What constitutes "Living" in a house?

vet8

Can anyone explain how the planning dept. defines "living" somewhere. I am possibly in conflict with the local planners over whether I live somewhere, but I need to know exactly what they mean by that - sleeping there, keeping my possessions there, eating there, spending more than a certain number of hours a day there? They are not forthcoming with the answer of course.


Has anyone got any ideas?


Thanks.

slopemaster

I suspect it wd include staying overnight regularly.
But probably depends on exact context

Guest101

It's nothing to do with where you sleep.

It's your primary residence, where your officially registered with the majority of things eg dvla, car registration, bills, council tax, electoral roll etc.

vet8

Guest101 wrote: »

It's nothing to do with where you sleep.

It's your primary residence, where your officially registered with the majority of things eg dvla, car registration, bills, council tax, electoral roll etc.

Now that is interesting. For 3 years we lived in a flat, but kept our official address as our old place while the building was going on, so bank, tax, DVLA, etc all went there, but we did pay council tax on the flat.


It was just easier to keep things at the old address rather than move them twice, but the planners seemed happy with that.

G_M

As above, I assume you are talking about 'primary residence'. Your main home (as opposed to a 2nd home, pace you visit etc).

There is no specific legal definition. The authorities (in this case the council) will look at a variety of factors and draw a conclusion:

Address used for
*bank acounts
* car registration at DVLA
* employer
* voter registration
* pension scheme
* etc

Where do you sleep most often.. And why?!
eg if you sleep at your girl/boyfriend's house 5 nights in 7 that would (probably) not alter your 'primary residence' in itself
eg if you work abroad so are not 'living' at 'home' it would still be your 'primary residence' unless, say, you let it out to tenants and were an 'overseas resident for HMRC purposes.

Is the 'other' home owned by someone else? Rented by you? Are you a tenant there? or a guest?

There are other factors, but as you can see, it is not clear-cut.

slopemaster

"primary residence" is not the same as "occupation" of a property.
We don't know which is being referred to here.

OP, I think we need to know more of context

vet8

slopemaster wrote: »

"primary residence" is not the same as "occupation" of a property.
We don't know which is being referred to here.

OP, I think we need to know more of context

We have converted a building into a holiday let as that was the only planning approval we could get. The council tax woman came around a few weeks ago to assess for council tax and she reckons we are living in it. Now the planning dept. has come down all heavy.


We are there all day as we are building, decorating, gardening etc. and we do eat meals there quite a lot as it saves travelling back to the other address etc. Sometime we stay overnight as it is easier. As I said earlier I have always had it as my official address for voting, tax, bank etc. The planners say we will be in trouble if we are shown to be living there which is why I am seeking a definition.


We are staying at a friends house so are not on the council tax register for another property, but I do not see that we have to be.

Kynthia

I'm not sure that there is a definition of 'living' somewhere, but facts are looked at in order to make a judgement.

You spend all your time there, eat there, regularly sleep there, are registered to vote there, have it as your billing address and have your post delivered there. Apart from sleeping somewhere else more often then you sleep there, somewhere you don't own or occupy exclusively and somewhere you aren't registered for council tax, it does sound like you are living there.

The best way to show you aren't living somewhere is to prove that you live somewhere else but you can't do that.

laidbackgjr

Yes that doesn't sound like it's operating as a holiday let - don't think anyone staying there on holiday would want all your post arriving to disturb their holiday.

eddddy

vet8 wrote: »

...The planners say we will be in trouble if we are shown to be living there which is why I am seeking a definition.

Here are some councils' clarifications on this topic:

http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/media/236823/Holiday-accomodation-FAQs.pdf

http://www2.eastriding.gov.uk/environment/planning-and-building-control/planning-permission/building-without-planning-permission/holiday-accommodation-guidance/

https://www.gwynedd.gov.uk/en/Council/Documents---Council/Strategies-and-policies/Environment-and-planning/Planning-policy/Unitary-Development-Plan/SPG-Holiday-accommodation.pdf

slopemaster

I think in order for it to be defined as a holiday place you must show that you pay council tax somewhere else.
Also they can take into account things like where you are registered with a doctor; where childredn go to school etc