Your property questions answered.
Do I need planning permission to install small wind turbine?
What is the planning situation regarding small wind turbines for purely domestic use? The salesman was unable to give us a definitive answer regarding planning.
The salesman wasn't just being vague to make a sale, there doesn't appear to be a country-wide policy on domestic wind turbines when it comes to planning. Some local authorities have renewable energy policies that cover turbines, others don't.
It's not exactly difficult to see why - the interest in alternative energy sources in this country is a relatively new thing and it's likely that in the coming years there will be definitive policies.
Your best course of action is to get the specifications of the turbine you are looking at - the size and, equally important, the noise level. Some domestic turbines have lower sound emissions than others. Then consult your local planners.
Don't be too surprised if you are required to apply for planning; if you live in a terraced house in an estate they might take the view that it would be better for you to look at other sources of energy. There has been a great deal of debate about industrial wind turbines here but very little about domestic units.
The planning issue has come to the fore in the UK recently where Conservative Party leader David Cameron has talked about installing a permanent turbine on his London house so incurring the wrath of his posh neighbours and opening up the planning debate there.
It would help if there was a similar high profile debate here that would result in a definitive answer. Till then, don't buy anything until you have consulted your local authority.
My bank and solicitor won't store mortgage documents
What options do I have as regards storing the actual documents which I received after paying off my mortgage: neither my bank nor my solicitor are willing to store them for me and, apart from keeping them myself in a safe at home (which for various reasons I would not consider to be ideal), I was wondering what other options I might have.
This is a growing problem as more and more financial institutions and solicitors abandon offering this service. This column called half a dozen of the bigger document storage companies and found that they only deal with commercial documentation - all, however, reported receiving calls from homeowners looking for deeds storage, so there is a market there.
One major Dublin storage company, Crown Records Management, has spotted this gap in the market and is developing a service whereby people will be able to store a small amount of personal documents and it hopes that the service will start later this year.
Other readers have had success by changing solicitor - some solicitors are better geared up for storage than others and you might find one prepared to store your deeds. If any reader would like to pass on what they did about their documents - aside from putting them in a biscuit tin under the bed - this column would be very interested in hearing it.
• Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or email propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
