Help! How to sell mixed residential / commercial property (single deed)

Earthtomoonrocket

Hello forumites, 

My dad has lived in his house for 40+ years - its a 4 bed townhouse with a shop on the ground floor. The shop is currently rented out to a tenant who runs a business from there, but this tenant is moving on next month. The house is in a well-kept, if dated, condition. House and shop are all on one deed. 

My dad would like to move to a smaller property to release some funds for ongoing retirement and to no longer have the stress related to the shop. He was progressing nicely with a local estate agent, who did a valuation and came to take the photos and even did a couple of viewings, but today they have called to say they cannot market his property as its Commercial. (Bit odd they didn't realise this before but hey, that's not the topic for this post).

There is a second local estate agent, who apparently could market the property, but only via auction. I am worried that he won't get a good price at auction.

We are therefore beginning to look at Commercial agents. 

My dad is not in the best of health and this situation is causing some stress - he wants to relocate to our part of the country and can't unless he sells. To add to the stress, once the shop becomes empty, we understand that he has 3 months before he will start to pay business rates, which he won't be able to afford. 

Questions I'd really love help with: 
1)  Is my concern about selling via auction a valid concern? Or is auction a good route for selling a mixed residential and commercial property? 

2) If we select a Commercial agent, can they still list the property on residential sites e.g. Rightmove? It feels to us that the house appeals as a family house, with the option of running your own business downstairs, or earning some extra income by renting it out. It doesn't feel, primarily, that people would search for a Commercial property primarily and then go, oh OK this comes with a 4 bed house, great. Anyone with experience in this area, do you have any thoughts? 

3) Any other thoughts or advice about how to sell / quickest routes / best financial routes to selling this house! 

Thank you so much. I really appreciate any ideas, experiences or guidance!!!

Earthtomoonrocket

One more! 4) Should he apply for Change of Use for the shop level from shop to dwelling? 

DullGreyGuy

What business does the current tenant use the shop for?
Why are they moving?

lincroft1710

Rightmove certainly lists commercial and mixed use property

Earthtomoonrocket

lincroft1710 said:

Rightmove certainly lists commercial and mixed use property

Thanks, that's a good point!

daveyjp

A commercial agent will market and go through the disposal, but it may take some time.

Auction will be the quickest way.

Look at auction sites such as https://www.pugh-auctions.com/ for an idea of what goes through their books. 

You can largely ignore guide prices, they are there to generate bids.

Bookworm105

Earthtomoonrocket said:

One more! 4) Should he apply for Change of Use for the shop level from shop to dwelling? 

are other shops in the immediate vicinity still trading as retail outlets?
have any already been converted?

with the death knell ringing on bricks and mortar retailing, lots of small town shops have been converted to pure residential, either by opening up access to the ground floor or by converting it to a flat and selling as separate residences 

Earthtomoonrocket

Thank you @daveyjp for that link, I'm taking a look. My concern is that he might get less selling at auction, which will affect what he can afford to buy. But at least it could move things forward quicker..

Earthtomoonrocket

Bookworm105 said:

Earthtomoonrocket said:

One more! 4) Should he apply for Change of Use for the shop level from shop to dwelling? 

are other shops in the immediate vicinity still trading as retail outlets?
have any already been converted?

with the death knell ringing on bricks and mortar retailing, lots of small town shops have been converted to pure residential, either by opening up access to the ground floor or by converting it to a flat and selling as separate residences 

The town is still thriving, quite a few small shops etc, but yes also a few empty ones. One shop nearby has recently been granted permission for conversion to a dwelling. Some other houses on the street have been flats for many years now.  It looks like if we wanted to apply for the change we would need to submit full plans which is off-putting in my dad's situation, but not impossible. Not ruling it out yet anyway.