Green Building Forum - Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

CWatters — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:46:15 +0100

I guess one thing to watch out for is "nuisance". If your panels were to reflect sunlight into their house or garden in such a way that it could be said to be a legal nuisance then they might be able to get you to remove them even if you have planning permission. I think this is very unlikely though.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

seanie — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:48:15 +0100

And if your panels are reflecting sunlight into his house or garden there's something seriously wrong with your installation.

Counter-sue for emotional distress due to unreasonable demands for money.

I reckon Â£100K should cover it.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

DamonHD — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:59:02 +0100

A very famous story about Private Eye springs to mind (quote from Wikipedia):

An unlikely piece of British legal history occurred in the case Arkell v. Pressdram (1971). The plaintiff was the subject of an article relating to illicit payments, and the magazine had ample evidence to back up the article. Arkell's lawyers wrote a letter which concluded: "His attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of your reply". The magazine's response was, in full: "We acknowledge your letter of 29th April referring to Mr J. Arkell. We note that Mr Arkell's attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off."

Rgds

Damon

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Gavin_A — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:31:05 +0100

1 - invite them round for a cup of tea and try the civil approach.
2 - if this doesn't work, point out that there's a recession on, the bottom's fallen out of the housing market, and that this is a much more likely cause of any drop in value of their house than you installing solar panels, so maybe they might want to try suing 'the man' instead for causing the recession.
3 - If all else fails, point them in the direction of the relevant regulations and point out that if they did take you to court that the most likely result would be that they would be left having to cover your legal costs because you are so obviously within your rights to have installed these panels.

that's presuming that your installer hasn't bodged it and made your roof look like an angry kid's chucked his mechano at it in disgust of course... a photo would really help tbh.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

CWatters — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:50:07 +0100

Posted By: seanieAnd if your panels are reflecting sunlight into his house or garden there's something seriously wrong with your installation.

Seems to be rare but it does happen and some of the installations don't look obviously wrong....

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Going-Green-Makes-Neighbors-Go-Blind-101009229.html

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-balboa-solar-panels,0,4134832.story

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

SteamyTea — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:38:57 +0100

How big is their mortgage? sounds like the repo man is knocking at their door. They will not be there long.

Have they actually had a solicitor contact you yet?

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Dominic Cooney — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:21:28 +0100

Tell him that living near people like him is seriously affecting your property value.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

DamonHD — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:54:49 +0100

Here's another word for you: "barratry".

Rgds

Damon

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

ted — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:40:46 +0100

Tell him he can get the Â£50k back by simply installing some PV on his roof.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

SteamyTea — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:35:50 +0100

Good move Ted

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

veckie — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:04:11 +0100

Just to let you know that these neighbours have jsut had PV installed onto their roof.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Ed Davies — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:09:09 +0100

But do tell us if anything else happened with the planners, etc.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Nick Parsons — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:23:50 +0100

And have you pointed out that, had they done so last year, they'd have got more than twice the income?

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Gavin_A — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 19:16:47 +0100

but paid not far off twice as much for it.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Nick Parsons — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 20:49:20 +0100

At the end of last year? Wasn't 4kW down to about Â£10 - 11,000 then?

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

Gavin_A — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:12:47 +0100

yep, and Â£6-6.5k now at the bottom end.

The ones who made the best returns are those who managed to buy in February after the big round of price reductions to reflect the 21p rate, but actually got 43.3p due to government's illegal actions in October-Dec. Some of those returns are ridiculously high.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

djh — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:30:35 +0100

Posted By: Gavin_AThe ones who made the best returns are those who managed to buy in February after the big round of price reductions to reflect the 21p rate

Something's wrong with the market if a change in the subsidy affects the price!

Somebody in the supply chain is collecting monopolistic rents. Who is it? Manufacturers, distributors, installers?

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

SteamyTea — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 15:47:51 +0100

Posted By: djhSomething's wrong with the market if a change in the subsidy affects the price!

Or in the buyers mind. Is it that the general public do not understand what an investment actually is, compared to a speculation.
You invest in the PV kit because you speculate on the rate of return that is affected (or is it effected) by the future cost of energy, property values, inflation (or deflation), bank/saving rates, how long you will live/stay in property etc.

Permitted Dev Rights vs Planning permission for Solar PV

djh — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:16:07 +0100

Posted By: SteamyTeaOr in the buyers mind.

No, you just described how the sellers extort the monopoly rents.