# Trying to get house completion/objecting to planning



## shulgin1000 (26 Sep 2005)

A bit long-winded..but bear with me!


Background
 I will be completing the purchase of a house in the coming weeks (?).  Everyone else on my phase of the development has signed but I won't sign till the house is actually completed (they still have fencing to do) - and thats before we even get to snagging - and theres going to be plenty of fun and games there given what i have seen. In addition, I am going to have to force my builder to tile (as contracted) having politely asked on three occassions - only to be told that 'everyone has taken the allowance (€600) and arranged their own tiling'.  If I wanted to go self-build, I would have and i'd be out of pocket anyways - so i wont settle.
 I told the builder i would snag when they finish the fencing - a couple of weeks later and its still not done (it would take 1 workman 2 days max) - so i'm getting the feeling that theyre waiting me out. 
 Now my circumstances are such that unlike most, I can afford to wait for the most part if needs be ie. I would rather wait and get a house signed over as contracted rather than have the builders get one over me. The other side of that is theres no completion date on the contract - so theres going to be some limit as to how long i'd be prepared to wait if it came to that.

 They have most of the cash (stage payments) but theres still a fair wedge left yet - and I know that I have some power up until the point i hand over the readies.  I'm gearing up for trouble in advance of the snagging - as the workmanship is horrendous.
 I'm looking for any other leverage I can find to bring about completion as contracted - which leads me to the following;

Objecting to a Planning Application
 Before I initially signed contracts - about 12 months ago - the developer told me that there would be no further traffic through the development i was buying into ie. any further phases would have seperate access from the public road. This was not stipulated in the contract.  I recently discovered that the builder submitted an application for planning in July for the next phase - with access through my estate.

 There are legit claims that any further phases should have seperate access as theres a tight 90* turn coming into the current phase. However, if I am having problems with completion in a couple of weeks (as anticipated), could I slip in an objection to their next phase (totally unrelated of course)?  Would it be too late to do so given that the application went in over two months ago (currently has a status of 'further info required')?
 If this is possible, how much would this cost me?
 It is clear to me that the contractor wants to timetable works so that he can move his crew on to the next phase immediately after finishing the current.  The threat of a delay might help my cause.


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## efm (27 Sep 2005)

Right,

So what you are asking is :

Are you within the time limit to lodge an objection to a request for planning permission? 

- If the stage is "further info required" then you are too late - you will not be able to lodge an objection.  The only possibility is if the planners feel that any changes / clarifications in the further information submitted by the builder constitute a "significant" change to the original submission, the planning office will stipulate that the planning be "re-advertised" - if this happens further objections can be lodged. - The cost of lodging an objection is €25 or €50 I think


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## shulgin1000 (27 Sep 2005)

efm said:
			
		

> Right,
> 
> So what you are asking is :
> 
> ...


They have been asked to submit a revised site layout plan showing a greater mix of house types (they were trying to bung in 3bed semi's only).  I wonder would that be likely to require them to re-advertise?


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## efm (27 Sep 2005)

I don't know enough about the inner workings of planing departments to know what constitutes a "significant" change, and I would assume that each planning officer is different.  However, at a guess I would say it is possible that this would be a significant change.

You could try ringing the planning office to see - try and talk to the specific planning officer if possible - don't know how easy this is!


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## shulgin1000 (3 Oct 2005)

Thanks for the info efm.  I will keep a watch on the planning status.  Hopefully it wont come to that but lets see..


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