Planning question

tiernsee

I saw a property yesterday that had been converted into two flats. Both flats have their own council tax band but apparently there is "concern" that the initial conversion did not have planning permission. Has anyone experience of this situation. Given that the council are accepting two council tax payments from the property what are likely to be the issues with applying for retrospective planning consent? Obviously if I decide to proceed I would fully involve my solicitor but before getting to this point thought I would see if anyone had experience or advice on this situation.
Many thanks

Doozergirl

As long as the property isn't listed or in an otherwise architecturally important area, if you can show that Council Tax has been paid for more than four years, then that is your easiest bet of proving continued use as a dwellling. If you can do that, then you should be able to obtain a Certificate of Lawful Development.

Building Regulations - is more complicated than that. If the conversion doesn't have building regulations approval then they could in theory come after you at any point, though after a period of twelve months they would have to obtain a court order and it's really unlikely that they would bother.

My concern would be the integrity of the conversion though. If you were planning to rent them out, what if there was a fire and it was shown that the conversion hadn't been carried out with proper fireproofing or escape methods etc in place? Would you then be liable? It's easy to get away with things not conforming until something goes wrong, at which point people will be quick to point the finger.

pixiepie99

tiernsee wrote: »

I saw a property yesterday that had been converted into two flats. Both flats have their own council tax band but apparently there is "concern" that the initial conversion did not have planning permission.

Your Local Authority should have an online system called Public Access where you can check whether planning permission was granted for the conversion.

camptownraces

pixiepie99 wrote: »

Your Local Authority should have an online system called Public Access where you can check whether planning permission was granted for the conversion.

It very much depends on how long ago the conversion was done.

For instance, a Victorian house converted in 1940 to two separate self contained flats would not have needed planning permission, because the planning system was not in existence at all until 1947.

Council tax and planning are two totally separate departments within a local authority. Just because the council tax people are aware there are two dwellings doesn't mean that planning people are aware, nor that that planning permission had been obtained if that were necessary.

CIS

Council Tax Banding's are decided by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) who are independent of the council. They usually get their information from the council planning department but there are other ways for them to get the information.

The Council are obliged to bill the properties if they are informed by the VOA that it is a dwelling. They cannot choose not to go with the VOA's decision and therefore it does not enter in to your dispute other than to suggest that the work was done X years ago.