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Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Old Jan 2nd 2013, 8:44 pm
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Default Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Hi all

One year into our US life, we're looking at buying a house in 2013. I've been busily mugging up on the US buying process, and now want to research the rules for making changes/ extensions to houses, in case we see one that would be great if only we could add an extra bedroom/ move the French doors to over there/ etc.

I'm aware that there are terms like 'building code', which I think is like UK Building Regs (ie, governs the quality of the process and materials, to ensure structural integrity so it doesn't collapse, or burst into flames from faulty wiring and so on). And I've heard of something called 'zoning', which seems to describe whether areas are residential or business.

But is there an equivalent to Planning Permission? Assuming we don't buy a house with a HOA, then are there rules to stop us extending like there are in the UK, based on square footage of the existing house/ plot, how close to a boundary line, whether we can now peer into a neighbour's bedroom?

How about if we wanted to make small but externally-visible changes, like adding extra doors or windows? I like lots of light, and figure this is an easy job since the houses are made of cardboard anyway.

Any work would be done by proper builders, so I'm not worried about the structural side of things. It's more knowing what would be possible, and how much hassle it would be legally, so we can rule various houses in or out as we look at them.

Anyone know what the rules are, or what search terms I should use? I'm failing dismally on Google at the moment, and keep getting UK sites back so I'm clearly using the wrong words.

Thanks a lot.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:08 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

I think you need to find out this information from the local council...as rules and regs can differ greatly. According to our builder our local council are a nightmare to deal with...they are very picky and everything has to be done by the book.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:10 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

One of the terms you could be thinking of is "setbacks" -- town regs may govern how close to the next house you can build, extend, etc. One town I lived in even had regulations for how close the fences could be to the property line -- you could put a decorative fence right on the line, but if it was to enclose dogs, it had to be further away, plus if wetlands were involved the fence had to be a certain distance away from the wetlands. The town sent its representative down to check every stage of our fence project to ensure we weren't breaking the rules! Where I live now, the town's response to our fence query was "Put it where you want, as long as it's on your property."

Every town has its own regs, so when you look at a property the realtor should be able to tell you what it might be possible to do on that site -- plus if you become really interested you can then go to city hall and look at the card in the assessor's office and get advice there. That way you can also ensure that there were permits pulled for any work done on the house in the past -- I've known people who had to literally remove built-on sun porches when they put the house on the market because they didn't bother getting a permit. Enjoy -- I love looking at houses!
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:16 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Originally Posted by kodokan
Hi all

One year into our US life, we're looking at buying a house in 2013. I've been busily mugging up on the US buying process, and now want to research the rules for making changes/ extensions to houses, in case we see one that would be great if only we could add an extra bedroom/ move the French doors to over there/ etc.

I'm aware that there are terms like 'building code', which I think is like UK Building Regs (ie, governs the quality of the process and materials, to ensure structural integrity so it doesn't collapse, or burst into flames from faulty wiring and so on). And I've heard of something called 'zoning', which seems to describe whether areas are residential or business.

But is there an equivalent to Planning Permission? Assuming we don't buy a house with a HOA, then are there rules to stop us extending like there are in the UK, based on square footage of the existing house/ plot, how close to a boundary line, whether we can now peer into a neighbour's bedroom?

How about if we wanted to make small but externally-visible changes, like adding extra doors or windows? I like lots of light, and figure this is an easy job since the houses are made of cardboard anyway.

Any work would be done by proper builders, so I'm not worried about the structural side of things. It's more knowing what would be possible, and how much hassle it would be legally, so we can rule various houses in or out as we look at them.

Anyone know what the rules are, or what search terms I should use? I'm failing dismally on Google at the moment, and keep getting UK sites back so I'm clearly using the wrong words.

Thanks a lot.
Are you aware that usually you have a realtor to help you buy properties. Unlike in the UK where the realtor is connected to the seller, there is usually a realtor in the US for the buyer and one for the seller.
Your realtor should be able to help you with all the local rules and regs.
In our experience we needed a building permit from the local city hall to build our second garage. We had to submit the plans and they sent someone over to check the work.
We don't have an HOA as such so that was never an issue but I know a friend who lives in a historical district and they have to have permission if they want to change the color of their house etc
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:22 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

There's going to be state, county and town rules and it'll be all different depending on your location...

