As we all know, the famous Beckham couple has accumulated a lot of wealth through hard work over the years.
When you have money, you naturally have to be careful about where you live.
There are three luxury houses that they have exposed most:
One is a mansion in Holland Park, a wealthy area of London, worth 31 million pounds.
One is a penthouse in Florida worth 19 million pounds.
There is also a 6 million pound house. A mansion in the English Cotswolds countryside!
In order to live more comfortably, after buying this country mansion, the couple has been working on renovations.
also applied for a lot of planning permissions in order for the transformation to go smoothly.
The process of applying for planning permission is long and complicated. After all, this country mansion is a national Grade II listed building, and every move needs to apply for permission...
No, in order to have a bonfire party in the summer, The couple plans to build a wood storage yard to facilitate the storage of firewood.
But this move caused dissatisfaction from neighbors:
They believed that Beckham ignored the "government's clean air strategy" and actually burned firewood. They should use more environmentally friendly heating methods, such as electric heat pumps...
Despite a lot of opposition, in the end, the local government approved the planning permission not long ago.
Planners believe that given the size of the lumber yard, it will not actually add any material carbon emissions. There will be no significant impact on adjacent amenities, highways, ecology or drainage systems. Planning permission for
was granted in April this year, along with other planning permissions. Xiaobei couple promised in the plan to protect existing wild animals such as birds, bats, badgers, hedgehogs , reptiles and amphibians ...
Therefore, they are not allowed to install searchlights at will, etc. , external lighting is also restricted and cannot affect the life of wild animals.
In the UK, if you want to expand, you need planning permission (Planning Permission).
According to the British government official website, landlords need to apply for Planning Permission under the following circumstances:
- Build something new on the basis of the original property
- Make a major change to the property, such as an extension (make a major change) to your building, eg building an extension)
- change the actual use of the property (change the use of your building)
If the above three items are described in more detail, it means that they are evaluated in the "Town and Country Planning Act 1990" promulgated in the UK Activities that are considered “Development” fall into the category that require application for building planning permission.
"Development" includes:
- construction projects (such as changing the structure, new construction, reconstruction, and large demolition);
- changes in the actual use of land and buildings;
- engineering operations (such as laying foundations);
- mining operations;
- demolition and reconstruction (a Demolish a big house and build two smaller ones);
- Other commercial construction activities
Generally, owners will only involve the first item in the "Development" above, that is, construction projects.
And "planning permission" itself is also a relatively general concept, and there are many types of it.
can be divided into two categories according to the general direction:
1, complete planning permission (full planning permission)
2, outline planning permission (outline planning application)
After the former is approved once, there is no need to do specific construction again. Go to the government for review. After the latter is approved, if the specific construction involves content that is not included in the planning outline, it needs to be confirmed by the government again.
Building planning permission is affected by the laws and regulations of various local authorities in the UK. The regulations are very large and lengthy, so specific to all types, even the official government website cannot list them all... Of course it is a huge challenge for owners who want to do architectural planning.
Therefore, according to a survey report, 15% of the owners interviewed in the UK who had done expansion and construction projects for their properties (accounting for 57% of all owners) forgot whether they had applied for Planning Permission at that time; 20% of them forgot They expanded their house without knowing whether it would be approved; 14% of people did not know that Planning Permission existed at all; another 9% knew that they needed to apply, but still chose to ignore the Planning Permission and go ahead with the renovation. Mainly because I find it troublesome and think it costs money to apply for this.
In fact, ignoring the Planning Permission will face high legal risks. Once the work done on your property exceeds the scope of the local government's permission, if it is discovered, you will be ordered to restore it to the original state, and in serious cases, you may be involved in unnecessary lawsuits. Therefore, if you want to make any improvements to your house, it is strongly recommended to find out in advance whether you need to apply for a Planning Permission.
