Planning permission breach on house of interest?

firely2327

Hi All


I'll keep this as brief as possible. Looking for a house and interested in one but found out about a potential snag today. It's a two bed with a recently (within last 5 years or so) added annex with en-suite, living room and kitchen. There's no way to enter the annex except via the back garden.
When I asked about this today I was told that once it was built and signed off on, the internal connection/door between the house and annex was sealed off.


The question is, is this a breach of regs/illegal?


FYI, the original doorway is still there, just boarded over and in the main house now has the cooker where the doorway once was. In the annex there's just the wall. So revealing the door again will take some rejigging of the main kitchen and obvious redecoration of both. I've put the question to the estate agent today regarding price and indicated that if I intend on putting in an offer the above work would be in my mind regarding price.....


Thanks for any input

Hoploz

It seems to me it doesn't really matter whether there's been any breach of anything legal. At the time of inspection it can be assumed the door was in place, but now it isn't.

The crux of this is whether you want to reinstate a door. If you do then you'll have to bear the cost, another buyer might choose to leave it. So you can ask for a discount for this reason, or you can offer less for any other reason ... The alignment of the stars ..?

But at the end of the day it boils down to the price you want to pay vs the price they want to sell for.

davidmcn

Are you buying with a mortgage? Lenders can be funny about properties with annexes, particularly if it's separated like this.

3mph

Does it count as two separate rateable properties if separate entrances and 2 kitchens?
I don't know but a flat I tried to buy which was two lots of 2 bedroom flats combined had to have the fittings taken out of one kitchen to avoid two lots of council rates.

G_M

Look at the plans. What do they show?

firely2327

G_M wrote: »

Look at the plans. What do they show?

I've seen plans online from a few years ago, at the planning permission stage. There were three doors to enter the annex, one from the main house, one from the kitchen of the annex to the side of the plot and French doors from the annex kitchen to the back garden. Now there's only the doors from the kitchen to the garden, so they've changed a bit compared to the original plans.


Currently looking online for other properties

firely2327

3mph wrote: »

Does it count as two separate rateable properties if separate entrances and 2 kitchens?
I don't know but a flat I tried to buy which was two lots of 2 bedroom flats combined had to have the fittings taken out of one kitchen to avoid two lots of council rates.

That's an interesting point. If they have a combined gas/elec supply/meter does it still count do you know please?

firely2327

Hoploz wrote: »

It seems to me it doesn't really matter whether there's been any breach of anything legal. At the time of inspection it can be assumed the door was in place, but now it isn't.

The crux of this is whether you want to reinstate a door. If you do then you'll have to bear the cost, another buyer might choose to leave it. So you can ask for a discount for this reason, or you can offer less for any other reason ... The alignment of the stars ..?

But at the end of the day it boils down to the price you want to pay vs the price they want to sell for.

Yes, but planning ahead. If I wish to sell in a few years time I don't want to get caught out. Good to know of any legal issues now so that I don't get bogged down further down the line and have to pay additional costs before I shift the property again

Hoploz

There isn't any legal issue. Look at it like an MOT. It was fine on the day so the building regs certificate was issued. Next day something went wrong, it wouldn't pass on that day.

You need to check the details regarding council tax as suggested above, but whether it meets criteria it once did, really doesn't matter. There will be no enforcement from building regs (once it's signed off that's that) and planning couldn't enforce if it's been built over 4 years. They would only be interested if it was used as a separate dwelling. (change of use)

People make alterations to their properties all the time. Sometimes with sign off, sometimes without.

CIS

If it's currently capable of separate occupation then there's a good chance it should be banded separately, especially as it has its own kitchen and bathroom. The Valuation Office would need to take a look at it.

Craig

lincroft1710

Providing there is access to the garden other than through the rooms of the main house, then the annex meets the requirements for its own Council Tax band. Shared gas and electric do not stop an annex having its own CT band