Local library should be a good starting point for a guide to it all I should imagine, that and the town hall.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:36 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Search <your city> building permits.

Rene
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:48 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Just reading the few replies so far, they show it varies massively depending on where you are. We've done a couple of large-ish projects over the last couple of years, and as we're outside all city limits, in an unincorporated area of the county, we haven't had to comply with anything other than our HOA regulations, which are a piece of cake. Its kinda scarey to be honest....I like the idea of having some sort of 3rd party "oversight" so when we contracted, we had it written in that it would all comply with Houston and Harris County code, and then employed a 3rd party inspector to make sure it did.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:53 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Ditto - Your city + building permits should do it.

There will be differences are from, city to city, county to county, state to state.

Although they are not usually good for much else but their 6% commission. IF you are using a 'brand name' realtor i.e Coldwell Banker v's Mom n Pop brokers you can probably get some good information in answer to your questions from them. Might even be worth a visit to one of their lairs to see if they have any good free literature on the subject?

A quick google search revealed this. Likely not your city but the general info is worthwhile:
http://www.coldwellbanker-amador.com...s%20&%20Zoning
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:55 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Originally Posted by Noorah101
Search <your city> building permits.

Rene
Rene found you your search term.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 9:57 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Originally Posted by Yorkieabroad
Just reading the few replies so far, they show it varies massively depending on where you are. We've done a couple of large-ish projects over the last couple of years, and as we're outside all city limits, in an unincorporated area of the county, we haven't had to comply with anything other than our HOA regulations, which are a piece of cake. Its kinda scarey to be honest....I like the idea of having some sort of 3rd party "oversight" so when we contracted, we had it written in that it would all comply with Houston and Harris County code, and then employed a 3rd party inspector to make sure it did.
Aye, out where the in-laws live it's all a case of a nod and a hand shake and you're done for a permit.

Down in Boston downtown, you need to get a permit to allow your builder/plumber park on the road or if they need to work on sewage pipes and all manner of weird things.
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 10:03 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Originally Posted by Bob
Aye, out where the in-laws live it's all a case of a nod and a hand shake and you're done for a permit.

Down in Boston downtown, you need to get a permit to allow your builder/plumber park on the road or if they need to work on sewage pipes and all manner of weird things.
Now you mention it, we did need to get 1 approval from the MUD to tie in to the sewer line. A standard form reply saying yes, but it had to be on our land and our responsibility if it leaked. They never came to see what we actually did...

Brother in Law in Cupertino had all sorts of hoops to jump through - his 9 month rebuild stretched to almost 2 years, and he reckoned it was all down to his GC rubbing the permit guys up the wrong way the very first day they arrived on the job

So if you do get to the point of doing an extension (or whatever) which needs permits, make sure to keep the inspectors happy!!
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Old Jan 2nd 2013, 10:14 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Rene nailed it <my city> and building permits led me in two clicks to a whole section called 'Homeowner's Guide to Building Permits'. I'm sure it'll contain exactly what I need to know, once I've waded through the legalese. Hopefully my town will be one of those 'meh, pretty much do what you want within reason' ones.

We have a buyer's agent (came highly recommended locally, and has been excellent about email correspondence so far) and will be meeting him later this week to do initial paperwork - I just wanted to know about the building permits stuff because I'm looking at houses online, and mentally including/discounting them, so it's useful to have it in the back of my mind whether adding a guesthouse on a large plot, roofing over a courtyard, etc, is a big deal and is likely to be allowed with little bother.

