've purchased where the front bedroom was the full width of the house with two front-facing windows. By altering the upstairs layout, I was able to turn 2 oversized bedrooms into 3 comfortable bedrooms.

Example: Wedderburn Crescent, Dunfermline

Approximate additional cost of layout change over the baseline cost of full refurbishment: £3,500

Uplift in value: potentially the best part of £20,000

Create an Open-Plan Lounge/Kitchen

This approach works particularly well with flats. If the property has a separate Lounge and Kitchen, is the Lounge of a sufficient size that you could turn it into an open-plan Lounge/Kitchen? This lets you create a further Bedroom from the former Kitchen.

Example: East Port, Dunfermline

Approximate additional cost of layout change over the baseline cost of full refurbishment: £1,000

Uplift in value: potentially the best part of £10,000

Simple Layout Alterations

Sometimes it can be as simple as removing a wall between a small Kitchen and a small Utility Room. The sum of these two negative points becomes a positive open-plan Kitchen/Diner. Or giving the space from an overly large or unnecessary storage cupboard over to a bedroom, turning it from a single room into a double room.

Example: Wedderburn Street, Dunfermline

Approximate additional cost of layout change over the baseline cost of full refurbishment: £150

Uplift in value: potentially £5,000

Kerb Appeal

Prospective purchasers or surveyors will inevitably look at the previous listings to see what the house looked like before the refurbishment. The first picture that they see from the previous listing is generally of the front of the house and garden.

If you can give the impression to viewers from the outset that you have significantly improved the property, they will carry this impression through the rest of the house.

By making a good first impression it can make it look like you've carried out significantly more work than you actually have. Simple things like replacing the front door, laying new turf in the front garden or creating off-street parking can add significantly more value than they cost.

Example: Woodbank, Cowdenbeath

Approximate additional cost of external landscaping over the baseline cost of full refurbishment: £1500

Uplift in value: potentially £5,000

Absorbing some of the costs

More often than not, you will be looking to buy a property which requires some work and it is likely that the work you will be carrying out will probably be considered to be more than just cosmetic. This is where some of the cost of these alterations to the layout can be negligible.

You may be replacing the Kitchen anyway. In which case, why not just replace it in a different room. It's potentially not a massive additional expense to relocate it while its being replaced.

You may be replacing the full heating system. In which case, to create a new bedroom, you just needed to take pipes to one additional radiator. Or rerun the pipes (that you are rerunning anyway) to a different location.

You may be replacing the full electrical installation. In which case, to create a new bedroom, you just need one additional light and a couple of sockets.

You may be fully plastering and decorating all of the walls. In which case, this may even be a saving if you've removed walls.

If you plan to carry out some of these works anyway, alterations to the layout may not be as costly as you might think.

Get your Paperwork in order

One important thing to bear in mind when carrying out alterations to the layout is that it is likely that Building Warrant approval will be required. Make sure and ascertain, at as early a stage as possible, if your proposals will require a Building Warrant. Architect's fees, Structural Engineer's fees and Building Warrant Application fees may need to be factored into the budget for the project.

More importantly, surveyors, mortgage companies and solicitors will look for evidence that the alterations have been granted a Completion Certificate.

Once a Building Warrant has been obtained and the works completed, the Building Control Officer will come out to inspect the works and, assuming all is well, issue a Completion Certificate. Without a completion certificate, mortgage applications and sales can stall and, worst case, fall through completely. The Building Warrant approval process can take months. Don't wait until it's raised by a solicitor 3 weeks before completing the sale. Make sure this is taken into account as early as possible.

Try considering some of these tactics when viewing properties and see if they can inject the additional value required to make the deal stack up.

Get in touch if you are considering altering a property and you'd like to know more.

Could this be the Best Value-For-Money Home Alteration?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:14:44 GMT

Could this be the Best Value-For-Money Home Alteration?

When speaking to clients about their extension, I'm often asked the question "how much do you think this will add to the value of my house?"

