Convert large home to two flats.

Mustbeananswer??

The large home i'm referring to is two houses knocked into one.I'm wanting to convert it to two flats and wonder what legally I have to do to do this.

I will be living in the first floor flat and a child and his girlfriend of a friend will be occupying the ground floor flat.When they leave I may be interested in selling one of the properties...When that happens will I be paying Council Tax on both(obviously not when its sold....but will both flats be liable for council tax??).

Initially I would have to put in a kitchen upstairs and a bathroom down...thats not the problem....I am well connected and have the tradesman to do that.There would be little change to the outside appearance of the property.Would this be a clerical/planning nightmare for me to enter into please??;)

anselld

You need planning permission.
You need building regs approval including adequate fire and sound separation between the two flats and between each flat and the communal areas. (This will be quite onerous and expensive)
You will probably need acoustic testing as part of BR sign off.
You will need separate utility supplies.
You will need BR compliance certificates for the separate gas and electrical installations.
You will need to get it re-valued by the VOA on completion as two seperate units.
(On the plus side, if you manage to make it uninhabitable during development you can probably have it temporarily removed from the VOA list.)
You will need so have permission from your insurer and mortgage company.
You will ultimately make it unmortgageable unless you also do the legal work to split the separate flat leases from the freehold.

... but it *is* possible!

Old_Git

depends on the area but if it was two houses to begin with why not just convert it back into two houses

Doozergirl

Everything said above.

It would certainly be easier (and therefore cheaper) from a building regs point of view to take it back to two houses.

lincroft1710

Agree with all above comments, plus a house is usually worth more than a flat.

Mustbeananswer??

That is not a bad idea actually......would it avoid having to do a lot of the things that anselld mentioned??

anselld

Mustbeananswer?? wrote: »

That is not a bad idea actually......would it avoid having to do a lot of the things that anselld mentioned??

You need planning permission.
[STRIKE]You need building regs approval including adequate fire and sound separation between the two flats and between each flat and the communal areas. (This will be quite onerous and expensive)[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]You will probably need acoustic testing as part of BR sign off.[/STRIKE]
You need BR approval for any structural changes, new soil pipes, etc. Nothing too arduous.
You will need separate utility supplies.
You will need BR compliance certificates for the separate gas and electrical installations.
You will need to get it re-valued by the VOA on completion as two seperate units.
(On the plus side, if you manage to make it uninhabitable during development you can probably have it temporarily removed from the VOA list.)
You will need so have permission from your insurer and mortgage company.
[STRIKE]You will ultimately make it unmortgageable unless you also do the legal work to split the separate flat leases from the freehold.[/STRIKE]
You still need a bit of legal work to split the registered titles.

Mustbeananswer??

Thanks for that anselld and everyone who contributed....

Mustbeananswer??

Could I just ask further...just putting in a bathroom downstairs and a kitchen upstairs would and a bit of partitioning wouldn't require any of this legal stuff??

Doozergirl

If you partition these flats off, yes it would. You are introducing new risks which need to be addressed for your own safety.

I'm pretty sure that putting a kitchen upstairs would have fire escape implications as well.

Mustbeananswer??

Never thought about the fire escape..thanks....