I reported this to Elderton and they acknowledged the error. This needs to get fixed, our land registration was just weeks away. This could be easily remedied by moving the whole house 560mm back. But the current rear setback is only 4030mm. As per the guidelines, it should be no more than 4000mm. This could mean that the length of the house will be reduced or cut off the balcony.
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The day of the contract signed came. Helena greeted us with her warm smile. Apparently, John (our previous tender presentor) was already working 1 day a week and Helena took over the job 3 months ago.
Firstly, we discussed the issue with the articulation zone setback. As a solution, it was suggested to change the facade (no more balcony) or reduce the meals area. Fair enough, we had no choice but to choose from these options. But we thought we needed to sleep on it. It was hard to let go of the balcony. Equally, we don't want the meals area to be reduced. So we asked Helena to request to put the two options in a Variation sheet and show the corresponding credit. Settled!
We went on to the contract. We were happy to go with Elderton and we signed the contract and paid the 5% deposit.