My answer is usually "not as much as it'll cost you to build it".

However, I may just have found the best value-for-money home alteration.

Bear with me...

There is a growing trend for "working from home". In 2019, around 5% of the working population worked mainly from home. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this initially jumped to nearly 50% of the workforce working from home as a result of social distancing measures. This has been forced on the majority and wouldn't be considered a long term solution for most - the inefficiencies of being tucked in the spare room with the ironing pile, scattered across the dining room table with kids crawling between your legs or constantly manoeuvring to avoid the glare on your laptop screen in the conservatory.

The solution to all of this is to build a bespoke standalone Garden Study.

"But what about the cost of building this swanky looking oasis?" I hear you ask.

This article explores the financial argument for working from home in your own purpose-built Garden Study.

Some statistics:

According to a survey carried out by Lloyds Banking Group, the average annual cost of commuting in central Scotland is £768pa (roughly £3.28 per day).
According to a survey carried out by Ofgem, Britons who buy their lunches are spending an average of £1,840 (£7.86 per day) each year, while those who take food from home spend £552. (£2.36 per day). This equates to an additional annual cost of £1,288pa (roughly £5.50 per day)
So by cutting out the commute and eating at home, you could save an average of £2,056 per year when working from home.

In addition to this:

In 2020, there are 262 working days minus 28 days for holidays = 234 days in the office
According to the Lloyds Banking Group survey, the average commute time in Central Scotland is 59 minutes per day.
59 minutes x 234 days = 230 hours or 9.6 days worth of travelling which could also be saved each year by working from home.

Lets look at the numbers:

An indicative £2,000/m2 build cost for an 8m2 Garden study comes to £16,000 (inc the VAT).
8m2 is equivalent to a 2.5m x 3.2m room (or 8'2" x 10'6" in old money) - a very spacious single bedroom
Depending on the approvals required, professional fees could be in the region of £1,500
£17,500 total cost

By saving £2,056 per year:

The payback period is 8.5 years (not including the value its added to your house)
If your Garden Study adds £5,000 to the value of your house, the payback period drops to 6.1 years.
And if it adds £10,000 to the value of your house, the payback period drops even further to 3.6 years

So, potentially, after 3 years and 7 months of working from home, cutting out the commute and saving the cost of eating out every day, your Garden Study will have paid for itself and you'll have reclaimed 34.5 days of your life that you would have spent commuting.

And the beauty is....that saving continues after the Garden Study has paid for itself, freeing up £2,056 and 9.6 day each year. *insert link to 10-day Mediterranean cruise here*

Get in touch if you'd like to explore the option of a Garden Study.

Do you need Approval for a Garden Study?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:54:27 GMT

Do you need Approval for a Garden Study?

If you are considering a standalone Garden Study within the grounds of your house, it's critical to know which approvals you will require.

There are 2 different types of approval which may be required: Planning Permission and Building Warrant Approval. Although both are Local Council approvals, they are 2 different entities and need to be considered separately. It may be that one or the other or both are required.

Planning Permission takes the principles of the proposed building into consideration in the context of the site. It considers aspects such as over-development of the site, the size of the building, overlooking neighbouring properties and, to a certain extent (i.e. particularly if you are considering a Garden Study in your front garden or a side garden fronting a road), aesthetics.

Building Warrant requires you to demonstrate compliance with the Scottish Technical Standards (commonly referred to as Building Regulations) and takes into consideration aspects such as fire safety, structural suitability, thermal performance (insulation levels) if you intend to install a fixed heating system and drainage.

It is my opinion that, as these buildings become more popular, both Planning and Building Control will become stricter about enforcing the need for the necessary approvals. Buildings which are erected which contravene these policies can incur an enforcement notice. This imposes a legal obligation on the owner to put certain measures in place to rectify the situation. This may be as simple as retrospective approval but, worst case, can mean that the building has to be removed if it seriously contravenes policy and the situation cannot be rectified.

