Buying ex-guesthouse?

planning_officer

It depends on the last use of the property - yes it may have been a mixed use comprising a dwelling and guest house, or just as a guest house. Whilst it may originally have been a dwelling, if the last use was as a guest house, then that is the lawful use of the property. My view is that with 4/5 bedrooms, one may have been used by the family and that would definitely make it a guest house (Use Class C1) as opposed to a residential dwelling (Use Class C3). My authority is more strict than G_Ms above, as I wouldn't say that half of the bedrooms being for guest use would make it primarily a dwelling. My authority takes the view that any more than one bedroom would constitute a change of use to a guest house or B+B - although it obviously depends on the case and is a matter of fact and degree.

Do check the policies of your Local Plan though, as has been mentioned above - it may be perfectly acceptable to change the use to a single dwelling, however your Council may have strict policies requiring the retention of tourist acommodation, so on the other hand it may not be very easy at all to get a change of use. In that case, you would need probably need to undertake a thorough marketing exercise to show there was no interest or demand for it as a guest house, which would take a long time! And yes, while you can appeal any refusal, Planning Inspectors still have to decide appeals on the basis of local and national planning policy, so it's not as though they will necessarily look at it any differently.

martindow

What would happen if the OP bought it and then failed to market the rooms or asked such a ridiculously high price, as has been suggested, to deter any guests? On paper it would be a guest house but in practice nobody apart from the OP's family would be there.