If you want to renovate your home, it’s easy to get very carried away, very quickly. You have so many ideas in your head, and you want to just unleash them on your property. In some instances, you can do this – but mainly if the renovation works are internal. For other renovation ideas, you have to consider some crucial factors before doing anything.

You can’t forget these factors either, or it can be a big problem for your property. So, make sure you don’t neglect these three things before renovating your home.

Planning Permission

For some projects, you may need to obtain planning permission from the local council. A good rule is to just contact the council or go online and figure out if any permission is required. Even if you’re 99% sure you don’t need permission, it helps to check. It doesn’t take much effort, and it can avoid awkward scenarios where you have started a renovation, only to get a call from the council asking what the heck you’re doing. To avoid any fines or legal issues, always check that if you require planning permission, then apply for any if needed.

Property Lines

Next, you need to understand your property lines. In short, these are the boundaries that establish where your property ends and another begins. It’s so important to know these if you want to do any sort of extension work – or even some sort of garden renovation. You can find property lines in backyard spaces by going online and looking at some maps. Or, you can find the deed to your home as it should explain things in more detail there. The reason this is so important is that you don’t want to accidentally cross the property lines and encroach on a neighboring property. Otherwise, you will most certainly end up in a legal battle with a neighbor, which is never going to end well.

Common Courtesy

While it doesn’t technically have an impact on your property or renovation, some common courtesy is definitely needed on your behalf. Your neighbors were mentioned in the previous point, and it is nice to drop them a note or ring their doorbell to explain what will be going on. Just let them know that you’re having some renovation work done and that there might be some noise and mess for the foreseeable future. Does this mean you can expect your neighbors to be happy and friendly during the renovation? Nope, but at least you have done the decent thing and explained what will go down. It’s much better than if you just randomly started renovating your property and had loads of construction work going on with no warning. Some common decency and courtesy will go a long way.

Remember these three things before you undergo any extensive home renovations. If you plan anything that involves adding or taking away parts of your property, you have to think about planning permission. It’s a legal requirement in many cases – even if you extend your home upwards, it might be needed. Property lines are important for obvious reasons, as is some courtesy to your neighbors.