Change of use from Holiday Let to Residential

Liz_Rose

I’ve seen a property that is for sale but is currently a holiday let. The planning permission was given to build the house as a holiday let stating it cannot be lived in one month of the year and no one can stay for more than 3 months a year.

I’ve read that if you want to change use within the same category (C) then PP is not required, would this be the case for this property considering it was built as a holiday let and never meant to be a home?

The estate agent sent me a copy of the last 5 years accounts for the property showing only £10,000 gross income of bookings on average per year (very low for this area). 

If I were to buy it and use the previous owners accounts do I have a good reason for change of use from C1 to C3?

I’ve checked the local planning applications and the current owners haven’t applied for change of use.

user1977

Why is its income very low for the area? I would expect that's the first question the planners would ask.

In other circumstances you need to demonstrate some sort of effort to make the existing permitted use work, before you can declare it uneconomic.

In any event, are the sellers likely to consider a purchase which is conditional on planning? If they thought planning was easy and would produce a better price, why haven't they done it themselves?

MultiFuelBurner

First step is to talk to the local authority the property is in about the planning questions you have. They are best to advise.

As for your questions of accounts for the property all I would say is "potentially" not everything would go through the books.

gazfocus

There could be a number of reasons why the property only gets £10,000 per year so I think you'd need to run it as a business yourself before being able to say it's uneconomical. 

As an example, the current owners could limit the bookings to remain under a certain tax threshold, they could use the property themselves (or let family use it) during peak periods, they might just not be very good at advertising it...a lot of people just put their properties on Airbnb and think they'll get a rush of guests but that's not really how it works.

As for getting pp straight away to live there rather than holiday accommodation, I think you'll struggle personally.

p00hsticks

Is the property part of a larger complex of similar ones ? 

Section62

Liz_Rose said:

I’ve seen a property that is for sale but is currently a holiday let. The planning permission was given to build the house as a holiday let stating it cannot be lived in one month of the year and no one can stay for more than 3 months a year.

I’ve read that if you want to change use within the same category (C) then PP is not required, would this be the case for this property considering it was built as a holiday let and never meant to be a home?

Where people say planning permission isn't required, what they usually mean is that the change is either 'permitted development' or is a change which is otherwise specifically allowed.

I would be very surprised if the council imposed the occupation conditions they have on the property without also making sure that relevant permitted development rights had been removed using an Article 4 direction.

That the council gave planning consent as a holiday let with those conditions would suggest there was a good reason why they wanted it to be a holiday let rather than a residential dwelling, and those reasons may be sufficiently grounded that if the building is no longer suitable for use as a holiday let (e.g. due to lack of demand) then they would be able to refuse an application for change of use to a dwelling.  I.e. you can't assume they would be willing to allow the change of use for any reason.

Change of use and permitted development are complicated, and there is a lot of information on the internet which is wrong (or oversimplified to the point it is misleading). If you want to live in the property full-time then the only way of being sure you'll be allowed to would be applying for planning consent or for a lawful development certificate.

Divorcing_Dad

I think what we're seeing here is a property that's very cheap for a reason - it has a permitted use clause against the planning. Much like an agricultural tie.

As above, if it was easy to remove the clause, the owners would have done so and sold at a premium. I can imagine they phoned the council and said "What's the chances of this?" and have been told "No chance", so they're moving it on to the next person to try.

Liz_Rose

Thanks for all the comments, we spoke to a planning officer who said we would get permission to put another lodge on the site, but no way would we get permission for residential use. So we've given up on that one.