At last, the planners are beginning to understand the demand for loft conversions.

I found this on the web and found it interesting,

Its from the Daily Mail

Click here

Good news in from the ‘loft group’ at the FMB, They have started to discuss the new changes that may come into effect this year. It will happen either at the end of April 2008 or at the end of November 2008. I know theres a bit of difference in the times but for all those people holding on for the new changes it should be well worth the wait.

At the moment every house has a certain allowance that it can be extended, for a mid terrace the allowance is 50 meters cubed and out of that 50 only 40 meters cubed can be used in the loft. For a Detached and Semi Detached house the allowance is 70 meters cubed and out of that 70 only 50 meters cubed can be used for the loft.

So if a mid terraced house (50m3) had a ground floor extension that had already used 40 meters cubed, there is only 10 meters cubed remaining which wouldn’t be enough to do a dormer under Permitted Development (PD). This means you would have to do the loft conversion under a Planning Application. This may cause problems like restrictions and guidelines that you have to follow in certain boroughs. A can of worms some might say…

Not any more!!!

The biggest change that is pending with the government is the allowance (PD) to be separated from loft conversions and other extensions that may exsist.

This means that if your house already has a side or rear extension you can still apply for a loft under PD. (40m3 for a mid terrace and 59m3 for a Detached or Semi)

This is also going to help houses that need hip to gables.

At the moment 90% of the councils around the country will never allow Hip to gables under Planning Permission. The only type of conversion you can do to a hip to gable is a side dormer. Side dormers cost the same as a hip to gable but only give you a third of the space. A lot of people have put off converting there lofts because of this and if they change the law i think the councils around the country will soon be inundated with the thousands of home owners ready to convert there lofts.

The FMB really need to push the government to decide on a fixed date for these changes. When the decisions made the local councils will need to start passing the extra applications before the chosen date otherwise they will just be in the same situation there in now… To many people wanting to convert there homes, to many applications for the council to cope with and a 56 day waiting list applications to be granted…

There is a small chance that this new law may not come out at all but the chances are very slim.

Unfortunately the new law will not apply to purpose built flats or converted flats, Conservation areas or second grade listed buildings. Sorry.

Some roof spaces are more easier to convert then others in terms of size, shape and construction.

The major thing you need to have when wanting to convert your loft is head hight. if theres lots of height there’s much more of a certainty that you will be able to convert your loft. The higher the better and even when you cant get planning permission for lets say a rear dormer if theres a good head hight, you can still just convert inside space of the loft and still make a very good sized loft room and maybe even a shower room or bathroom.

The minimum head height you will need to do a loft conversion is 2.2m (7′2″) but you will need a dormer as the space is so restricted.

If your loft is under 2.2m then its pretty much a non starter. It will still be worth getting a quote through from your local builder though as there is a special way not losing any height in the loft called triperling the joists, or you could lower the ceilings but that will depend on the windows on the 1st floor and if theres enough space.

You achieve this dimension by measuring the top of the ceiling joists to the underside of your ridge board.

Some builders you might come across may say they can convert your loft even if it a bit smaller but please do be very careful. If you decide to take your builder up on his offer do make sure you get some sort or agreement between you both before the build commences the works.

Imagine being 3 or 4 weeks into the build and the floor and stairs have finally go in… the last thing you want to be arguing about with your builder is the new bedroom head height. He’s promised you a good head height but it ends up being 5′6″

The reason you need 2.2m or more is because once the new steels and the floor joists have gone in over the existing ceilings, the head height will easily be reduced by 150mm (approx).

Secondly you have to allow for all the new plasterboard, plaster, insulation and carpet/wood flooring etc. Taking all this into account, the total height lost in the loft will be around 180 to 200 mm.

Obversely on a 2.2m high loft a finished head height would be around 2m (6′6″) which is fine if your only 5′ tall but if someone was 6′4″ was buying your house it may be a problem for the purchaser if they cant use the loft room properly…

There are a few ways to convert your loft without having a good head height though but please do take professional advice and discuss all of your options before beginning the loft project.

A certificate of lawfulness is not a legal requirement unlike planning permission, however it is a certificate issued by your local authority saying your proposed loft conversion complys within permitted development rights. You may wish to apply for a certificate even if you do not require planning permission as this may aid the sale of your property.

An application will still need to go to the planning department, the council give an 8 week deadline to process the application. You can go online to your local authorities website and download the application forms, or alternatively you can apply via the Planning portal. You will also need to attach a copy of your drawings in PDF format. If you are applying for the Certificate yourself,your Architect/Loft company should be able to provide you with the PDF drawings, and a payment of £67.50 is required you can send this seperately in a cheque by post, or pay online by credit card.

Once your application has been received, the planning admin department will then subject it to various checks, in order to validate it. Once it has been made valid, the 8 weeks will start, and the application is passed to a case officer.

You can contact the planning department and ask for the application reference number e.g. Ref:2006/5647, and the decision date, and the case officers name and contact details.

The case officer will need to undertake a site visit in order to confirm there are no extensions to the property that have not been declared in the application,or garages or sheds within 5 metres of the property. This is because these will be included within your permitted development allowance. Many people may be more than willing to remove a garage etc in order to achieve a larger loft conversion. If this is the case the council will need to see you have removed it prior to their site visit, or preferably removed before the application is submitted to the council, this is because the case officer may not make you aware of when their site visit may be.

As long as the council are happy everything complies they will issue the Certificate, and send you a copy of this in the post for you to keep for your records, and this will also be saved in the councils planning database.

Please be aware if you are submitting the application yourself, you need to be aware that you cannot raise the ridge height within permitted development, or build on the party walls and different types of properties have different amounts of allowances they can extend until. For example a typical mid terrace has 50 cubic metres to use over the entire property of which 40 cubic metres can be used within their loft. If you have built an extension, you will need to find out the volume and deduct it from your overall allowance. You can also ask your architect to do this, as they would have taken the dimensions when undertaking the survey. Just be aware the size you will achieve in the loft maybe alot less than you had hoped, therefore it may be better to apply for planning permission. You can also search your local authorities planning database in your area and street, and see what else has been granted under planning permission to give you a better idea.