Knocking 2 Cottages into one house

BeauBelle

DH and I have seen a pair of cottages for sale that in the agents notes say could potentially be knocked into one big detached house.
The potential is huge with this and it could really be turned into our forever home if it were possible.

What would we need to consider? I have read conflicting advice about needing planning permission vs just building control.

Of the pair, one has been lived in until recently but no CH etc but the other has not been maintained for many years by the look of it.

We have renovation experience, our current home we have gutted, removed walls, put in RSJ's, rewired, new heating system etc so am aware of most potential costs.

Just not sure about the planning side of things. Obviously if we wanted to add an extension we would need planning but do you need it for knocking through?

Any thoughts really appreciated

Many Thanks
BB

Catatonia

I think you need planning permission, but to get a 100% accurate answer why not ring the council involved?

PasturesNew

You do not need planning permission, if it'll still look the same from the outside, but you do need building regs.

You would need planning permission to re-instate the bigger house back to two cottages if you wanted to do that in the future, because you're then creating a new household.

One thing I saw on the telly was where somebody kept two cottages identical and joined them together with a huge conservatory that ran along the back.

Not sure what happens about council tax though as you'd need to de-register one, but I don't know if that forces a revaluation on your new big place, or if that only kicks in when you sell it.

BeauBelle

Thanks for your comments. Thats what I had read PN.

The cottages would look exactly the same from the front just with one of the doors blocked up/turned into a window?

The council tax is an interesting thought. I would think that if we deregistered one cottage then the whole big house would be assessed for council tax?

Lots to consider....

BB

PasturesNew

If Doozergirl turns up and posts.... take what she puts as gospel. She'll have either done it already, or investigated it fully already, or helped somebody do it already.

BeauBelle

Thanks!

I will keep a look out for her!!

BB

G_M

Speak to the Planning Dept. They will know the answer and they tend to be very helpful.

Far more helpful and sympathetic if you ask first; far less so if you go ahead and should have applied but didn't!

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

If Doozergirl turns up and posts.... take what she puts as gospel. She'll have either done it already, or investigated it fully already, or helped somebody do it already.

!! You already gave her the correct advice!

You'd definitely want to ask the Council to come out and re-assess (after you've claimed any appropriate exemptions!) as one more expensive council tax bill is going to be cheaper than two smaller bills for separate dwellings. Reassessment won't automatically trigger until the house is either sold or let to another household but I'm pretty sure they will do it if you ask - just as you'd do on Martin's advice if you thought you were paying too much because they had incorrectly banded it previously.

Check the present bandings on the VOA site. If the empty house has a banding then you won't need Planning Permission for the work unless it's a listed building (check with English Heritage), conservation area or similar. We have done it but it was listed and needed Listed Building Consent. We didn't have it re-assessed because the one part was abandoned with no CT payable so it would have only gone up for us. fyi, you'll convince the council that you're now one house but TV Licensing? Won't listen. Will register your license against one door number and send you threatening letters for the other one forever and ever!

You might do this conversion out of love, but almost without exception, the houses themselves will be worth more as separate dwellings than they are as one. Layouts aren't easy to manage - our house is two cottages knocked into one and then extended (we didn't do it!) but trying to re-jig the layout has been challenging to say the least. It gets complicated with corridors and the positioning of existing windows and entrances etc. and the extensions have different ceiling heights as building regs dictates higher ceilings than the original house had. Makes it quirky though, and we love nothing if not a challenge...

BeauBelle

Thanks for the advice Doozergirl. Will have a look at EH, but don't think that the cottages are listed.
Looking again at the picture of the cottages on the EA site, the house looks like it may at one time have been one dwelling rather than 2.
Will have a chat to the council planning team and see what they say.

Lots to think about tho. The house as one could be lovely. It needs a lot of work to the side that has not been lived in but thought we could start with electrics and plumbing etc and live in the ok side.

There are 5 outbuildings and a garage and the gardens once merged would go all round the property. There is also an established herb garden and vegetable patch that would need a bit of sorting.

The cost of converting, if possible, isn't my main concern. Getting a better life for my family and having a lovely home is.

Thanks for all your help

BB
xx

lincroft1710

It won't be the council you will have to convince about the property being one dwelling, it will be the VOA (unless the cottages are in Scotland). You will need to remove the kitchen from one of the cottages. If you left them untouched but just put a conservatory across the back of the pair then there would still be 2 dwellings for CT purposes.

If you do buy the cottages let us know exactly what you propose doing and I'll advise you accordingly (I'm ex VOA).

sjh1978

As others have said, speak to the council planning department. I am a chartered Town Planner and agree that planning permission is not required for the conversion, but it may be required for any other works (buildings, access etc) that you want / need to do.

Also, the word 'cottage' also throws up the possibility that the buildings are listed. If they are, you will need Listed Building consent (usually councils use planning permission forms for this anyway!) before you can convert. Again speak to the Council planning department on this.

If the cottages are in a Conservation Area, you will also need consent to undertake the works. You guessed it...speak to the planning department.

The council will always have a duty officer on the planning desk, so you can just drop in if you want, otherwise phone them up and ask for the Development Manager for that area.

Good luck!