The Irish Times Property Desk answers some of your property queries. This week planning appeals and selling.

How can I appeal?

A planning notice is on the building at the back of my house for what I believe to be an over-large extension. The planning notice was put up some weeks ago and a neighbour tells me that the planning has been granted. Would appealing to An Bord Pleanála work and how do I go about it?

All planning decisions made by planning authorities may be subject to independent review by An Bord Pleanála. You seem unsure as to when the notice went up and when planning was granted and this is very important in terms of making an appeal. Except where a person is granted leave to appeal by the Board, appeals must be received by the Board within four weeks beginning on the date of the making of the decision by the planning authority. Every appeal must be made in writing and must be sent by post to: The Secretary, An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1, or delivered by hand to an employee of the Board at the Board's offices during office hours. Appeals placed in the Board's letterbox are invalid.

The appeal must be fully complete from the start - you cannot submit any part of it at a different time, even within the time limit. You must include: your name and address; Sufficient details to enable the Board to readily identify the application that is the subject of the appeal (e.g. a copy of the planning authority decision, or details of the nature and the site of the proposed development, or the name of the planning authority and the planning register reference number shown of the decision you are appealing); The grounds of appeal and supporting material and arguments; the correct fee. Details of fees are available from the Board or your local planning authority. The first thing you should so is contact your local planning authority to find out when the planning permission was granted. You may be too late and, in any case, appealing is not a guarantee of overthrowing your local planner's decision.

All this information is on the new government website www.basis.ie.

Should we sell now?

Last week we put in an offer on a house which has been accepted and we now have to put our own house on the market. I realise that this is a terrible time of the year. However, we live in a newish (five years old) estate and several houses have sold here in the past year, all within four or five weeks. There is usually at least one house for sale at any one time. Should we put our house up for sale now or should we wait until the New Year? I think it would be a good idea to steal a march on other people in the estate thinking of selling.

December is not the best time to sell for a number of reasons. It's cold, dark, and buyers are generally more preoccupied with getting ready for Christmas than with thinking about moving. Also it's difficult to present your house in the best possible light when it's full of Christmas decorations which tend to be great fun but are the very definition of clutter.

It's no harm to do a bit of leg work now, get in touch with agents, find one who suits you and offers you the best deal, and set a date in January to start your campaign. That way you have a bit of time to get everything ready.

Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail 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.