House used by Charity for holiday relief for families convert to private residential

Choccyfudge

HI. I've in the process of buying a house. House was originally built as a residential house, it's on a modern housing estate where all other properties are residential. Its original owners sold it to a charity who have used it as a holiday home for families with sick children. No changes have been made to the house. I've spoken to the council and they have advised the process of assigning a council tax bad has been started but may take up to 6 months. Do I need to worry that at any point they will decide the house cannot revert to a private residence? Thank you.

Bookworm105

very unlikely.
From what you say it has been given a business use classification but it remains a residential property so there is no reason it cannot revert. It may however take as long as they say and you would face a bill from the date of purchase, so set some money aside to pay it when it comes in 

FlorayG

I doubt it. Some friends of mine bought a Victorian house that had been for 30 years a private health care clinic - so not even residential - and they had no problems with getting it reclassified as a private residence, because that's what it started as

dharm999

Will you need planning permission for change of use to residential?   We bought our house from a charity who used the house as a small care home, so had to apply for a change of use.  Sounds like you may not have the same issue, but worth checking

eddddy

Do you know what planning use class the property comes under?

If you're buying with a mortgage, I think that the lender is likely to insist that the planning use class is C3 (Dwelling) on completion.

So you should check that's the current situation.

For example, if it's currently considered to be a Children's Home, it might come under planning use class C2 (Residential Institution). Or maybe even planning use class C1 (hotel / boarding / guest house). Or a Sui Generis planning use class, if it doesn't fit into any of the defined planning categories.

Choccyfudge

Thanks for your help. Council have advised verbally that all will be fine, when the charity put the house up for sale they started the process of converting the house back to residential. Been advised the valuations office agency will be working on letting us know which council tax band we'll fall into but this can take several months. House next door is identical so it's easy to guess which band we'll be in and to keep the money aside. The council advised yesterday that the house is in the domestic category. I stressed several times I'm buying a house that I want to know I'll be allowed to live in and each time I was told it will be fine. We're cash buyers so no lender involved in the process. Our solicitor has also verbally said it should be fine. The house is exactly as it was when built around 20 years ago, it was used as a place individual families could holiday with their sick child. One family at a time, so not a children's home or a car home. It's on an estate of identical houses, all built originally as residential.