Retained planning permission

Piera123

We bought a house last year and planning permission was granted for an extension for the original owners in 2012 which included a conservatory/sunroom. They completed the extention but didn't build the sunroom. Before selling the house they applied for 'retained' planning permission in 2020 which was granted. Does this mean that planning permission is 'retained' for us to build the sunroom if we want to, or does it not? Having researched this it doesn't appear that it does, but the wording is open to interpretation which is confusing... can someone clarify this please? Thanks

Claw Hammer

Retention is granted when something is built without planning permission. Planning permissions usually have to be activated within 5 years but there is provision for an extension of the permission for a further period. You need to get the planning file and look at the conditions of the original grant of planning and the terms of the 2020 grant. The whole situation is far too complicated for a forum like this. There are numerous possibilities for what might have happened.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058246816/retained-planning-permission

I'd say no. The original application that was granted was for an extension & sunroom. They built the extension but not the sunroom, and therefore what they constructed wasn't what they were granted permission for. So they got applied for and got Retention Permission for the extension (eg. permission to retain the extension).

The previous owners likely applied for and got retention permission for the extension in order to legalise it prior to selling. The sunroom likely no longer has valid planning permission, both because it was more than 5 years ago (planning permission expires after 5 years if the structure isn't at least substantially complete), and because the planning permission for the extension on its own supercedes the original application.