A peek behind closed doors

In the first of a series of regular articles, estate agent Trevor Cooper takes a closer look at Guernsey property. Many myths will be dispelled and misconceptions corrected. Information and advice will be mixed with comment and opinion to feature alongside the bizarre and sometimes amusing. And why? Because property in its many shapes and forms fascinates and affects us all

AT ITS most fundamental, land itself is property and its specific use is carefully controlled – put buildings on it and perceptions change again and passions can run high.

Consider how essential parts of our lives revolve within and around the buildings attached to them. Education may be about teachers and pupils and health may be about nursing staff and patients, yet it is the schools and hospital buildings that often make the headlines. Even religion is not above scrutiny, with the maintenance of ecclesiastical property annually up for debate.

Our own homes, be they houses, flats, cottages or bungalows, mean everything to us. We like to know how to look after them and how best to furnish and improve them. We also like to know their value and we are especially interested in what other people's homes are like. So much so that whole magazines are devoted to houses and numerous TV programmes are made about them, but more about those TV programmes at a future date.

And who better than me to probe behind closed doors, to search the markets and make those calls? After a total of 20 years in estate agency, including 10 as an auctioneer and 12 as a conveyancing clerk, with access to copies of every property's title deed registered in Guernsey, I have more knowledge than most.

I am old enough to remember building plots at £3,000 each and 30 years ago I was selling brand new, three-bedroom detached houses for £28,000. I can decode the technical detail littering an architect's drawings and can even fold the plans correctly. I am a house owner, a landlord and a tenant, not to mention having been the maintenance man, decorator, window cleaner, gardener... and so the list goes on.

Looking at the current headlines, we will watch with interest the ongoing population policy review. It is a perfectly reasonable and regularly commissioned review of Guernsey's housing needs that the authorities tasked with putting into operation have gone to extraordinary lengths to draft and explain to the public and which has been blighted by regrettable, throwaway comments from seats of power and influence. But that is another topic for a later date.

More immediate is the Environment Department's current review of the urban and rural area plans. If you have not already done so, and you have access to the internet, click on the Environment Department's website www.Review-of-the-Urban-and-Rural-Area-Plans, where the views of the general public are invited.

Guernsey may be relatively small but the rural area as defined in one of those two plans covers a wide range. Do the same rules apply to one and all, or is that too simplistic? And what will the planners do in future about derelict vineries?

Such is the changing face of industry, where finance is the latest to have replaced most latterly tourism and growing, but do we really need offices to be built in the Salt Pans, or would single-storey sheds screened by plenty of greenery serve light industry better? All those 'Fred-in-the-shed' services each of us call and depend upon but do little to provide secure, purpose-built premises to work out of.

High profile buildings attract high profile companies with commensurate rents so there is little incentive for developers to build basic, small-scale workshops. A compromise would be a mix of both but the Environment Department cannot impose such restrictions on new developments because, understandably, the developers and their architects are careful when applying for large buildings to stay within the bounds of the Environment Department's Bible, better known as the written policy.

As I understand it, the qualified planning personnel at the States Environment Department draft the written policy, which must be approved and made law by the States of Deliberation. It is probably fair to say that the average States member relies on the planning experts to know what they are doing and votes accordingly.

However, if there is an anomaly or something impracticable in the written policy, the officials at Environment have been known when refusing planning permission to suggest that people refer the matter to States deputies as it was the deputies who approved and instigated the written policy.

The process of change is interminably long because a deputy would need to get support for a proposal before attempting to achieve the agreement of the majority of the Assembly to any change in the law of the written policy.

The recent introduction of greater transparency and public planning appeals are positive moves for people with genuine grievances against the written policy. Typically, in the past, the planning applicant might have chosen to take the matter to a court hearing. The court may find in favour of the applicant but, if the Environment Department appeals, the matter is then judged by an impartial London QC who more often than not will uphold the written policy. The sense of going round in circles only stops when one's head repeatedly hits a brick wall.

I cannot emphasise enough the significance of the imminent rewriting of the written policy that will govern a great deal of Guernsey's lifestyle, commerce and landscape for at least another five or 10 years. The Environment Department is notably asking for the views of the public and I urge anyone with an opinion to make it known, either to Environment or through these pages, if it is printable.

Not only will I return to these various reviews during the weeks to come but I also intend to unravel the ambiguity of Guernsey's 'average house price' and demystify some the legal complexities involved in purchasing property.

There will be no apology from me for delving back into Guernsey's rich property history and much more fun will be taking a sideways glance at estate agents and viewing some of the best properties on the market.