Planning permission!!! Er... has been refused. Looks like plan A is up the spout (2 x 2-bed and 1x1-bed flat). The council think that it is an over-intensive use of the site and it will lack open space amenities (garden space, I suppose that means). Actually, I rather agree... The architect says that the proposed flats do in fact conform to general standards though and that the council is incorrect in saying this. They also objected on the grounds of stacking - that is, bedrooms should be above bedrooms, living rooms above living rooms, and kitchens and bathrooms above the same, to avoid disturbance to residents of the adjacent flats. That puzzles me a bit, as the plans allowed for this: did the architect send an old version of the plan to the council?

Anyway, notwithstanding that, I must consider plans B and C. B: 2x3-bed flats. I don't see how that can be done, but I will ask the architect to see if it is feasible. Plan C: 2x2-bed flats: certainly feasible although the staircase is in a truly chronic location for this - well away from the front entrance of the house and past two downstairs rooms at least. How can the flats be separated? (It worked with 3 flats as the entrance could be moved to between the two downstairs flats.) In my area, a typical price for a 2-bed flat is £145,000, although they range from £130,000 to £162,000. So my expected return should be £290,000. My mortgage is £205,000. Costs, say £60,000, pessimistically. Profit, £30,000. Not much, but I suppose I could buy another place with it. Just about. And use the credit cards again to do it up... if the market stays OK.

Well, fine. I'm not rich yet, but there is at least a route through the maze, even with plan C.

Plan C with bad prices: final value £260,000, costs £265,000, would still have £55,000 available on credit cards to do something... maybe.

And the builders want to start in earnest on Monday. That doesn't look like it is on... and the architect is out of the office this morning so I will have to call him this afternoon.

Maybe I should just buy gold or something?

Or plan D: do it anyway, but just to rent out the flats for 4 years until planning permission becomes irrelevant. My rough calculations show that this may not be particularly viable, though, but I will have to check them again.