Building Regulations

Summary

The requester asked for statistics on meetings where landlords abandoned tourist accommodation plans due to insulation regulations, but the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture stated this specific data is not held. Instead, the authority disclosed that 36 applications for change of use to tourist accommodation have been processed since 2014, all of which proceeded with necessary upgrades.

Key Facts

• The Department does not record or count meetings or phone calls by the topic of the enquiry.
• Since January 1, 2014, 36 Building Control applications involving a change of use to tourist accommodation have been processed.
• All 36 applicants for tourist accommodation change of use agreed to the necessary upgrading works.
• The Building Regulations 2014 added 'tourist use' to the description of 'Material Change of Use' to ensure fire safety and insulation standards.
• Other local authorities like Douglas and Onchan have their own Building Control officers and may hold separate data.

Data Disclosed

• 36
• 2014
• 1st January 2014
• 28th January 2018
• 5th February 2018
• IM118493I

Exemptions Cited

• Information not held

Original Request

The query is in relation to the Building Control Regulations 2014 that owners wishing to 'change use of property' to tourist accommodation now have to meet. Under these regulations, properties built prior to 2014 wishing to establish tourist accommodation would have to meet the new insulation requirements to external walls that are appropriate to new builds but very difficult for older houses to comply with. My query is as follows..... Since the introduction of the Building Control Regulations 2014, approximately how many meetings has Building Control Officers had with private landlords who are wishing to establish tourist accommodation, where the landlord indicates they cannot proceed with setting up as tourist accommodation due the unreasonable insulation requirement for older properties? I understand if this is not recorded on computer systems it would be difficult for the department to add up all these figures. I don't want valuable government time wasted. It would suffice to provide information based on the approximate number of meetings in the past month for example and multiply this up.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

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 Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture

  Rheynn Chymmyltaght, Bee as Eirinys

5th February 2018

Dear

Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (FoIA) Ref: IM118493I BC Regs re. Insulation Thank you for your request dated 28th January 2018. You asked: “The query is in relation to the Building Control Regulations 2014 that owners wishing to 'change use of property' to tourist accommodation now have to meet. Under these regulations, properties built prior to 2014 wishing to establish tourist accommodation would have to meet the new insulation requirements to external walls that are appropriate to new builds but very difficult for older houses to comply with. My query is as follows.....

Since the introduction of the Building Control Regulations 2014, approximately how many meetings has Building Control Officers had with private landlords who are wishing to establish tourist accommodation, where the landlord indicates they cannot proceed with setting up as tourist accommodation due the unreasonable insulation requirement for older properties?

I understand if this is not recorded on computer systems it would be difficult for the department to add up all these figures. I don't want valuable government time wasted. It would suffice to provide information based on the approximate number of meetings in the past month for example and multiply this up.”

Response:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department cannot provide the information as it does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested.

We do not record or count phone calls or meetings (Building Control (BC) or otherwise) by the topic of the enquiry. Enquiries can be conducted over the phone, in writing (mostly by email) or in person at our public counter.
Freedom of Information
Co-ordinator Corporate Services Directorate, Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale Road,
St John’s, Isle of Man, IM4 3AS Tel no (01624) 685854 Fax no (01624 685851 Email: defa@gov.im
www.gov.im Quoting Ref: IM118493I Your Ref:

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The suggestion to count how many are received by month and multiplied for an average also would not work because of the above.

However, Planning & Building Control does maintain a database which records receipt of definitive applications. We can advise that since 1st January 2014 we have processed 36 Building Control applications which included a ‘change of use of premises relative to tourist use’ in the text for the works proposed. These applications are all either ‘complete’, ‘commenced’ or ‘approved’.

The Officers ‘may’ have had meetings on all of these, sometimes multiple, and will also have carried out site inspections – which could constitute a ‘meeting’ in the terms of the request.

For your further information you may find it useful to make enquiries to the other Authorities (Douglas and Onchan) who have their own Building Control officers. Each of these authorities could be contacted informally or via the Freedom of Information online portal here https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information- request-for-local-authorities/

Further information

The Building Regulations 2014 added “tourist use” to the description of “Material Change of Use” as it had not previously been included. This was necessary to ensure that adequate standards of fire safety and levels of insulation were present in such accommodation.

Historically, applications to convert barns and similar buildings to “tourist “accommodation were required but standards were lower than for other dwellings. If these properties were, at a later date, changed from tourist to permanent accommodation, for which there was no requirement to make a BC application, people may have been buying properties that had less than adequate fire safety standards and levels of insulation.

We have received 36 applications to change the use of buildings for tourist use. All of these applicants have agreed to the necessary upgrading works. Change of use to tourist accommodation is a business venture and as such costs of upgrading the building should be included in the business plan before any commercial decision is taken to proceed with the work.

Building Control recognises the importance of the conservation of fuel and power and it is more than reasonable for any older building with no insulation to be upgraded should the owner wish to cater for tourists 365 days of the year. Tourists should be able to expect a reasonable level of comfort. With no insulation, there is the possibility of the occupants turning the heating up and leaving it on longer, so defeating an important objective of Building Regulations.

We have, to date, applied a level of practicality and common sense with regards to “TT Homestay” in that given the timing of TT Week, excessive heating use (and therefore wastage of fuel and power) is unlikely. Also, the IoM Fire & Rescue Service carry out the basic fire safety checks on all properties registered for Homestay.