Singing Pig

Thanks Nigel.

It's always nice to hear that one's efforts are appreciated.

It's always difficult with a large audience because you either pitch it too low and get a response of "everyone knows THAT" or else pitch it too high and get "He's assuming we all know what HE knows", but I thought we'd stick to the basics to begin with at least.

Even knowing the basics can make the difference between making a lot of money and losing a lot !

To anyone considering starting out in Land and Development, I would recommend the 'The Land Profits System' course.

Its pitched at the right level for a beginner with lots of useful practical information.

See my review here:
http://www.singingpig.co.uk/forums/thread/279234.aspx 

Barn Conversions

I have been asked to post a few points about winning planning permission for conversion of barns and other rural buildings.

This was a great wheeze at one time, and a way of getting a large and very nice house of character in a rural area where you would normally stand no chance of gaining permission to build a new one.

National planning policies were even clear that permission for conversion of such buildings to a number of alternative uses, including individual homes, "should not normally be refused" ! (Yes, it was that clear, and it was an absolute Godsend if you had to appeal against a refusal. Here was the government telling planning authorities they should not normally refuse permission. So if the planners did so, they had to JUSTIFY doing it, rather than the applicant having to justify his proposal !)

Unfortunately, this Happy Planningland ceased in the early 1990's when a new issue of the government's guidance purposively OMITTED individual dwellings from the list of building conversions that "should not normally be refused".

All the other stuff was left in - offices, craft centres, storage facilities, distribution centres, you name it ..... but NOT individual dwellings. There was a good reason for this, to be honest. The planning authority's reasons for giving permission for a barn conversion centred on retaining, as part of the street scene, a building which had formed part of that street scene for perhaps three hundred years or more.

BUT ... as soon as you put doors, windows, chimneys, tv aerials etc into the barn, it was no longer the building that formed part of the street scene. And then, when its surrounding land was turned into a residential curtilage with car parking, dustbins, linen lines etc, that was the the final kiss of death to the barn that once was. Now it was something more resembling a house!

It is sometimes still possible to win permission for residential conversion. You need to check the local planning policies carefully to see whether they permit it and, if so, in what particular circumstances. (e.g. if the barn is on the edge of a settlement area and has dwellings either side, residential conversion might be more appropriate than a noisy commercial use.)

But it is by no means as easy as it once was to win permission for residential conversion of a barn.

But that also means that, if you can win permission for one, it will be a lot more valuable as a consequence of the interaction of limited supply and very healthy demand. It is by no means unusual to see a barn for conversion up for sale at £300,000 - and that is BEFORE the money is added to turn it into a house.

Well I always knew it was only a matter of time, bit like those on ebay who buy loads of cheap items to get their feedback score up, 100 posts, everyone's friend and we're away... shame cos I was really enjoying the tutorials but now it's turned to something that really belongs in the announcements forum.. having said all that it's given me a great idea for anyone interested  

1. Let's look for some planning applications that have been refused so that we can find the one's worthy of an appeal, pass them on and make lots of money. Do a google search for "planning applications"+decided+refuse  for your local area (or any other area for that matter).

2. Familiarise yourself with how the LA applications, decisions etc are presented online, assuming you've not looked at this type of stuff before but are semi familiar with searching/browsing you should have this licked within half an hour or so (absolutely no planning knowledge required either).

3. With some authorities all applications that have been "refused" can be collated in a single search argument, with some others you'll have to click to open each application before you can see the result so it can be cumbersome if you have a lot to do at once. Get to doing this on a weekly basis (some are updated weekly, others daily. others no set time) and it may take approx 30-60mins for a decent sized area. So lets call it 1 hour per week browsing.  

4. Compose a mailmerge letter. As with all direct mail you'd have to be sure it's composed correctly and gives the right message so some thought needs to go into this. Send this letter directly to the named applicant (ignore the agent) on every application that has been refused. I can supply a really nice letter for every £20 cheque I receive made payable to "Neonatal Unit Heart of England NHS Trust (Reg No: 1052330). 

5. It's really a numbers game. If you send enough out then you'll get a response. If you had the time you could sit at your pc all day and do it all around the country..unless you could find someone else daft enough to do it for you?..maybe you could even get them to pay you!!

6. This is a method (and not the only method) of collating leads for planning appeals. Now you'd need someone with the skills to be able to identify the viable one's and we're onto the next stage... all I'm saying here is you don't need to pay ANYONE over £1,500 (inc 12 months "support") to simply put leads in front of them. YOU get the leads and make THEM pay YOU.

And to all you RDPD believers..who's the poor dad here?  GB

ps  I always thought ".org.uk" indicated a not-for profit organisation but I must obviously be mistaken.

" I always thought ".org.uk" indicated a not-for profit organisation but I must obviously be mistaken."

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Well, yes, it seems that you do have an infinite capacity to be mistaken about almost everything really, doesn't it ?

(Following your sudden disappearance and going to ground, I'm still awaiting your apology for falsely claiming that I have 'wound up two companies on the trot', incidentally. But I'm not holding my breath.)

For your information, knowall, approaching people who have been refused planning permission is one of the LEAST effective ways of generating appeal work.

As I have told you before, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

"He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool."

Sorry must've got confused when I googled ".org.uk" and found page after page of voluntary organisations, charities etc. Must admit it's a good way to give a certain type of impression when choosing a second-level domain as it might give the browser a feeling of trust...still I suppose they're all always asking for money so there is that in common I suppose. I've noted that one down in my little book of useful scams in case my "little knowledge" ever lets me down or my "least effective" method ever dries up 

"sudden disappearance and going to ground"?  -  don't remember ever doing that?,  come on mate let's have the next couple of instalments of planning law then I promise I wont pi$$ on your fire again..well at least not until the next upsell comes xxx  

There are no rules that I am aware of concerning the use of org.uk, or else my web consultant would not have selected it and suggested it.

To anyone but a dimwit it is blatantly obvious that the LPA website is a commercial site.

But you are clearly very young and naive, and I really don't want to waste my time discussing anything further with you GB. You clearly have so many chips on your shoulder that you ought to start a takeaway food shop.

And you repeatedly make yourself look silly.

You've just qualified for my Ignore list. (Congratulations - That list is so exclusive that it's currently a list of one.)

P.S. And for the avoidance of doubt, I am not your "mate".