Building your home? (Permission and the City Engineer)

Aug 21, 2011 News

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By Leonard Gildarie

During the last few weeks in this series of articles on home-building and its challenges (and we have passed the 20th publication), it has been a most enlightening experience to say the least.
For me, personally, a lot was learned during the time it took to do the research. I met and heard from people I never met or heard from before, and even doled out advice.
I spoke of many personal experiences.
We had stopped publishing the column for a while, thinking that no more could be said. Then the e-mails and calls demanding that the articles resume came flooding in.
There is not a day that passes without calls or comments about homes and home ownership.
It can be very demanding sometimes if you have deadlines.
But I have reached some essential conclusions. Most important among them is the fact that people, and I specifically refer to Guyanese, are passionate about their homes and land.

I can recall receiving the allocation letter from the Ministry of Housing early last year. It did not sink in right away on the implications as we became busy working on applying for a mortgage.
Travelling from Diamond, East Bank Demerara, to La Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, to inspect the land and later embarking on clearing made the picture of what it would become a little clearer.
The weeks of planning and squabbling with my family over the size of the rooms, bathroom and whether to pour concrete in the yard or leave it for gardening space were all part of the serious fun of planning to spend money you did not yet have.
I heard one government official arguing that owning a piece of land makes you an instant millionaire. It is true. The cost of the land and what you build invariably will go over $1M. We are talking about a basic structure here. That makes you a millionaire.
I remember the evening we moved in and slept on the floor because the beds were not fitted up as yet. That grand feeling of being in your own home is beyond description. I knew I loved the feel. There were little things in the home that you knew had to be completed but that was minor in the bigger scale of things.
So it was with this little knowledge that I knew and understood the passions of the many callers and e-mailers who felt strongly about one issue or the other.
Last week we spoke of the requirements of building in the city.
On land that is below 66 feet width between boundaries, there should at least be eight feet between neighbouring buildings, and a minimum of four feet from the fence.
One writer, while agreeing there should be rules, wondered about buildings in the city that have doors that open directly to the pavement. The contention was that with the high cost of land in the city, the requirement of the distance from the boundaries may be too harsh.
Would it require special permission if a homeowner wants to deviate and extend beyond the norms?
I spoke to Royston King, the municipality’s Public Relations Officer again this week on the issue. The eight feet between neighbouring buildings is standard. In the city, there is a special agreement between businesses called “Party Wall Agreements” which allows businesses and other to maximise space, sometimes even being just separated by a wall. This is especially prevalent in the Water Street and Regent Street areas.
However, any applications using this agreement have to be vetted by the City Engineer, who investigates it to ensure that the two businesses comply with other regulations.
Then there are the buildings which infringe on the reserves or go beyond their boundaries.
“These happen. When we become aware or receive a report it is acted upon. We have cases where people illegally fill over drains and we have to visit them and order them to be taken down. There are some cases that M&CC miss, but when we receive complaints of infringement we will act on it,” King asserted.
When building in the city, once approval has been given by the City Engineer’s office, a building owner or the representative must give seven days notice of the intentions to commence operations.
If there is the need to block a thoroughfare, the city may give permission for a board fence to be built on the reserve to separate the nearby buildings. It may require lights and the builders may have to construct a footway to provide pedestrians with an option.
These obstructions cannot block the drainage in the area.
A building plan, once approved by the city, must be executed within 12 months. Most construction cannot last more than 12 months unless given special permission.
One of the common problems the city has found is the deliberate deviation of building plans by the owners and contractors.
According to King, the City Engineer has the power to order the deviations be rectified within a certain time. The City Engineer and representatives are also to be allowed access to the building site to make inspections from time to time.
So there you have it. The city has regulations and by-laws that are much more different and complex from building in the outlying areas.
In the meantime, enjoy your weekend and keep on dropping those cherished e-mails at [email protected] or call us at 225-8491.

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