Converting house into a maisonette?

DomSully40

Hi all - spoke to a builder about this and he was against it saying it would become 2 separate dwellings, 2 separate gas meters etc ..

is it not possible to rent out the upstairs with bills included or something? 

Thanks in advance 

eddddy

If you want to convert a house into 2 flats/maisonettes, there are much bigger challenges than the gas meters.

Instead, I'd have thought you could just have lodgers upstairs (e.g. a lodger couple or a lodger family) with the use of the upstairs kitchen, upstairs bathroom, and a door separating them from you to give them some privacy etc. (But I'm no expert on the rules and regs relating to lodgers.)

lincroft1710

Your post is lacking a lot of info.

Do you want to let out the upstairs as one tenancy?

Will the tenant have their own bathroom and kitchen?


If you can get the necessary planning permission and building regulations approval, you could have a separate upstairs flat, and have separate meters and separate council tax bands so the tenant becomes responsible for all bills. I can't see why the builder was making a fuss about separate meters, there must be hundreds of thousands of flats so converted 

Alderbank

Do you own the property outright (no mortgage, etc.)?

Is it a house in a street of single occupancy houses?

I have worked for a Housing Association who did this because the bedroom tax meant they had a surplus of 3 bed houses and a shortage of 1 bed properties. There was intense opposition from neighbours who all complained that replacing a family home with accommodation for single men ('druggies' I think they called them) would place their children at serious risk. The local council was dead against as well. 

Technically the conversions were very expensive and did not result in very appealing flats, difficult to get sofas upstairs, etc.
Would you have enough space for off-street parking for the increased number of dwellings?

Certainly possible to rent out the upstairs without any conversion. If the landlord lives downstairs it cannot be an AST though.
'Bills included' will be attractive to the new tenant but might be regretted by the landlord when paying the gas bill.

FreeBear

eddddy said: Instead, I'd have thought you could just have lodgers upstairs (e.g. a lodger couple or a lodger family) with the use of the upstairs kitchen, upstairs bathroom, and a door separating them from you to give them some privacy etc. (But I'm no expert on the rules and regs relating to lodgers.)

Put simply, if they have their own facilities, they would be tenants, not lodgers.

DomSully40

Thanks all, sorry for the lack of information.

The house it mortgage free, mid terrace (6 house row) ex council.

Someone mentioned about having a lodger but it sounded a bit dodgy.

The goal would be the downstairs for my parents, and I can then rent out the upstairs so me and my partner can move out, but have an additional income, it’s to big of a house for just my parents,

we was thinking of buying them a flat and renting this house out, but if there’s a way to convert it into 2 it might be a better all round solution 

user1977

DomSully40 said:

The house it mortgage free, mid terrace (6 house row) ex council.

How feasible is it to convert it into two flats? Has anybody nearby done anything similar? Getting planning permission would be the initial major hurdle.

eddddy

FreeBear said:

eddddy said: Instead, I'd have thought you could just have lodgers upstairs (e.g. a lodger couple or a lodger family) with the use of the upstairs kitchen, upstairs bathroom, and a door separating them from you to give them some privacy etc. (But I'm no expert on the rules and regs relating to lodgers.)

Put simply, if they have their own facilities, they would be tenants, not lodgers.

Yep - so presumably the OP can retain the right to use the upstairs facilities, but choose not to use them.

DomSully40

user1977 said:

DomSully40 said:

The house it mortgage free, mid terrace (6 house row) ex council.

How feasible is it to convert it into two flats? Has anybody nearby done anything similar? Getting planning permission would be the initial major hurdle.

Pretty feasible, not to my knowledge no, some HMO’s in the street though 

lincroft1710

Being ex-council there is always a possibility of some conditions being attached to the original sale and subsequent sales such as only to be used as a single dwelling house.


Unless the upstairs has its own kitchen and bathroom, would your parents be happy sharing facilities

Ath_Wat

eddddy said:

FreeBear said:

eddddy said: Instead, I'd have thought you could just have lodgers upstairs (e.g. a lodger couple or a lodger family) with the use of the upstairs kitchen, upstairs bathroom, and a door separating them from you to give them some privacy etc. (But I'm no expert on the rules and regs relating to lodgers.)

Put simply, if they have their own facilities, they would be tenants, not lodgers.

Yep - so presumably the OP can retain the right to use the upstairs facilities, but choose not to use them.

I'd be prepared to pay a lot less rent for that than I would for a properly separate flat.