Is change of use transferred by previous owner?

[Sren]

So I have a question about planning. If your previous owners of a house you buy let out an annexe on their land, then when you purchase the property do you by default have the right to the implied change of use? 
 

in the same way that if you purchase the house with some changes they had not applied for through planning, then after 6 years these would be exempt from enforcement? Would the change of use be exempt from enforcement too? 
 

many thanks in advance. 

[DevilDamo]

Planning stays with the property/site and not the person.

 

Not sure where 6 years has come from. It’s now 10 years unless it can be proved it had been completed/in use prior to April of which would be 4 years…

 

https://www.planninggeek.co.uk/planning/applications/certificate-of-lawfulness/

[Temp]

As I recall there are also rules about a change of use being continuous or not and if that resets the 10(?) year clock.

 

I suspect that simply being "between tenants" due to a change of ownership might not amount to a break in continuity but anything more significant (such as a few years use as a home office) might do.

[IanR]

17 hours ago, Sren said:

 If your previous owners of a house you buy let out an annexe on their land, then when you purchase the property do you by default have the right to the implied change of use? 

 

What are you thinking is in breech of its planning Use. Does the Annex have planning permission to be an "Annex". ie. a Use incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse? And does that permission include the room types that exist in the Annex, ie. kitchen and bedroom(s)?

 

If so then renting that out to another person/family would be the same as having a "lodger" within the main dwellinghouse. ie. within its defined Planning Use.

 

Or, does the "Annex" building not have planning permission, or the use of it as a liveable area not have permission?

 

More info is required. Renting it out maybe entirely within its planning use (although you'll have obligations as a resident landlord), but it maybe that you'd need to be able to prove a 4 year continuing breech to make it immune from enforcement, or depending on circumstance it may be a 10 year breech that you'd need to prove. Only a breech of planning can be immune from enforcement, not Building Control, so it would still need to meet building regs.

 

When was the Annex built? is it attached or separate to the dwellinghouse.

When first built, did it have planning permission? or within PD rights.
Did it have kitchen and bedrooms when first built?
When was it first used for living in and how long since it was last used for living in?

[Sren]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

So the annexe in question used to be a garage (separate from the main house) and had a kitchen and bathroom put In by the previous owners. They rented it to family

members.

 

Now we have renovated it and would like to rent it on air bnb, (it’s not large enough to live in!) and I want to

know if I should apply for change of use. I understand from my research that if a family member was to live in it I wouldn’t need to, but I don’t have a need for that currently. 
 

Obviously I don’t really want to have to apply for change of use unless I have to, as it’s expensive and from researching some other case they might even say no. Despite it being good for tourism to do so? 

[Sren]

Just now, Sren said:

When was the Annex built? is it attached or separate to the dwellinghouse.

When first built, did it have planning permission? or within PD rights.
Did it have kitchen and bedrooms when first built?
When was it first used for living in and how long since it was last used for living in?

 

Just now, Sren said:

It has always been an outhouse- shell was built in 1900s. Was originally a garage. Barn and annexe rennovated by previous owner in 1989. Lived in by family member.

 

[IanR]

21 minutes ago, Sren said:

So the annexe in question used to be a garage (separate from the main house) and had a kitchen and bathroom put In by the previous owners. They rented it to family

members.

 

Now we have renovated it and would like to rent it on air bnb, (it’s not large enough to live in!) and I want to

know if I should apply for change of use. 

 

Short-term-holiday let is slightly different to letting out to a family member.  It may not now happen with Labour's Planning shake-up, but a C5 Use Class was due to be introduced this summer for Short-term-holiday let. Included was to be a PD that allowed C3 -> C5 and C5 -> C3 Use change.

 

You don't say where you are from, for England, before C5 get's introduced, then a Holiday Let is most likely to be seen as a C3 Use, same as the dwellinghouse, so no Change of Use required. If it's run more like a B&B or Hotel, then it starts to look like a C1 Use that would require a change of Use. This is a grey area and some LPA's are more sensitive to holiday lets and may try to push it towards a C1 Use. If in doubt you need to speak to your LPA. Some LPA's are getting difficult to speak to which could push you towards applying for an LDC, for them to give a formal reply as to whether they feel the Use you intend to put it to falls within what they consider C3.

 

From what you've said It's unlikely you need a Change of Use.

 

However you need to consider the Building and any external changes that have been made.

 

33 minutes ago, Sren said:

Was originally a garage. Barn and annexe rennovated by previous owner in 1989. Lived in by family member.

 

Even if the renovation completed in 1989 did not have permission, it would now be immune from enforcement, unless:

 

39 minutes ago, Sren said:

Now we have renovated it

 

changed anything external that would require planning permission.

 

If you are happy the building and any changes have planning permission, then I don't feel there is a planning issue with you using it for a short-term holiday let. If in the future a C5 Planning Class is introduced then once you have rented it out for more than 90 days in a year it would fall into the C5 Use Class automatically via PD.

[ToughButterCup]

@Sren, could I politely point out that we are not Planning Experts  ( @IanR appears to be as close to one as it gets - but there's the exception that proves the rule) .

We are merely interested, helpful - and nosey - amateurs. Experts by Experience as the research literature calls it.

There is no substitute for obtaining proper professional advice. 

Good luck!

 

Ian

[TommoUK]

On 29/08/2024 at 17:05, Sren said:

So I have a question about planning. If your previous owners of a house you buy let out an annexe on their land, then when you purchase the property do you by default have the right to the implied change of use? 
 

in the same way that if you purchase the house with some changes they had not applied for through planning, then after 6 years these would be exempt from enforcement? Would the change of use be exempt from enforcement too? 
 

many thanks in advance. 

Planning runs with the land. So on your question, It would come down to proof. If you are relying on established use you would need a statutory declaration from the seller evidencing their period of use and you would then seek to regularise this through a certificate of lawful use. This doesn’t help you though as it was previously used by a family member not a third party.

[TommoUK]

On 29/08/2024 at 17:05, Sren said:

So I have a question about planning. If your previous owners of a house you buy let out an annexe on their land, then when you purchase the property do you by default have the right to the implied change of use? 
 

in the same way that if you purchase the house with some changes they had not applied for through planning, then after 6 years these would be exempt from enforcement? Would the change of use be exempt from enforcement too? 
 

many thanks in advance. 

Planning runs with the land. So on your question, It would come down to proof. If you are relying on established use you would need a statutory declaration from the seller evidencing their period of use and you would then seek to regularise this through a certificate of lawful use. This doesn’t help you though as it was previously used by a family member not a third party.

[ChrisInKent]

I don’t know the answer to the planning question. My experience of converting a detached garage to one bed accommodation (with full planning in place) was that once we finished the local council classed it as an annexe they made us pay council tax on it. 

[Sren]

We are already paying council tax on it, as someone dobbed us in. But thank you for letting me know.