If you want to be a good and law-abiding landlord, it’s actually not that difficult. It does not mean that you have to find the laws and regulations of the government where your property is located among a large number of legal documents, and then make an application plan based on the construction application status of your plan. The specific rules and regulations for
Planning Permission are very large, and the number of private owners who apply for this planning permission every year undoubtedly wastes a lot of administrative resources.
Previously, the British government also had a series of complex regulations that allowed house owners to make some basic extensions to their houses without applying for Full planning.
Situation when expansion is carried out directly without Full Planning:
(Note that the following terms only apply to expansion and do not include ancillary buildings.)
1. Within the scope of property rights, the ground area (Ground Area) of the expansion part shall not exceed 1/2 of the total area of the main building (Total Area). For example, the total area of a single-family property is 100 square meters. If an extension is built within the land property rights, the total ground area of all extensions must not exceed 50 square meters.
2. No part of the extension building shall be higher than the highest part of the original property.
3. The eaves of the extension shall not be higher than the eaves of the original property.
4. The extension building shall not exceed the main or side facade of the original property facing the road.
5 . If the extension building is less than 2 meters away from the property boundary, the height shall not exceed 3 meters.
6. Except for sunrooms (conservatories), the extension building must be made of materials close to the original property, and the appearance must be similar.
7. If the extension If there are other buildings within 15 meters of the property boundary, the upper glass of the extension should be obscure glazed; if the height of the window is not 1.7 meters higher than the ground floor of the building, it is not allowed to be opened.
8. If the side is extended, the height shall not exceed 4 meters and the width shall not exceed half of the width of the original house.
9. If the rear single-story extension is completed
a) the length of the rear extension shall not exceed 4 meters (detached house), row, semi-detached house. Must not exceed 3 meters
b) The height of the extension must not exceed 4 meters
c) The extension must be at least 3.5 meters away from the property boundary
10. Multi-storey extension at the rear (the rules are more stringent)
a) The length must not exceed 3 meters
b) The extension must be located at least 3.5 meters away from the property boundary. More than 7 meters
c) The slope of the extension roof must be consistent with the roof of the original house.
11. If the house is in a protected area, world heritage area or national park,
a) The exterior facade of the extension must not be made of stones or artificial stone. , stucco pebble coating, render, wood, plastic and ceramic tile covering
b) The extension shall not exceed 1 storey or shall not exceed 4 meters in height
c) No part of the extension shall extend beyond the main facade of the original building Or if the side elevation is
or above, there is no need to apply for Planning Permission. This only applies to the extension. Planning of all ancillary buildings must apply for Planning Permission.And the above provisions do not apply to national protected buildings. Any internal or external alterations to a listed building require a separate application to the local planning office.
Therefore, in these cases, the homeowner can simply expand without complete planning.
But many people feel that this is not enough.
So starting in 2013, the government issued a temporary regulation,
relaxing the scope of expansion.
Before this regulation, a single-storey extension of a detached house could only be extended by 4 meters without full planning. As for semi-detached houses and townhouses, they can only be expanded by 3 meters.
In 2013, this regulation was doubled, and it was relaxed to the point where a single-story expansion of a detached house can be expanded by 8 meters without full planning. And semi-detached houses and townhouses can be expanded by 6 meters without full planning.
Although It is no longer necessary to apply for approval of Planning Permission. Owners still have to notify the local council before starting construction for legal expansion. The local council will then notify the local community in the form of an official letter where construction is to be started for expansion.
If there are strong complaints and objections from local residents before or during the construction, the government will still stop the expansion project and conduct a re-examination. "
Since the introduction of this regulation, 110,000 British property owners have benefited from it. There is no need to prepare planning drawings that meet government standards in advance, and there is no need to wait for long periods of time for approval. Now that it has become a permanent provision, it is really well received. .
Final tip from the real estate circle:
In the UK, whether you are a celebrity, politician or wealthy businessman, you need to apply for certain planning permissions, and there are no exceptions. The local government will determine whether it will affect the protected building. The impact on wildlife, whether it will impact neighbors, and how much impact it will have are all considered. This process is long and complicated, and requires not only time and effort, but also money.
