Planning permission question RE: Operating a business from home.

jenny74

Hi,

Can someone with the know-how advised how likely it is that a residential address on a residential estate will get planning permission to run a business from home?

The business involves several large vans loading and unloading equipment, often late at night. It has disturbed some of our neighbours and one has said he has had enough, and he has complained to the council. They told him that the people running the business have to apply for planning permission. (Apparently, though this is hersay, there is a convenant that states these houses cannot be used for business.. but I don't understand what that means either!)

Neighbours have been out taking photos of the comings and goings for evidence. Not sure how this will help.

NOTE: IT is NOT us running the business it is another neighbour.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jenny

PS Our house is on the market so we are reluctant to be directly involved for obviously reasons. Nor have we made any complaint to the neighbour.

lonestar1

If theres a covenant then the chances are its down to the original builders to enforce are they still around ?

googler

If there's a covenant for all the houses, it'll be in your title deeds - have you had a look there?

AFAIK, they would have to apply for permish if running the business from there. However, could there be a grey area where they're just using the house for additional storage with the main business being run from elsewhere?

jenny74

lonestar1 wrote: »

If theres a covenant then the chances are its down to the original builders to enforce are they still around ?

I don't know, but the houses are about 45 years old, so it seems unlikely.

I just wondered what the implications were when/if these people apply for PP, what the council look at before granting/refusing.

If say, 5-10 local residents object, will that make it more unlikely to be granted?

Thanks,

Jenny

googler

May depend on your council - in my patch, the council publishes a 'local plan' every so often, and this designates certain areas of the county for various uses - residential, industrial, commercial, educational, etc.

All planning apps have to be considered in the context of the local plan, and any deviation from the local plan (putting housing in a commercial area, or industrial in an agricultural area) requires special consideration.

If the homeowner applies for permish, there'll be a neighbour notification process, and if most or all of those neighbours object, it's difficult to see the application being passed.

Look at your council's website, have a browse at previous applications, and you'll get a feel for what goes on in your county. Either that or speak to the duty planning officer at your council (they should all have one) to discuss your concerns.

jenny74

googler wrote: »

If there's a covenant for all the houses, it'll be in your title deeds - have you had a look there?

AFAIK, they would have to apply for permish if running the business from there. However, could there be a grey area where they're just using the house for additional storage with the main business being run from elsewhere?

I haven't got our title deeds to hand. Maybe our Sols will have a copy as we recently were SSTC then it fell through.

They do store one HECK of a lot of equipment there, and also some at their parents house, which is on the estate round the corner. But they have have 3 large vans to transport the equipment (bouncy castles, generators etc) to where they are being hired.

They have no other business premises, though they did at one time say they were going to rent a lock up. (I think they said this to try to keep the neighbours happy).

They also put upto 3 bouncy castles up in their back garden (to dry, apparently) and as they have young children, they will say they are putting them up there for them to play on. But some of these are 2 stories high and when the children are climbing up them (it is a climb up, slide down affair) they can see in various neighbouring gardens. I am not sure this will be taking into account, though one neighbour has included the noise of the generators as a nusience.

What worries me, for our neighbours, who are all lovely and have for the most lived here for donkeys years - is that if the planning permission is granted, then the other negihbours will be able to do this legitametly and there will be nothing these nice people can do. (Some have been in the houses since they were new, 40 odd years!!)

The neighbours with the business have been there for coming up to 2 years, and on the day they moved in, they told us that they moved because of problems with their neighbours (I bet) and so they have room to put the castles/inflatables up.

Thanks for taking the time to read/reply.

Jenny

jenny74

googler wrote: »

If the homeowner applies for permish, there'll be a neighbour notification process, and if most or all of those neighbours object, it's difficult to see the application being passed.

QUOTE]

Thanks again, for this. I think this is what the neighbour who has made the complaint wants to hear, I will pass it on.

Cheers

Jenny

planning_officer

Just to clarify - private covenants and planning permission are entirely separate and are not concerned with each other at all.

I wouldn't bother trying to find the deeds or the relevant covenant, as that would be a lot of hassle and you need to find someone to enforce the covenant, which could be very difficult and costly. In the first instance I would rely on the planning system to try and decide whether the business is causing a nuisance. From what you say, it sounds unlikely he will get planning permission if the business is causing a lot of disturbance.

Basically, running a business from home can take place without needing planning permission if it's low key and doesn't alter the character of the house from a residential dwelling. So, someone running a home hairdressers for example, who has three customers a week is unlikely to need permission as the amount of comings and goings are no different to an ordinary home (friends visiting etc).

However, once someone starts employing people, resulting in the need for employeee parking, taking deliveries, having lots of customers, using (usually) more than one room in the house for the business, it is no longer incidental to the main residential use of the property and requires planning permission for a material change of use. Despite all that, it sounds like at the very least there could be a change of use of part of this house to a storage use, for storing the equipment that has nothing to do with the lawful residential use of the property. I had the pleasure to investigate a similar business a few years ago, but it turned out the guy only had one bouncy castle which was hired out once in a blue moon - so no permission was needed for that intensity of use. However, your example seems more like a fully fledged business.

In instances like these, if an application is submitted, neighbour objections can really help - they can really highlight the nature of the business (no. of people coming and going, no. of deliveries, etc) which can help the Council to decide whether it is acceptable in a residential area or not.

Fire_Fox

Who have the neighbours complained to, Planning or Environmental Health?

alm721

Covenants are worthless once the builders have finished and moved on as there is no-one to enfore them, the council will not be interested in convenants. Don't waste time with this, look at the planning permission.

Poppy9

A neighbour on a nearby street has an issue with a resident who is a builder and his employees coming and parking up on the road/pavement all day then going off to work in the bosses van. Also lots of deliveries which take over the pavement on an almost daily basis. I don't understand why they goods are being delivered to the home address and then loaded to be taken to the address they are working at.