Buying ex-guesthouse?

Contessa

I've seen a house which was a guest house. Can anyone foresee more complications buying this, rather than an ordinary private dwelling? I'm wondering about Council Tax, change of use. Thanks.

uk_property_expert

change of use will be a challenge, speak to local planning oficer and a mortgage may be a challenge

G_M

Rules in England are different to Scotland. Which is it?
What is the current class use: C1 hotels bording and guest houses?
How many bedrooms?

Contessa

Thanks for your reply. It's in England.Only 4/5 bedrooms. Don't know about the category as yet.

PasturesNew

You could run it as a guesthouse .... and charge £500/night ... so you'd never get any bookings

Contessa

PasturesNew wrote: »

You could run it as a guesthouse .... and charge £500/night ... so you'd never get any bookings

If I could get £500/night I'd happily run it as a guesthouse!

G_M

With only 4-5 bedrooms it may well not be classed as C1 guesthouse use - as I'd guess at least 2 were used by the owners rathger than by guests.

Bed and breakfast accommodation is available under many guises from one bedroom in a small house to the full facilities of a hotel.

The need for planning permission is dependent on the relationship between the rooms used for visitors and the accommodation used by the family of the house. Planning permission is required where the visitor accommodation ceases to be ancillary to the main use of the house as a dwelling and becomes a significant use in its own right. This is usually evidenced by the number of guest rooms and the number of rooms made available for visitor use.

Planning permission will usually be required where guest rooms are equal to or exceed half the bedrooms in the house or other rooms are provided for the sole use of guests e.g. T.V. Lounge.

The judgement is a matter of fact and degree and the following information is required to determine if permission is required.

How many bedrooms are there in the house and how many are guest rooms?
How many other rooms are available for the sole use of guests?
How many parking spaces are available for - family?
- visitors?
Are other facilities available e.g. self catering, evening meals etc?

Even if it is class 1 use, it would probobly not be hard to return it to residential use

Contessa

G_M, thanks. From what you say it doesn't seem like too much of a problem if I decide to go ahead.

leveller2911

Locally to me a guesthouse change hands and the new owner devided it into 4 apartments.Needless to say the council have now got involved and its gone all the way to the planning inspector at Bristol.
His final decision has been that the new owner must take out all of the alterations at his own expense.

The reason for this was given that the "Loss of the guesthouse would have a detramental effect on the local industry".Its in a town that relies on the tourist industry and although there are lots of guesthouses locally they wouldn't stand for losing one.I would say be very,very,very carefull OP

Fire_Fox

If you get refused change of use by planning you can appeal, this is done nationally so it isn't a whitewash - we now have a bookies in a designated retail area as a result of that system.

Debt_Free_Chick

I'm not so sure that you need to apply for change of use. Surely, this is a residential dwelling already, which also has PP for use as a guesthouse. But you will not be forced to operate a guesthouse business - you simply have permission to do that, should you wish to.