Hi cloddopper
Think you have worded that perfectly, managment could put up a caution warning along the lines
i am no legal expert or have any formal training along those lines but i would say.
If you ever get a visit from planning or planning enforcement. (For planning contravention)
If its a residential property i believe you have the right to ask them to give you 24 hours notice before you have to allow them in
Anything else they have a right to enter.
Next get straight on phone and see if you can get one or two people to come down to witness things before you say anything else.
Or tell them you wish to record the conversation , its only evidence if you tell them before hand.
They will take photos to use as possible evidence of offences commited
They may of done this from outside the property and may of been observing things for days/months before this visit
If accused of anything do not comment or deny it, do not say anything more or try to validate why you are doing something.
They will be persistant and as cloddopper says above unless you have the knowledge anything else you say could have serious repercusions, if taken out of context.
If they continue to hound you tell them you will seek legal advise before commenting futher.
Onething for sure you will have a couple of unhappy council officers and possibly saved yourself many hours of stress and plenty of £££££££.
Next i would seriously advise you to get legal/planning advise from a proffesional, anything it costs now will be less than if you had tried to explain yourself.
If funds are limited i strongly reccomend you go on to the Garden law web site
http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.phpPost your problem and check the responses do not take everything as being correct.
But from my own experience there are a number of planning experts/ ex planning consultants who are willing to give you advice ect.
Read very carefully you will/should be able to spot who is best qualified to listen to imo.
Everything posted above is my personnal views and if in doubt always seek expert advice straight away delays could be costly