Thanks all.
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Old Jan 3rd 2013, 2:11 am
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

Hi there, I'm a real estate agent (British and somehow selling houses in the U.S!...don't ask, although I have gained a lot of knowledge about building codes). Basically, as you've heard, building code regulations vary from town to town and even within towns. For instance, our village has a historic district that has different rules than the edges of village and outlying areas. There are setbacks, that prohibit building within a certain distance from boundaries of other properties, and other considerations, such as swimming pools, septic tanks, etc. (e.g, if you home is not on mains sewerage and has a septic tank, you usually have to make sure you have sufficient septic tank capacity for, say, an additional bedroom/bathroom). There may be restrictions based on lot coverage - e.g. can only build on, say, 25% of the entire lot. Some have something called a pyramid law, whereby it limits how much you can build upwards (calculated by drawing an imaginary pyramid at a certain angle from the boundary of the property lines...you can only build within the pyramid). There are also properties which are classed as being "pre-existing, non-conforming", which means they were built prior to current codes and so are able to often have work done that does not conform to current building code. So you can see there are a lot of things to consider and they will differ from place to place. You will be able to find the current code (it can change each year) from your town or village building department. It's usually a handbook or they will probably have it online on their website. It can be quite tedious to go through and you may not understand it all, so if you can befriend someone in the building department and briefly discuss what you are hoping to do, then they will be able to help you. If you are working with a good real estate agent, they will be able to advise you pretty well, although a builder/architect is best placed to offer you the best professional advice. Good luck!
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Old Jan 3rd 2013, 3:37 am
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

California has some of the most restrictive building codes in the US and local governments add even more restrictions but even with that, usually internal modifications (except for electrical wiring, structural changes, and hot water heaters) do not require permits and city approval. Windows are usually classified as external changes and usually require a permit.

However external changes almost always requires a permit with blue prints and inspections by city inspectors as progress is done (even replacing a rotten deck). What is allowed as changes to the exterior varies from city to city and even area to area within a city. For example Los Alto Hills requires a minimum of 5 acres per home and adding a guest house on those 5 acres may possibly not be allowed.

Another example occurred at the last place I lived at which was on a ridge. A builder wanted to use our private road claiming that we were not protecting the road by having a guard or gate so therefore it was a public road to build twenty 8,000-15,000 sq ft homes on the hill at the end of the ridge. The city ruled that our road was private as long as we checked cars at least once a year so from then on, we always had a guard on the road checking cars on the 4th of July. The city also opposed the project claiming that all that would be seen was a massive amount of roofs on the hillside. With the builder having to lay out about $20 million to build a bridge to get to the project from a public road and opposition from the city, the project was abandoned.

If you are using a construction company to make your external modifications, they will be required to acquire all needed permits but unless you know ahead of time what is allowed, the permits may not be able to be acquired.
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Old Jan 3rd 2013, 6:32 pm
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Default Re: Planning Permission and Building Regs - vocabulary help, please!

When you put a title on your initial post your intuition was spot on:
Vocabulary can matter when trying to navigate the rocky shoals of your local Building Department regulations. And can be tricky -> lead to confusion:
I don't know what your local municipality is - but it's that entity which will regulate what's allowed and the manner in which it must be carried out. Contrary to what others have advised - Googling "building permits" for your municipality - will, I believe, get you nowhere!
For example - in Los Angeles - where I live - it's the specific provisions and ordinances spelled out (in excruciating detail) in the "City of Los Angeles Planning and Zoning Code" - which govern what is and is not allowed. Based on those ordinances - the LA Dept. of Building & Safety determines whether or not to issue Permits for proposed construction work (including grading, demolition, alterations, new construction, bringing property "up to code", etc) - and, if they do, the conditions which must be satisfied so that the work is carried out according "to code" - in order for "Certificates of Occupancy" to be issued upon completion of your project.
Unlike others who have replied previously - I would NEVER rely upon a realtor for the guidance/advice you will need.
What would I do in your circumstances? As has been suggested previously - see if you can download a copy of your municipality Planning &Zoning Code. If not, your local library should have it.
It would also be great if you had a local, experienced builder (General Contractor) who would be willing to take a look at the house(s) you're considering. He'd be in a position to at least give a professional assessment as to the feasibility and cost of the changes you'd want to make. Of course - this is tricky....ie: can you trust his advice - he would have a potential vested interest - which might ($$$$$$) be in conflict with your own. Still - you could pick his brains - for what they're worth......
It's scary - but EXCITING!!! Keep us posted./....
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