We have received developer approval for our plans and the builder has submitted them to their surveyor. After two week, the surveyor has indicated that they will need dispensation from the council for a setback issue.
First of all, let me explain the location of my block. The block is situated in the "armpit" at the end of a hammerhead court.
As you can see from the pic, my front setback is 6.85m in line with neighbours. My right hand side setback is 2m. The surveyor is saying that my right side setback may be considered a frontage and therefore may need to be 6.85m as well. They have instructed us to get dispensation from council to say that it is considered a side setback and not frontage.
I have already spoken to council twice who have said that you can only have one frontage and the side is the side boundary. They will not give me anything in writing as they are not acting as my surveyor.
I had lengthy discussions with the surveyor yesterday pushing the point that to suggest the side could be considered frontage is absurd. They said that they want the dispensation just in case. It sounds like they are too scared to make the call themselves.
I rang council who said that dispensation takes around 3 weeks and the application will require consent from neighbours (for what???). They agree that dispensation is not really required, but if my surveyor insists then I am required to obtain one.
I suggested to my builder that we get a different surveyor and if I need council involvement anyway, why not just appoint them as the surveyor. He was very against this idea and initially said I couldnt appoint a surveyor of my choosing. I told him that i had received advice that I could appoint whoever I wanted, and he then agreed. He then said that it would cost more and that he builds 40 houses a year and that he knew what he was doing.
At the moment, I have gotten the surveyor to contact council to see if they can be satisfied that a dispensation is not required. (I'm not holding my breath). What do you guys think. Should I abandon that surveyor and go for council instead???