Planning required for garage conversion to annex?

[gusgusgoose]

Hi everyone,

 

After years of hard slog (mainly by my much more capable other half!) and fours house flips later we have finally bought a house for 'us' rather than one to do up and sell on - exciting times!

 

So the property has a large detached garage with a first floor on top. The first floor is accessed externally and currently has a store room and another larger room which was used by the old owners as an office (so already has power). With the amount of space up there we'd love to convert it into an annex for family to stay, with the possibility of air bnb'ing it later down the line.

 

We're doing our best to get our heads round permissions but getting a bit stuck! Having spoken to our local council we can have a 'pre-application advice' meeting for £80 to discuss changing it to an annex for personal use or £260 to discuss changing it into a 'holiday let'.

 

Before committing to either of these (to potentially be told no - previous owner applied for planning twice to build another house on the land and main reason for denial was increased traffic in the rural area), I was wondering whether anyone could help me understand our chances of getting planning for either of the above.... or even whether converting it to an annex for personal use would fall into the permitted developments category.

 

I'm completely new to all this and the information online is going straight over my head so any help in an easy to understand format would be very much appreciated!!

 

Thanks so much.

[nod]

In the last five years planning has become more relaxed

Your best way would be to apply for the garage to become an annex of your home 

Normally restricted to immediate family Better than a flat no Once the conversion is done you could always go down the road of applying for a change of use to a holiday let 

[gusgusgoose]

23 minutes ago, nod said:

In the last five years planning has become more relaxed

Your best way would be to apply for the garage to become an annex of your home 

Normally restricted to immediate family Better than a flat no Once the conversion is done you could always go down the road of applying for a change of use to a holiday let 

Thanks so much for your help!

 

So this kind of work definitely doesn't fall under permitted developments? Are you able to comment on whether the 'pre-application meeting' would be worth it or should we just crack on and try for planning if required?

[Bitpipe]

Mixed feedback on pre-app advice.

 

Some planners use it for its intended purpose but others to push their own agenda of what is acceptable.

 

Ultimately, anything suggested in pre-app advice is non binding when the full app goes.

[Temp]

3 hours ago, gusgusgoose said:

Before committing to either of these (to potentially be told no - previous owner applied for planning twice to build another house on the land and main reason for denial was increased traffic in the rural area), I was wondering whether anyone could help me understand our chances of getting planning for either of the above.... or even whether converting it to an annex for personal use would fall into the permitted developments category.

 

I think it would be difficult to get PP as a holiday let given the planning history. 

 

Regarding an annex that is occupied as part of the main house..  Find out if the garage was built with planning permission or under Permitted Development Rights. If PP was obtained (perhaps with the house) then the rooms in the roof may already be considered to have residential use status. In that case I don't believe you would need another PP to change it to an annex.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/25/garage_conversion

Planning permission is not usually required, providing the work is internal and does not involve enlarging the building.

If your intention is to convert a garage into a separate house (regardless of who will occupy it), then planning permission may be required no matter what work is involved. 

 

A third way forward is to apply for a Lawful Development Certificate. This is essentially a ruling that PP is not needed to convert it to an annex. You submit plans just like for PP. The difference between an LDC and PP is the decision making process. An LDC is objective, you either do or don't need PP based on its current status. PP on the other hand can be more subjective and they can take into account more things like the impact on the area, traffic etc. Neighbours get consulted etc.