Are planning consents required to add a pool or tennis court?
Sponsored feature | Simon Cooper, partner, HCR Hewitsons
One of the key themes in the housing market in recent times has been the move from city living to larger and more characterful properties in the country. At the upper end of the market, houses will often be marketed with the benefit of extra ‘luxury’ features and increasingly we are asked to investigate what consents might be required for such additions.
With the weather turning cooler, it would be a hardy soul that takes to their outdoor swimming pool at the moment, but there are several lovely homes on the market in the county at the moment that include one. The addition of an outdoor pool is usually considered a garden project and so planning permission is often not required. Adding an accompanying new building to house the pool, a ‘pool hall’, may be considered permitted development and not need specific permission either, though this would depend on size and location, etc.
You also need to consider whether any additional certificates are needed for the associated plant eg any additional gas boiler that might heat the water.
Perhaps, requiring less maintenance than a pool, adding a tennis court is another popular option. Planning permission is unlikely to be required to install a court in your garden, albeit there are general restrictions on laying non-permeable hard surfaces at the front of properties.
At the rear of the house, allowing you to practise your forehand away from the public gaze, a court should not occupy over 50 per cent of the garden, otherwise permission may be required. The dimensions of a tennis court have not changed since 1875 and you will need to budget for a space in the region of 120 feet by 60 feet, so your garden must be at least double that size.
Permission may also be required for adding high fencing (whether or not this is necessary may depend on your standard of play!) or - for late-night matches - floodlights. If you live in a listed building, a national park or area of outstanding natural beauty, you may need specific permission. In any event, it is always worth checking with the local authority before committing yourself to expense as, depending where you live, the ordinary ‘permitted development’ rights may have been altered.
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Finally, it seems that energy efficient technologies (perhaps ‘fuelled’ by the energy crisis) have become a real marketing feature this year. My team routinely come across properties to which solar panels, air or ground source heat pumps, biomass stoves/boilers and other renewable alternatives to gas and oil have been added.
In each case, a seller should be able to produce documentation relating to the original installation, which may be under guarantee and in some cases could be accompanied by a transferrable ongoing financial benefit.
For more information, contact Simon Cooper on 01223 447410 07584 015574 or scooper@hcrlaw.com.
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