We were very pleased to have agreed an important legal point with Maidstone Borough Council concerning the use of a former fishing lodge as a dwelling. The pertinent point concerned the lawfulness of the use of the building as a dwelling, given that some of the building operations connected with the use having taken place less than 4 years ago. This is because a sufficient proportion of works required to convert the building to the point at which it could reasonably be said to have become habitable had taken place more than 4 years ago. We are grateful for the Council’s thorough consideration of this matter and ultimately pragmatic interpretation of precedential case law concerning Section 171B of the Planning Act.