council tax up due to alleged self contained flat

Sandra2021

the issue is that the council are calling the loft extension a "loft flat" and treating it as a separate dwelling whereas she maintains the extension remains  part of her home and a standard loft extension

these are the questions which she needs to  understand the answers to :-

1. has she in fact created a loft flat ? if is, presumably this is because a small kitchenette area was installed ? 

2. if she removes the kitchenette, what would be the process for getting her council tax liability reviewed after doing that ie who would she ask/ appeal to in order to get it recognised as an  extension to the original property as opposed to creation of a new flat?

3. If she chooses to do nothing, presumably she's not breaking the law or anything - she continues to pay an additional council tax?

4. If she chooses to leave it as is, what's to stop her renting it out under a tenancy agreement in future?> Would that be breaking any law?

thank you

TripleH

CIS is probably the best point of contact.

My brother has a house with the basement effectively 'developed' as a self contained flat by the previous owners (it has both an internal and separate external entrance).

He is charged for it as a separate flat, the only reason he's not yet ripped it out and turned it into a pratcave (I do love him honest!) is because his in-laws stayed there between moves and they are having extensive work done to their kitchen so need a backup cooking facility.

Section62

Sandra2021 said:

the issue is that the council are calling the loft extension a "loft flat" and treating it as a separate dwelling whereas she maintains the extension remains  part of her home and a standard loft extension

these are the questions which she needs to  understand the answers to :-

I think there is still a more fundamental question, which has a bearing on the answers to the questions you've posted.

How did the council find out about this?

They don't make routine inquiries of people to find out if they have installed a kitchenette in a room in their house.

AFAIK, there is no law that limits people to having only one food preparation area in a single dwelling.

The council won't normally - out of the blue - demand council tax be paid on a self-contained flat because someone has added a second food preparation area, or forgotten to remove one temporarily installed during renovation work.


The further information you posted is about a planning contravention notice.  That could be how CT found out about the 'flat', but that leaves the question how the planners found out about the planning contravention.  Unless special circumstances apply, work done 5 years ago would not be subject to planning enforcement.


There is something not right here.

Has there been a tenant in the 'flat' that the friend doesn't want to admit to?  E.g. A disgruntled tenant is just the type of person who might report their ex-landlord to the council planners and CT.  Providing interior pictures as 'proof' of the conversion.

How the friend handles things from here on depends on exactly what has happened over the last five years.

Sandra2021

Thanks for input - I will ask her about this  !

Bendy_House

Sandra2021 said:

Can someone help please - friends did a loft conversion about five years ago  and had a tiny kitchenette area installed whilst work was going on plus shower toilet - all on the third floor.
They never actually got around to using it - it's been empty all that time but they delayed removing the kitchenette area after all the works had been done and it just got left in there.
The council wrote to them alleging change of use to self contained flat.
Can it be appealed? thank you

Assuming the loft conversion was overseen by a BCO, they would surely have noticed the kitchenette? Tho' why it took them 5 years to inform Planning I dunno...

It's weird.

Bendy_House

Sandra, does your friend have Leg Prot on her house insurance? They might be able to provide some advice - tho' bear in mind she will be telling them that, according to Planning, she now seemingly has a separate flat in her house...

Section62

Bendy_House said:

Sandra, does your friend have Leg Prot on her house insurance? They might be able to provide some advice - tho' bear in mind she will be telling them that, according to Planning, she now seemingly has a separate flat in her house...

I'd say the friend needs a good think about the last 5 years, and what they plan to do now, before involving their insurance company in anything to do with this.

As you point out, they effectively have two properties that need insuring - with one of them possibly not meeting the basic safety requirements to be a usable self-contained flat.

macman

Building Control, or a disgruntled neighbour, are the obvious sources for the CT dept being notified.
Removal of the kitchenette facilities (rip out the taps, sink and cooker) should be sufficient: submit photographic evidence of before and after. They may remove the separate banding on that basis, but most probably they'll do an inspection.

wilfred30

I think there's something not quite right about this story.

Why did your friends go to all the time, trouble and expense of creating the self contained loft extension (because that's what it is) if they've never used it in the last 5 years and, just as importantly, why did they fit a kitchenette in it in the first place?

I don't think they've got any grounds to appeal the decision but, if they remove the kitchenette, they should be able to ask for a review based on it's new layout.

lincroft1710

I'm ex VOA and spent last 12 yrs of my career dealing with CT appeals and the problem of separate self contained units seemed to occur every month.

If the flat can be accessed without going through a room of the main house, it is correctly separately assessed. If your friend removes the kitchenette, it must be done properly, all pipework removed and plastered over, any cooker point removed and replaced with a blanking plate, or if gas, pipe cut back, capped and plastered over.

There is a possibility that the CT band on the main house could increase when the flat is merged back