'Humongous’ house owner loses appeal after paying wrong fee

The owner of a house built during lockdown despite a warning to stop construction has lost an appeal to Scottish Ministers after paying the “wrong” fee.

The house, on Kirkhill Terrace, Gorebridge, was described as “humongous” after it was built with roof extensions which were not part of the original plan.

Midlothian Council officers issued a warning that the home did not match the plans which had been approved, but said that Covid led to a halt on checks on sites, and the construction went ahead.

Planning permission for the revised house was refused, and subsequent appeals were lost before the council approved a new application, which called for the removal of the extensions, which they said turned a one-storey home into a two-storey one.

The changes, however, were not made, and the latest appeal saw the owner ask Scottish Ministers to step in, claiming the council had failed to take the case to its Local Review Body for a decision in time.

The homeowner said it had applied for retrospective permission for the roof changes to the original house, but the council refused to validate the application because they paid the wrong fee.

Midlothian Council said the application was filed with a ‘householder fee’, which is only eligible to residents of a home who are seeking to change it.

They argued that as the roof extension was part of the original build t was not an alteration and the fee due for a new planning application was £450 extra.

This week the Scottish Government Reporter agreed with the council saying the home owner could not apply for a change to the design of a house which had not been given permission in its current form.

The reporter said: “I am in no doubt that the dwellinghouse which has been constructed does not accord with the plans approved.

The evidence indicates that the amendments to the house did not occur after it was completed and occupied in October 2020. Therefore, I consider that the amendments cannot reasonably be described as alterations and extensions to an existing dwellinghouse and, therefore, the householder application fee.”

A bid for retrospective planning permission for the revised design was initially refused by Midlothian Council planners, and an appeal was made in late 2020.

At a Local Review Body meeting in October 2020, councillors were told that planning officers spotted the house, which was being constructed, was far larger than the original plans and ordered the work to be halted.

However, officers said, that as the county went into lockdown and officers were no longer monitoring new builds, the work restarted and the unauthorised home was completed.

Councillors refused an appeal over the refusal of a retrospective application for the house, with Councillor Derek Milligan describing it as “humongous”.