There will inevitably be situations where many of these buildings are "knocked up" without the proper consideration for the regulations. This presents potential problems relating to:

Safety issues if they aren't fully up to standard in terms of fire or structure. Both for the owner and the neighbouring properties.
Nuisance issues if they are oversized, not inkeeping with the local area or unsympathetically overlook neighbouring gardens
Drainage issues where water run-off isn't properly controlled: either to your property or neighbouring properties.
Energy efficieny issues where buildings are poorly insulated, heating systems can be inefficient and costly

I also expect surveyors, solicitors and mortgage companies to become stricter. When selling your property, if internal alterations have been carried out or you've added an extension, it will be picked up by the surveyor and solicitors and mortgage companies will expect a completion certificate to be in place. If not, retrospective approval is required which can stall or jeopardise sales or mortgage companies can hold back an amount of money (retention) to account for the lack of approval/certification. This will also be the case for standalone buildings within your garden. If approval/certification is not in place it will cause issues for selling or refinancing your property.

Planning Permission

Standalone Garden Studies come under Class 3A in planning terms: Ancillary buildings including sheds, garages, greenhouses etc. Follow the adapted flowchart below to establish if your proposal can be considered Permitted Development or if Planning Permission is required.

Note: heights are measured from the adjacent ground level, not the floor level of the Garden Study. If you intend to locate it on an area of ground with a slope, take the worst case heights.

Building Warrant

Building Warrant is required for any building which meets the following criteria:

The internal area of the building is greater than 8m2
It incorporates sleeping accommodation
It contains a combustion appliance (i.e. gas boiler) or fixed flue (i.e. wood burning stove)
It contains sanitary facilities (washbasin, sink, bath, shower, urinal, or toilet)
The building is within 1m of the boundary or 1m of the house.

Where possible, we try to keep the design below the constraints of both Planning and Building Warrant to avoid the requirement (and cost) of these applications.

Ultimately, the design must be right for you.

The most important thing is to get the correct design which suits your needs and then address the technical aspect of obtaining the necessary approvals.

We explored the financial argument for working from home in your own purpose-built Garden Study in this article. Could this be the best Value-For-Money Home Alteration?

If you are considering a Garden Study (or any other type of standalone building) and would like to discuss it further, feel free to get in touch.

How well insulated should my Garden Room be?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:42:52 GMT

How well insulated should my garden room be?

When researching different Garden Studies/Offices/Studios/Rooms/Pods/ Shoffices (shed + office apparently), it's difficult to understand the quality of each one. One of the major variances is insulation. Building regulations aside, if it's somewhere you're going to spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week (or more), insulation is not something you'll want to compromise on.

How do I know how well insulated it is?

There are many different types and thicknesses of insulation, all of which have different thermal properties. The way to establish how well-insulated a Garden Room is is to check the U-Value of each element (wall, floor, roof, window and door). Unfortunately, for me, a bullet point saying "fully insulated" doesn't quite cut it.

What is a U-Value?

The U-Value of an element (wall, floor, roof, window or door) is the rate of heat loss through that element. The lower the U-Value, the slower the rate of heat loss i.e. the better insulated it is. By increasing the thickness or quality of insulation, you lower the U-Value.

Why does this matter?

Lets look at 2 example constructions:

Construction A

90mm thick timber stud wall with mineral wool insulation between the studs. There are various qualities of insulation but, taking an average spec, this gives a U-Value of say 0.3W/m2K.

That means that the heat loss through a 6m2 wall is 1.8W/K (Don't worry about what this means in technical terms, just look at it from a comparison point of view.)

Construction B

A 140mm thick timber kit with 140mm rigid insulation between the studs with an insulated external breather membrane and an insulated internal vapour control layer which gives a U-Value of 0.17W/m2K.

The equivalent heat loss through a 6m2 wall is 1.02W/K.

This means that there is 45% less heat loss through Construction B compared with Construction A.

