Converting house into a maisonette?

sheramber

Joco said:

I undertook to convert my 1st and 2nd floor (ie 2-storey) maisonette into 2 maisonettes 5 years ago. Due to health problems, the stress involved of having a cowboy builder desert the project, taking most of the budget, an unhelpful building control company, rising costs etc, I am considering abandonning the project and putting in a kitchen and bathroom on the top floor. It will have its own front door and be closed off from the maisonette below, although access would have to be via that maisonette (my dwelling). As the gas, electricity and water supplies will be shared, I assum that people living on the top floor will count as lodgers, rather than tenants. If any service is provided, this is also a way of ensuring that they do not have the same rights as tenants. A
Other advantages of having lodgers rather than tenants are that there is the Rent a Room scheme which gives you an tax allowance of about £7000 a year or you can opt to declare expenses and save on tax that way. 
I am planning to include a 'fair use' allowance towards bills, based on my typical household bills to avoid lodgers using excessive amounts of gas and electricity.

You need to check out the Rent a Room eligibity

opt in to the scheme at any time if:

• you’re a resident landlord, whether or not you own your home
• you run a bed and breakfast or a guest house

You cannot use the scheme for homes converted into separate flats

https://www.gov.uk/rent-room-in-your-home/the-rent-a-room-scheme

lincroft1710

Joco said:

I undertook to convert my 1st and 2nd floor (ie 2-storey) maisonette into 2 maisonettes 5 years ago. Due to health problems, the stress involved of having a cowboy builder desert the project, taking most of the budget, an unhelpful building control company, rising costs etc, I am considering abandonning the project and putting in a kitchen and bathroom on the top floor. It will have its own front door and be closed off from the maisonette below, although access would have to be via that maisonette (my dwelling). As the gas, electricity and water supplies will be shared, I assume that people living on the top floor will count as lodgers, rather than tenants. If any service is provided, this is also a way of ensuring that they do not have the same rights as tenants. 
Other advantages of having lodgers rather than tenants are that there is the Rent a Room scheme which gives you an tax allowance of about £7000 a year or you can opt to declare expenses and save on tax that way. 
I am planning to include a 'fair use' allowance towards bills, based on my typical household bills to avoid lodgers using excessive amounts of gas and electricity.

By doing this you will have created a self contained unit whose occupiers would be your tenants not lodgers. Also depending on exactly how this second maisonette is accessed, there may now be 2 dwellings for Council Tax purposes.

RAS

There have been a number of cases on here where the VOA have decided that a room in an HMO with an ensuite is a separate dwelling for CT purposes. Didn't of course advise the lodgers who continued to pay their CT to the LL and then got a backdated bill from the Council.
 
Another where a lodger in a room previously used as an art studio (it had a sink) was designated a separate dwelling for CT purposes because a neighbour spotted the lodger using a rice cooker.

Lodgers are expected to share facilities with the householder, not to have separate ones.

So you need to be very careful what you assume with regard the status of the facilities you offer and the status of the occupiers.