Home Owners In England Permitted To Add Two Extra Floors

[M II A II R II K]

Home Owners In England Permitted To Add Two Extra Floors


21 July 2020

By Roger Harrabin

Read More: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53492191

Home owners will soon be able to add an extra two floors to their houses without needing full planning permission. And developers will be able to knock down unused commercial premises and build residential units. The government said the new rules would prompt people to build more bedrooms or flats for elderly relatives, and create additional apartments.

- This restricts the powers of local councils to prevent development going ahead. The councils are appalled, saying the deregulation does not allow local people a proper say in the way their area looks. But the government says it will mean redundant space can be quickly re-purposed to revive High Streets and town centres. It adds that if householders want to build upwards they’ll have to carefully consider the impact on neighbours and the appearance of the extension. --- Speaking about Tuesday’s further deregulation, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “We are cutting out unnecessary bureaucracy to give small business owners the freedom they need to adapt and evolve, and to renew our town centres with new enterprises and more housing. “These changes will help transform boarded-up buildings safely into high quality homes at the heart of their communities. “It will mean that families can provide much-needed additional space for children or elderly relatives as their household grows,” he said.

- The government believes the planning system is a block on economic growth, but some councils say their planning systems can't cope because the government has stripped so much of their funding. Local Government Association housing spokesman David Renard, said: “The planning system is not a barrier to housebuilding with nine in 10 planning applications approved by councils. . Neighbours have the right to comment on a development and "should not be exposed to the potential of unsightly large-scale unsuitable extensions being built unchallenged and without scrutiny in their communities,” he said. --- Mr Renard added: “It risks giving developers the freedom to ride roughshod over local areas with communities having no way of ensuring they meet high quality standards, provide any affordable homes or ensure roads, schools and health services are in place.”

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[Yuri]

England is a very dense and fast-growing population country, without any super dense urban clusters. They really need to add more homes quickly to make things affordable. I think it's a nice measure.

[Crawford]

This sounds like it would make England less affordable, and promote decreased housing mobility.

If everyone in Brooklyn were allowed to add two floors to their brownstones, as-of-right, that would create huge new wealth, but concentrated in a small class of homeowner. It would also decrease mobility since you could just add space to your existing residence rather than moving.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

This sounds like it would make England less affordable, and promote decreased housing mobility.

If everyone in Brooklyn were allowed to add two floors to their brownstones, as-of-right, that would create huge new wealth, but concentrated in a small class of homeowner. It would also decrease mobility since you could just add space to your existing residence rather than moving.

Neighborhoods where homeowners were in a position to add a couple of floors are probably already well beyond the reach of most people. We are spending $50k to redo a couple of bathrooms, I can only imagine how much it would cost to add two floors to a brownstone.

[Rational Plan3]

Originally Posted by Crawford

This sounds like it would make England less affordable, and promote decreased housing mobility.

If everyone in Brooklyn were allowed to add two floors to their brownstones, as-of-right, that would create huge new wealth, but concentrated in a small class of homeowner. It would also decrease mobility since you could just add space to your existing residence rather than moving.

Tax's on house purchases are very high in the UK, which already encourages people to extend existing homes rather than move.

[Rational Plan3]

Originally Posted by JManc

Neighborhoods where homeowners were in a position to add a couple of floors are probably already well beyond the reach of most people. We are spending $50k to redo a couple of bathrooms, I can only imagine how much it would cost to add two floors to a brownstone.

Right to light laws will prevent anything too egregious here, but you don't need the money to do this yourself, you can just sell to a property developer, who could knock down a house to build a small block of flats.

[M II A II R II K]

I suppose it’s easier to build backwards into the garden instead.

[ardecila]

Isn't this basically just the UK version of an ADU law?

A typical UK terraced or semi-detached neighborhood doesn't really have the space to add coach houses in the yard, so you've gotta go up.

As such, I expect a lot of the construction that occurs under this law will not be to turn compact houses into mansions, but to add a rental unit (or two) to an existing single-family home.

Originally Posted by JManc

Neighborhoods where homeowners were in a position to add a couple of floors are probably already well beyond the reach of most people. We are spending $50k to redo a couple of bathrooms, I can only imagine how much it would cost to add two floors to a brownstone.

If the added space is rented out as a separate apartment/flat, that income can be used to secure a loan for the construction, assuming the financial industry is cooperative. If the financing tools are available, then there's no reason to think this will be limited to rich people only.

Banks lending on a bedsit (instead of a full apartment) is probably a stretch, but that would lend itself nicely to a "de-conversion" to a large single-family home in the future.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Crawford

This sounds like it would make England less affordable, and promote decreased housing mobility.

If everyone in Brooklyn were allowed to add two floors to their brownstones, as-of-right, that would create huge new wealth, but concentrated in a small class of homeowner. It would also decrease mobility since you could just add space to your existing residence rather than moving.

This won’t be allowed for any grade-listed buildings, or those in conservation areas, which would exclude anything equivalent to a Brooklyn brownstone. It means being able to add square footage to hideous postwar houses in the suburbs.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Neighborhoods where homeowners were in a position to add a couple of floors are probably already well beyond the reach of most people. We are spending $50k to redo a couple of bathrooms, I can only imagine how much it would cost to add two floors to a brownstone.

I'm imagining adding two floors to a 16th century half-timber.

[MolsonExport]

Is the UK population (and the share of that growth occurring in London) growing much slower now with Brexit? I suppose that with COVID, it is too early to draw any conclusions.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Is the UK population (and the share of that growth occurring in London) growing much slower now with Brexit? I suppose that with COVID, it is too early to draw any conclusions.

It's pretty much about the same thing, which is a high level of immigration. EU migration had dropped but it was mostly covered by an all-time high non-EU migration.

Natural growth is getting smaller, with a drop on the TFR as it's happening everywhere in the developed world.

In short, pressure over England, and specially London, is still high.

[10023]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Is the UK population (and the share of that growth occurring in London) growing much slower now with Brexit? I suppose that with COVID, it is too early to draw any conclusions.

There will still be immigration, but from different (and perhaps less desirable from a cultural standpoint) countries.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I'm imagining adding two floors to a 16th century half-timber.

Keeping imagining it because it would never be allowed to happen.

[Centropolis]

i’m moving into 10023s new 5th floor and having 1950s marxist reading club beatnik parties just guzzling cheap jugs of red wine, marihuana skunk smoke hot box ass room, and red sauce all over checkered tablecloths. stamping on the floor to music jazz.

[nito]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Is the UK population (and the share of that growth occurring in London) growing much slower now with Brexit? I suppose that with COVID, it is too early to draw any conclusions.

As per the latest release from the Office of National Statistics, the mid-2019 growth was 361,257, which is down on the 5-year average of 440,011, but the 23rd best year post-WW2. Ignoring Covid-19 for a moment, the current situation is one of declining EU migration but booming non-EU migration, a falling birth rate and increased number of deaths.

Even if there was no population growth, there has been a sustained period of failing to deliver an adequate number of homes to match demand, as well as a mismatch to deliver by occupancy size (e.g. homes for families). Factor in astronomical housing costs and the associated costs to move, enabling homeowners to extend upwards is a reasonably quick and cheap way to deliver more occupancy space without massive development or infrastructure works. The longer-term fix of course is a massive house-building program delivering some 400,000 new units per annum to meet current demand and work on the backlog of the past few decades.