Owning your own home

Anyone know about permitted development in respect to chance of use? Or know someone that does?

Yes, a bit. What are the details?

This building is for sale. It was built as a Drill Hall for air force cadets, if I check the business rates site it's "Special category code 999G" but under the new use classes I have to assume it'll be classed as F2.

At what point does it's use class become defined? Is it now? Can I check it somewhere?

How likely are Hackney Council to grant change of use from F2 to light industrial & residential (my live work dream)?

As a householder/non-commercial you should be able to speak to a duty planner at the council for free - it's not really specific advice but can be useful. You can pay to make a pre-app for more specific advice, although it's not binding. Might just be worth the free phone call though.

Will ask solicitor, not entirely sure if I am honest. It is in a conservation area so need PP to do anything, though that may be just external stuff e.g. windows.

The stained glass window and extraction (bathroom/kitchen) could be a problem too. With the window, it needs work which may be more expensive than I thought, if even possible to change it. And then the only extraction/ventilation in the bathroom and kitchen is too little vents in the glass. The boiler has a flue goes out of the external wall, which they managed either without permission.

Not sure what the solution is to the stained window and how to fit extractors. Will chat to solicitor and other flats. Surveyor was saying that is one of the problems converting a house to flats. In the original floorplan, where the stained glass window is would have been a hallway so would have been fine.

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think the solicitor did raise that in their enquiries so we shall see

I spent 10 years in a flat with no fan in the bathroom and no fan in the kitchen.

Bathroom I just opened the window and closed the door after a shower. Kitchen was occasionally annoying when frying stuff but again just shut the door and opened the window.

I’m not sure that is covered by PD. Could be a full planning job. Looking at the site, I imagine it’s expected to be developed anyway so the planning department are likely to be positive to a change to residential. You could speak to the planning department but they may be slow and unhelpful - or pay a fee and speak to a specialist

Not sure what the solution is to the stained window and how to fit extractors

Seems like

i. fix up stained glass window (£££)
ii. fit extractors through wall (££)

Fixing up the window will be painful. You'll have to find someone who can do it, and then suck up what seems like a hefty fee to get it done. Pray it can all be done from the inside without scaffolding. That said, do you own the window, are you responsible for it in the terms of the lease? All of it will cost you, but you get a nice window at the end.

Extractors would practically be quite easy - you SDS smash a hole in the wall to the outside, fit a duct, stick the unit on the wall, chase a power source and sensor / timer to the unit, make good. All doable from the inside but the hole on the outside could be messy and needing made good (scaffolding again or cherry picker or something £££) or covered with a visually awful cowling that might be disallowed because conservation area. Again, you probably don't own the walls so you'd need permission or have it done as some wider improvement works project.

Dehumidifiers are like £200...

Kitchen was occasionally annoying when frying stuff but again just shut the door and opened the window.

As long you don’t have open self, sticky town, here we go!

Don't want to fix the window and then not have ventilation. And if i stick with that window, it isn't even going to open properly. Might have to ditch the window it and fit a normal sash, which can be opened when I shower.

Doing a hole in the wall isn't really possible if I move the shower where I was planning to, because that wall is shared with next door. It could be at the other end of the bathroom though.

Kitchen (@aggi also) - I think you can get self-circulating extractor fans these days so no need to drill out. That window will also definitely open so less of an issue.

Cheers for the advice btw

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Self circulating extractors are pretty good, though mostly for smell and grease extraction. Opening windows is a must.

I just installed an extractor hood where the recommended ducting is 200mm!
We’ve reduced down to 150mm solid plastic ducting, and then converted to 220mm rectangular ducting on the ceiling of the garage. Double wall brick with adapter and butterfly valve in one of the connectors.

Took builders almost a day to do it, as well as cutting bricks out, mortaring the air bricks in etc. Quite involved work.

I think you can get self-circulating extractor fans these days so no need to drill out.

If it’s possible to get it outside, great, if no way/too expensive, stick with self circulating.

They’re not that good compare to a proper extractor fan (our come with self circulating, which barely cope).

200mm ducting to outside?
Current setup is so shit

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Thanks Ed will do

Moving day for us today. Impatiently waiting for keys!

Transfer of equity to partner: full shared ownership, or equal half-and-half shares?

Apples, oranges

Probably the wrong idiom but meh.

Chatted to a person on the phone at Hackney, who seemed as clueless as me, but gave me someone's email to ask...

Went for flatter ducting so that it’s easier to box in later if I wanted.

Couldn’t run it right in the corner of the wall because there is a plate for the steel beam, knocking out bricks close to it didn’t seem wise.

Extractor is Max 1350m³/hr so needed larger than normal ducting.

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We may have to do the same in our as the hob is away from the wall.

Also floor time!

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Rogers rather than Eames but i diverge.
A nice find ! this should attract a lot of interest from small developpers.

Is the hob on an island?

A ceiling extractor and ducting in your ceiling makes sense, though it’s a fairly messy job, cutting and repairing plasterboard, etc.
You can have it recirculating but you would still need power to it.

Embedded counter extractors are fancy, but expensive, and obliterate under hob storage/drawer space.

The ducting would have been a much more complex job if the hob and extractor didn’t share a wall with my garage.

The previous work were very much bodged! They cut the wood to access central heating and just screw in a piece of wood on both side of the suspend timber to hold it (!!).

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