Two houses into one

cts_casemod

I'm planing to purchase  a property adjacent to mine. What does one need to know to combine the two properties into one, in the sense of a single council tax / utilities?
We plan to make an opening on the upstairs landing and remove the kitchen (its an open plan living room / kitchen, so that space will be reclaimed into a single living room), but at the moment funds are tight and we are simply planning to use the second home as our office space, reclaiming the room on the exixting property as a bedroom for our child.
Any lines of advice?

Slithery

Do you have planning permission to combine the properties?

hazyjo

Do you have a mortgage or will you need one on the second property? They're unlikely to permit it as two into one is likely to be less than two separate properties.

Scotbot

I wou,d assume you need planning permission.  Check with your local planning officer

cts_casemod

Thanks, what does the planning permission involve, if we are not yet to knock any walls? Thanks

lincroft1710

cts_casemod said:

Thanks, what does the planning permission involve, if we are not yet to knock any walls? Thanks

Converting 2 dwellings into a single dwelling. 

Although it sounds petty by doing this you are depriving the housing stock of a dwelling. Some planning authorities want/need their existing housing stock kept as high as possible so may refuse permission for the conversion.

cts_casemod

Most guidance I see only notes PP for listed buildings, external works, or those in London/other areas where the housing stock is low. 

From what I gathered This is set out in Section 55(3)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 specifically for the avoidance of doubt.
"Two houses into one doesn't require permission because no change of use has occurred. But converting the new single family dwelling back into two dwellings at a later date does require permission"

snowcat75

There is no reason why the utilitys cant remain as is for the moment likewise with CT....
Doing all the internal works will require no PP although technically BC may be needed for some, but if your planning to live there for a long while, I wouldn't be over bothered on the more minor works.

The biggest issue your have is making a workable layout, and eventually your probably have to build a new front to the house this would require PP, but as your talking a peace mill project you can work one step at a time.

macman

You'd need to get the two properties reclassified as one by the VO. Nothing to do with the LA. Until you do that, you will pay CT on both properties.
If you knock through a structural wall, you need building regs approval from your LA.
And you will need to merge the utilities: water, gas and electricity. Otherwise you will be paying standing charges on both properties. This will involve quite a lot of work rerouting the services to go through one set of meters, both upstream and downstream.

snowcat75

macman said:

You'd need to get the two properties reclassified as one by the VO. Nothing to do with the LA. Until you do that, you will pay CT on both properties.
If you knock through a structural wall, you need building regs approval from your LA.
And you will need to merge the utilities: water, gas and electricity. Otherwise you will be paying standing charges on both properties. This will involve quite a lot of work rerouting the services to go through one set of meters, both upstream and downstream.

The VO cant value until its a completed project. Its also unwise to get utility's removed until your 100% sure there not needed anymore, as the standing charge for decades is far less than a single connection fee.
At the moment all the OP needs to do is buy the property and then come up with a plan to redesign it, this could happen over years, or when money prevails.. So at the moment past the purchase there's little point in jumping in and doing anything.