23-02-2014, 03:29 PM
1
The insanity that resides within Council Offices!
Our friends are in a council bungalow and during all the heavy rain they had the same problem with water ingress under the front door as we had.Most of the bungalows in their location have, over the years, had the outside boxed-in with brick and wooden windows so they now have a sort of annex and the original front door is now through the outer door, which many have also installed good locks on as increased security.
The Council sent someone around and he informed them that yes, they'll replace the front door but they mean the original front door, which isn't actually causing problems.
Our friends said all they want is a new door on the outer section but the Council man said it wasn't down to the Council to pay for that.
Our friends then said we wanted to get the thing refurbished to sort out the water ingress problem so, OK, we'll just have to pay for that door ourselves then.
The Council man says No, you can't do that without Council permission as it's Council Property and I will not give permission here and now for that reason.
You will need to submit a Planning Application, complete with drawings to the Planning Portal then await approval - this could take up to 12 months and still may be refused in my opinion on the grounds that it is not in keeping with the rest of the properties.
If anything, what they want to do will in fact bring the property far closer in keeping with the bungalows either side of them as they both have these "extensions" and it'll smarten-up the exterior AND solve the water ingress problem for them but Council man says No and our friends feel he will block it! stevmk2
23-02-2014, 03:36 PM
2
Re: The insanity that resides within Council Offices!
Sounds like here we asked if we could change our bathroom when my mum was here as she couldn't manage the bath and needed a shower, no way would they let us do it. Consequently she had to be taken to hospital out patients every week for a bath and hair wash.When I stopped being able to manage the bath my husband just didn't ask and we changed our bath for a shower. Problem solved cost NHS and council nothing.
Now 5 years later I see they are changing bathrooms into shower rooms for anyone who needs them.
What changed in that time ?
23-02-2014, 03:38 PM
3
Re: The insanity that resides within Council Offices!
Suppose said man has to justify his existence! What a farce....we had a new window put in and cost more cos we had to have a FENSA installer otherwise the council could come along and make us remove it if it doesn't meet their requirements, we only changed like for like!Good luck to your friends with the council jobsworths, they'll string it out as long as they can, give 'em something to do.
24-02-2014, 12:23 PM
4
Re: The insanity that resides within Council Offices!
Originally Posted by stevmk2
->
Our friends are in a council bungalow and during all the heavy rain they had the same problem with water ingress under the front door as we had.Most of the bungalows in their location have, over the years, had the outside boxed-in with brick and wooden windows so they now have a sort of annex and the original front door is now through the outer door, which many have also installed good locks on as increased security.
The Council sent someone around and he informed them that yes, they'll replace the front door but they mean the original front door, which isn't actually causing problems.
Our friends said all they want is a new door on the outer section but the Council man said it wasn't down to the Council to pay for that.
Our friends then said we wanted to get the thing refurbished to sort out the water ingress problem so, OK, we'll just have to pay for that door ourselves then.
The Council man says No, you can't do that without Council permission as it's Council Property and I will not give permission here and now for that reason.
You will need to submit a Planning Application, complete with drawings to the Planning Portal then await approval - this could take up to 12 months and still may be refused in my opinion on the grounds that it is not in keeping with the rest of the properties.
If anything, what they want to do will in fact bring the property far closer in keeping with the bungalows either side of them as they both have these "extensions" and it'll smarten-up the exterior AND solve the water ingress problem for them but Council man says No and our friends feel he will block it! stevmk2
Sodding Council bureaucrats!!! - I'd lodge a formal complaint against this man with the Council's Chief Executive matey.
02-03-2014, 03:28 PM
5
Re: The insanity that resides within Council Offices!
Found out yesterday that our friends in their council bungalow had workmen turn up in the week to rip out the old front door and put a new one in.All very nice but still doesn't solve the leaky outer door problem!
They've had a contractor in that has done work for the council in the past and he's quoting them for that outer door and tidying-up the whole porch area that the council says they'll not get permission for!
The point for our friends is that this porch was added by previous tenants and before they moved in the council tarted that up a bit but didn't replace the original front door, but they didn't do enough to stop the water ingress plaguing them recently!
Their neighbours have said just do it yourself and don't bother getting permission because nothing structural is actually going up!
All they'll be doing is what the asked the council to do in the first place.
They're planning this for next Friday / Saturday!! stevmk2
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