Applying for 'change of use' before moving home

markyyyyyy

Hi,

we have had an offer accepted, and also sold our house.

I want to convert the garage into a room to run my sports massage business from home.

I only want to do it if the council grants me permission. Therefore, i want to apply for a change of use, BEFORE signing contracts. Do i need to fill in a full planning application?

Has anyone had experience of this?

Our vendors are yet to have a home, and we have a deadline of July to move by, as our buyers are in rented until the start of july.

If you have done it, is it just a case of filing the application with the council (before informing the vendors)?

Cheers

anto164

So if you think about it, you want to change the use of someone elses garage. I would say you need to wait until its your own property.

Have a look around to see whether anyone else has converted. I cant see it being an issue, but you would need to wait.

Cash-Cows

You don't need to own a property to submit a planning application so the advice from anto is wrong.

You will need to apply for the change of use and serve notice on the owner when you apply.

markyyyyyy

Cash-Cows wrote: »

You don't need to own a property to submit a planning application so the advice from anto is wrong.

You will need to apply for the change of use and serve notice on the owner when you apply.

Exactly what i thought. I'm not willing to proceed with the purchase unless i know that i can convert the garage - at the end of the day it's my livelihood!

I want to know that if neighbours complain (which hopefully they won't!) then i am protected by the change of use!

cheers

NeilCr

Have you followed the excellent Doozergirl's advice in this thread re contacting planning

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5801856

I assume that you have discovered there are no covenants in place? That will make it easier with the neighbours

ETA. Other good comments in there -especially from EachPenny

Cash-Cows

markyyyyyy wrote: »

Exactly what i thought. I'm not willing to proceed with the purchase unless i know that i can convert the garage - at the end of the day it's my livelihood!

I want to know that if neighbours complain (which hopefully they won't!) then i am protected by the change of use!

cheers

The risks are that the vendor doesn't want to wait for the outcome of your planning application (which may not be granted) so puts the house back on the market.

You could ask the Council for informal advice then make a decision whether to apply before or after you've bought the house.

PasturesNew

I sold a house where the buyers wanted to turn it into a B&B. They put in for PP without even telling me, the first I knew was when a letter arrived from the Council acknowledging receipt of the application.

The sale wasn't dependent on it (and PP took too long for the planned sale date). It was granted and they did run it

EachPenny

markyyyyyy wrote: »

Exactly what i thought. I'm not willing to proceed with the purchase unless i know that i can convert the garage - at the end of the day it's my livelihood!

Yes, the correct advice is that you can apply for planning consent on a property you don't own. In a semi-famous case, a grandmother from Merseyside applied for consent to bulldoze Sir Terry Leahy's mansion and turn it into a public park in 'revenge' for Tesco seeking to demolish her home (the application was rejected on the grounds it would disturb a bat habitat I believe )
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/gran-seeks-to-demolish-home-of-tesco-boss-before-supermarket-giant-bulldozes-hers-7286348.html

There is a process you have to follow though. I'm a bit rusty on the details, but I think on the application you have to complete something called "Certificate B" which confirms you've served notice on the people you believe to be the owners - the Notice is called "Notice1" which will look something like this one:-
https://ecab.planningportal.co.uk/uploads/1app/notices/notice1.pdf

You should check with the local planning authority to confirm the actual procedure they want you to follow, as changing use of part of the dwelling is quite a specific thing to do. You also need to consider what happens when you no longer want to use the garage for your business and/or sell the property. Having been changed to business use you'd need to have the use revert back to residential. Although in theory that should be a formality, if the council has planning policies which protect employment sites the reversion might not be straightforward.

Some other things to consider:-

You'll need to think about how this might affect your mortgage application (if any). If part of the property is changed to non-residential this could make it harder to sell if the mortgage company needed to repossess. I don't know how much of a problem this might be, but is a potential complication you might want to check before progressing too far with the applications.

Also, if you are running a business from home you'll need to look into having some form of trade waste agreement. Even if the business only generates very small volumes of waste (say paper towels) the council may (probably?) say that this is non-domestic waste and cannot be included in your household waste bins. This is the kind of question which might come up during the planning application process as one section of the planning application covers the storage and disposal of waste. If you need separate bins for trade waste/recycling then you'll need to explain where these will be stored.

Rather than just making the application it would be a very good idea to talk to the Council first. They may not be willing to give any 'free' advice, but you might be lucky and get good advice from them on the best way to proceed.

Cash-Cows

Also this vendor might put the price up with planning permission as it!!!8217;s more valuable with PP than without it. Well to you anyway.

lincroft1710

You do realise that it could easily take until July for a council to approve a planning application, especially one which may be considered controversial (a business in a residential area with expected increased vehicular and pedestrian traffic).

Neighbours will be able to object to the planning application. But as suggested by a previous poster first check there is no restrictive covenant on the property preventing its use or part thereof as a business.

comeandgo

Even if you did get planning permission the restricted covenant wiil still stand.