adding kitchen and renting rooms

cowsnhope

Hi
I am thinking of putting a kitchen in one of my bedrooms and a bath in my living room, my plan would be that I could then let out the other bedroom to a couple who would then have sole use of a bathroom and kichen upstairs whilst I used the rooms downstairs - I'm not thinking of dividing my house into two flats but just putting in extra facilities. Does anyone know if I'd need planning permision and if I would be likely to get it and if there are any other problems that I've not thought of? Also would any lodger living like this be charged council tax as if they were living in a flat?Thank you for your help.

Annisele

I don't think you'll need planning permission, but you probably will need Building Regulations Approval.

I suspect that doing this would cost quite a lot, and end up devaluing your house - not many people will want to buy somewhere with two kitchens. Wouldn't you be better off just letting the room and sharing the kitchen/bathroom?

cowsnhope

Thank you - that is good news. I know it will cost a lot and devalue my house if I don't then put it back, hopeful taking out a kitchen will cost less than putting one in. Financially it doesn't look sensible but I'm struggling with having lodgers - probably due to problems on both sides - and if I could have more of my own space that would be good - seems good from the lodgers point of view too.

Annisele

Hmm. If you think it doesn't look sensible financially, and you're not keen on having lodgers in your house - why lodgers at all?

There might be other ways of keeping the lodgers, but feeling like you have a bit more space. For example, do you live in the kind of place where it would be viable to have a lodger just Monday to Friday?

cowsnhope

Thank you Annisele for your interest and advice. I've just written a long message explaining my situation and then deleted it as really it doesn't matter; this may seem financially daft but it is actually the best option for me - I'm just really hoping that there's not some regulation that means I can't do it. I think I'll lose out on the tax allowance thing I can get at the moment if I rent out more than one room but I'm not sure about that. If I do this I will probably have recovered the costs after two years which is not so bad.

Brallaqueen

Be careful. What you are proposing is blurring the lines between lodger (shared facilities) and tenant (renting a self contained unit) and can create all sorts of mess especially if you want to evict lodgers and the courts decide they are tenants with all the protections tenants have!

EDIT
there actually is a status in between - occupier with basic protection. Can't evict during the fixed term, can have periodic tenancies like a tenant does, requires a court order to evict


http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/private_tenancies/occupiers_with_basic_protection

lincroft1710

Another thing to consider is that you will be creating 2 self contained dwellings which means 2 Council Tax bands.

seven-day-weekend

cowsnhope wrote: »

Hi
I am thinking of putting a kitchen in one of my bedrooms and a bath in my living room, my plan would be that I could then let out the other bedroom to a couple who would then have sole use of a bathroom and kichen upstairs whilst I used the rooms downstairs - I'm not thinking of dividing my house into two flats but just putting in extra facilities. Does anyone know if I'd need planning permision and if I would be likely to get it and if there are any other problems that I've not thought of? Also would any lodger living like this be charged council tax as if they were living in a flat?Thank you for your help.

You probably won't need Planning Permission but will almost certainly need Building Regulations Approval. Contact your local Council's Building Control.

cowsnhope

Thank you all.
Does this mean that if I have lodgers who do not pay their rent that I would need a court order to evict them? Additionally if that is the case how long does it take to get a court order and how much might that cost me? Also as an aside, my insurance company has told me that my insurance will not cover me if I let to people claiming benefits ( I think that this is discrimination and I do not agree with it) my insurance is only for the building - not contents. So if I let to people who subsequently become unemployed and did not tell me or were unable to move on where would this leave me if my house burnt down?

On the council tax thing I'm confused as to whether or not I would be creating two dwellings - I can see for the purposes of the tenancy that I would be as I would not be sharing space - however for council tax I'm unsure as the upstairs would not be separated from the downstairs by a front door and we would be sharing bills, heating and internet so I don't know if if it is separate - I'm ok if it is I just don't know where the line is drawn.

On the building regs thing it looks like I'll be ok if the work is done by someone who can self certify the work - does that sound right?

Thank you all for your help - I'm a bit muddled.

cowsnhope

Hello, just thought I'd re-ask this as I'm still a bit confused. On the one hand I can see that if I let out rooms in my house where the lodger / tenant would have sole use of a kitchen and bathroom along with sitting room and bedroom and no access to my living space that I would be creating two dwellings in terms of tenants rights; however I would be sharing a front door, bills, broadband, sky, heating etc and I would occasionally need access to the upstairs to get into the loft which makes me wonder if in fact it is one dwelling in other respects and if this makes any difference to anyone and might pose a future problem - all the rooms would have locks other than the upstairs bathroom which can be latched only from within, there would be no front door within the house to the upstairs to separate the two areas.

I'm not trying to create two flats but I can see that I might be seem to be doing this; am just a bit worried that I might go ahead and do this and then find out it was a big mistake for some reason I've not thought of. I can contact the council about council tax and it doesn't really matter one way or the other I'd just be interested in a heads up. Really I'm asking if there's anything I've not thought off as I've not done this before.

Many thanks for your help.

seven-day-weekend

If you don't want to share personal living space with your lodger, you don't have to, tell them they come into your sitting room by invitation only, the same as you would have permission before entering their bedroom (put it that you will then both have your own space).Create an ensuite bedroom and then you will only have to share the kitchen and common parts.