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.

A hip to gable is a type of construction that is used on most semi-detaches and end of terrace houses.

These houses usually have three slopes (ignore the velux in the front slope as it could be there just to let natural light in their dusty loft space) Unconverted. 

To maximise the loft space the ridge board is extended to the side wall and the front slope is continued and the gable is built up in either tile, render, pebble dash or brickwork (see picture)

As it’s all built in a new construction a window is normally installed for extra light. Nine times out of ten the window in the gable is normally over the stairs or new landing area but this obviously depends on the exsting house design.  

The picture below shows a gable with a port hole window installed. This house is located at the end of a street so the finish was quite important. If there was another house right next door i wouldn’t normally suggest to spend the extra money on the porthole window and just install a standerd Upvc / Sash Window. You can also see a red brick coarse around the primeter of the window which again is only worth the extra money when you get the privilege of the side of your house being on display. 

(click to enlarge)