no external modifications

[OctopusPrime]

So, i am moving house in two weeks.

I currently live in a flat in peckham SE London and we are moving to a nice 3 bed house in Surrey. I would love to move further but most of my work clients are in SE London.
Its a really nice house and i plan on doing a lot of work to it... however, we are not allowed to make any external modifications to the house or garage, apparantly all the houses in the area must look the same *yawn* boring

So the fact that i really wanted some photovoltaic panels on our roof is out of the question for now... the only option i have is to buy them, get everything ready for them to just be hooked up in a crisis. But thats a huge waste of money as i could be saving a bit of cash in the meentime.

Or i could somehow put them in the garden where they cannot be seen by the boring people

[Briggs]

How about a shed roof?

Better still, how about a more secure flat-pack shipping/storage container. I'm trying to convince Mrs Briggs we need at least three of them. I figure if I 'apply' for 3, I may get approval for one

http://www.mk-containers.co.uk/expandastore.htm

[unsure]

i`d be inclined to go and have another mooch about , they may have them on the back of the house roof , well depending on which way the roof faces .

[poppypiesdad]

as unsure said, failing that have you thought a bout ground mounts for the panels , takes up valuable garden space or what about PV roof tiles , extremely expensive but might be worth a try

J

[PreppingPingu]

So, i am moving house in two weeks.

I currently live in a flat in peckham SE London and we are moving to a nice 3 bed house in Surrey. I would love to move further but most of my work clients are in SE London.
Its a really nice house and i plan on doing a lot of work to it... however, we are not allowed to make any external modifications to the house or garage, apparantly all the houses in the area must look the same *yawn* boring

So the fact that i really wanted some photovoltaic panels on our roof is out of the question for now... the only option i have is to buy them, get everything ready for them to just be hooked up in a crisis. But thats a huge waste of money as i could be saving a bit of cash in the meentime.

Or i could somehow put them in the garden where they cannot be seen by the boring people

Sounds a bit like our road! A lot of roads are now being built as private roads, so the council doesn't have to maintain the lighting and surfaces. A property management company oversees stuff for everyone living in the road. It does mean however these private roads/small estates are set up as companies and seem to come with a whole host of legally binding rules *sigh*. It drives me mental that everything has to look the same, but having said that at least in our road we managed to get ability to change our windows to upvc frames as the current wood ones are 30 years old and the double glazing is very thin - not up to today's standards. (T he back door of the property wasn't even double glazed!) In order to change things you have to get a proportion of the residents to agree at the annual meetings. (Often these roads, like ours, mean everyone who lives there is a shareholder for a nominal £1 and so changes can sometimes be made but its like a real pain in the butt to get anything through! Do persevere though. I mounted my satellite dish on a retaining wall in my back garden when we first moved in, so I would imagine that for solar panels you would be able to do the same. Chat to other residents on the road and also look and see how many properties have actually stuck a conservatory on the back. Again in our road, way back when, a few properties were allowed to add a conservatory on, so when one of our neighbours recently got all grumpy about his neighbour sticking a conservatory up, he didn't have a leg to stand on and the "directors" ( I use the term loosely) of the road agreed to the conservatory going ahead. I know it all sounds a bit anal - trust me I know - I have ended up having to be one of those "directors" in our road but there may be ways round some issues. Good luck

[OctopusPrime]

It is boring how everything must look exactly the same, would be nice if people were free to do what they wanted with their properties... Though I guess there are some complete dipshits out there that would do something crazy

Anyway. I will look into pv tiles but I very much doubt I have the budget

As for the meetings, I've met the head of the "committee", nice guy but old and stubborn... I can only ask and push the benefits of PV to him.

What about mounting them to a wall low down? I will have to see if the sunlight actually hits the spot in thinking of.

As for a shed roof... Well the garden isn't that large 5mx12m and I really don't need any more storage.

[bettersafethansorry]

near me has the asme but its only the road side of the house i can put up solars on the rear... is this not that same?

M

[KrisWard]

Just wanted to say here, I was a Property Lawyer for 10 years until the housing market crashed. However to the point I wanted to make, the solicitors who dealt with your sale, should have included a report (basically a manual of do's and dont's), this should list what you are able to change/build/alter etc within the standard remit of the athorised agent/authority. Just give it a quick read, and should provide you with a wealth of answers.

Dont just make the changes/alterations/build etc as this may lead to action/fines and even alienation which may make further changes impossible.

If you get stuck on anything in the report drop me a pm, and will see if I can help.

Cheers Kris

[PreppingPingu]

I ended up being on the committee as a director. Most roads where its set up as a company need more than one person as a director. A lot of people can't be bothered for a good reason with all that but by me being one it has meant that I was able to push to try to get the ability to change to new windows pushed through. Yeah it meant compromises but sometimes it's worth the effort. As most people aren't interest in doing the job as it's unpaid you might get onbaord easily. In our road i really dont do very much at all apart from ok gardening expenses and the like and authorise letters to be sent out via our property management company. I dont organise, phone or chase up anything very much at all. Dont know if it will be the same for your one. That might be a way to go in order to try to get a bit of change to your advantage.