The variance in specification can have a significant impact on the performance and fit-for-purpose...ness of your home office.

A Benchmark for Comparison

If you were considering an extension to your home to accommodate your new office, generally, your extension would need to meet the following U-Values:

Wall - 0.22W/m2K
Floor - 0.18W/m2K
Flat roof - 0.18W/m2K
Pitched roof - 0.15W/m2K
Windows and Doors - 1.6W/m2K

Business doesn’t stop during the winter. If I intend to spend 8 hours a day 5-days a week in my Garden Office, I’d prefer it to be more than just a "fully insulated" garden shed.

This gives you a benchmark when looking at possible Garden Rooms to establish how well-insulated it is in comparison to your house.

This is a very broad brush introduction to U-Values. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any queries about a particular specification you want to explore.

Is there a limit on the amount of glazing I can have in my extension?

183:804959870 (Ross McIlvean) — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:33:28 GMT

Is there a limit on the amount of glazing I can have in my extension?

The question is mainly answered by looking at Standard 6.2.9 of the Scottish Technical Standards (Building Regulations): Extensions to the Insulation Envelope

Standard 6.2.9 limits the amount of glazing in an extension. The area of glazing should be limited to 25% of the extension floor area plus any existing openings which are being built over.

For example: a 20m2 extension to the rear of a house which is accessed by removing the existing patio doors from the Lounge can have a maximum allowable glazed area of 20m2 x 25% = 5m2, plus the area of the existing patio doors (say 4m2). So the maximum allowable glazed area of the new extension is 9m2. Equivalent to a 4.2m wide bi-fold door.

Keeping the design within these parameters allows you to gain building warrant approval using the standard U-Values in table 6.5 of regulation 6.2.9. I explain a bit of the theory of heat loss and U-Values in another article in relation to Garden Rooms.

There are 2 columns of U-Values. If you’re house was built pre March 1983, the U-Values in column a apply. If your house was built post march 1983, column b applies. This is based on the assumption that the fabric of houses built pre March 1983 are not as well-insulated and therefore attract stricter U-Values for the extension to compensate for the heat loss throughout the rest of the house.

Clients also have the option of improving the performance of their existing property from pre March 1983 levels to post March 1983 through measures such as:

Floor insulation
Loft insulation
Cavity wall insulation
New windows/doors

Some of these measures may already be in place. It can sometimes be cheaper to upgrade the loft insulation (if the other measures have already been carried out) of the existing house and use the U-Values in column b as opposed to automatically having to use the U-Values in column a.

If the area of glazing is limited to the 25%-plus-built-over-openings rule and the relevant U-Values in table 6.5 are applied, this is sufficient to demonstrate compliance with Standard 6.2.9.

However, there is an alternative calculation method which allows you to exceed the standard 25%-plus-built-over-openings rule.

Increasing the amount of glazing to an extension increases the amount of heat loss because windows and doors lose more heat than walls (or roofs where the proposed window is a rooflight).

In order to compensate for this additional heat loss through the glazing, the insulation needs to be increased beyond the standard U-Values of Table 6.5.

The is called the “Compensatory Approach” outlined in Annex 6B of the Scottish Technical Standards:

A calculation is carried out to establish what the overall heat loss of the extension would be if it were to be constrained to the parameters within Standard 6.2.9 (the notional extension).
A corresponding calculation is then carried out to establish the heat loss of the proposed extension. Initially, the heat loss of the proposed extension will exceed the heat loss of the notional extension (i.e. a non-compliant design).
The U-Values of the elements of the proposed extension are then improved until the heat loss is equal to or less than the heat loss of the notional extension (i.e. a compliant design).

This Compensatory Approach also demonstrates compliance with Standard 6.2.9.

So, although the starting point in the building regulations is to limit the amount of glazing to 25%, by increasing the performance of the surrounding elements (and the performance of the glazing itself), there is no limit to the mount of glazing you can have in an extension.