Single detached garage conversion

tink21

My daughter is considering a masters degree as distance learning, meaning she would remain at home. She needs her independence and peace and quiet! We've looked online and it looks possible to convert a one car garage to a small studio apartment.

The side of the garage wall could open up to come straight into the back garden. Do you think we could put french doors and a window on that wall? To allow access and provide light sources.

Inside would be a bedroom, shower room and toilet, lounge with kitchenette. Would we be able to do this under permitted development or would we need planning?

The garage is detached but wholly on our land. The garage would still look like a garage, the garage door would remain in place.

Need to keep the cost as low as possible. Does anyone have an idea how much I should expect?

Many thanks for any help.

Warwick_Hunt

You may need planning and will need building regs. You'll need to insulate it, run water and electricity to it. How do you plan to heat it?

It'll cost more than you expect.

LandyAndy

My elder son has just finished a Master's degree at Imperial. We paid for it all. Fees, rent in London and subsistence. It cost us just under £19000 for the year. That would be a cheaper option for you. I also doubt you will get permission to do what you want to do.

EachPenny

tink21 wrote: »

Would we be able to do this under permitted development or would we need planning?

The first thing you'd need to check is whether you have any permitted development rights for your house, not everybody does.

The second thing would be to look at any planning consents for your house to see if there are conditions requiring the garage to be provided for parking a car.

The third thing is to look at the PD guidance and see if there is anything which covers your situation.

To be honest I think you have very little chance of what you propose coming under PD, and it is probably unlikely you'd get consent if you applied. Most councils are mindful of the 'beds in sheds' issue and whilst you have a plausible need for this living space, people will wonder what will happen when your daughter moves out... will you start letting it out to other people?

The amount of work you'd need to do to comply with building regs means that it is likely to work out cheaper to demolish entirely and start all over again.

If you do decide to go ahead, don't be tempted to do so without either getting planning consent, or asking the planning authority to confirm in writing that your proposal is covered by PD. If you don't, and they find out what you have done (which they will) then they can require you to remove all of your very expensive conversion work. There was a case in the news only this week about a couple who had tried to turn a garage into living accommodation... they now have an expensive legal bill on top of the cost of removing their conversions.

tink21 wrote: »

The garage is detached but wholly on our land. The garage would still look like a garage, the garage door would remain in place.

This rings alarm bells. If you think leaving the garage door in place means you don't need planning permission then unfortunately you'll find it makes no difference. If you don't apply for planning consent (or have PD) then the garage still looking like a garage on the outside may be classed as 'concealment'. That will almost certainly cause you a very large headache down the line. Retaining the garage door will also make it harder to do the conversion and comply with building regs.

LandyAndy has covered the cost issue... doing it legally and properly is expensive. Doing it illegally even more so in the end.

FreeBear

Another thing to consider is council tax - If the council deem it to be a separate dwelling, it would become liable for full CTX in what ever band they stick it in. When the daughter finally moves on, you would then have to pay tax on it as a second home.

Mr.Generous

Head room for an insulated ceiling could be an issue in most garages. Single skin walls an issue. Solid concrete floor makes things a bit harder, leaving the garage door ??

Buy a static caravan and stick it in the garden.

Davesnave

I wonder how would people have reacted if you'd said "My daughter works in a shop and can't afford her own place, so we'd like to convert the garage to an independent dwelling in order for her to avoid paying rent, council tax and service charges for the next few years while she saves up.

We don't want to alert the authorities, especially as they would make us comply with building regs, so we'll keep the garage doors."

Arguably a laudable reason.

Some people actually do this, and some get away with it, but neighbours have a nasty habit of noticing!

tink21

Thanks for all the responses.

I absolutely want to do this legally and above board; when putting up this post I also drafted an email to the local planning department to confirm the situation. I wouldn't contemplate or take the risk of doing something that was illegal.

Unfortunately living at university isn't an option for her at the moment.
I think I will go back to the drawing board and look for other options.

Davesnave

tink21 wrote: »

I absolutely want to do this legally and above board; when putting up this post I also drafted an email to the local planning department to confirm the situation. I wouldn't contemplate or take the risk of doing something that was illegal.

Legal and illegal is sometimes a rather academic thing when it comes to property law; it's what one can get away with that counts.

For example, I've been living "illegally" in my house for over 8 years now, not having complied with the legal criteria for owning this place.

Now, that doesn't bother me at all, but I'd be very wary about the practical implications of converting a garage for my daughter to live in without meeting basic building regs.

She can find enough cold, damp unhealtthy places to live in herself!

Pdbaggett

Would be cheaper just to rent a studio or small flat for her in the local area for a year or whatever a masters degree takes these days.

rkader

I have a related Q. I have a detached garage, part of which is partitioned off and serves as an office for me.

I am thinking of converting the whole thing into an office and renting it out to a local charity. Does this mean my Council Tax bracket will change as part of the property is now used for commercial purposes? I assume I will need Planning Permission and Building Warrant? There is already underfloor heating etc. It would just need a different door and maybe better insulation.

Also my home insurers don't seem too happy about the idea as we already have an adverse claims history (for unrelated issues) and now might be part commercial use. The spoke about Council tax bands needing to change and seemed about to decline to insure us, Not sure why?

Any thoughts about any of this?