h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Of course, it's no good having planning permission if you haven't got building permission, which details how the work is to be carried out and anything else the bureaucrats can think of that doesn't fit nicely into any of the other categories.

I speak as someone who has fallen foul of this in the past. The awful thing is that complaining is like a gruesome merry-go-round; you go round in circles, not enjoying the trip, and keep seeing the same faces.

I suppose its like everything else in life, its easy if you know how and you pay for what you get. I've seen so many people fall foul of the rules (complex yes, but hey that's life) due to nothing but a lack of atention to detail or thinking that a builder has the expertise to talk to bureaucrats rather than an Architect or experienced Agent. Here is an shortened example of a converstaion I had with a builder:

I would like to get permission
"for what"
This conservatory
"nice catalogue, which one"
bloke hasn't decided yet
"which property"
not sure, still deciding whether or not to buy it
"perhaps best if you came back once he knows"
(sighs exasperated) he's not going to buy it unless he knows he's going to get permission, good grief, you bureaucrats are all the same!

not kidding, I have conversations like this all the time