Garage Purchase

No1Helen

Has anybody had any experience of buying a single garage and are there any pitfalls. Someone locally is selling one privately in a standalone row of three. The current owner has said that their mortgage company is fine with it. Would there be council tax liable and if used for storage would it need a change of use. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks

lincroft1710

Single lock up garages are exempt from Council Tax (they are not a dwelling) and business rates if they are used to house a private motor car. Probably exempt if used for storage of articles of domestic use also. Non business storage would not need a change of use.

I know someone who rents at least one council/HA owned LU garage and uses it for storage and some items aren't really for domestic use. Unless you annoy the other occupiers and don't store hazardous or illegal material, no-one will care what you store in the garage.

AdrianC

Make very sure of the condition - especially the roof and door.
Insurance may be an issue.
Consider where you want to draw the compromise between security and drawing attention to the contents as potentially valuable.

But, apart from that, just do it - I've rented lockups in various places over the years, and never had any problems at all.