Second home or annex?

lincroft1710

I could actually apply for planning permission to demolish these 2 dwellings and erect a 10 storey apartment block on the land. If this type of development was in line with council development policy then pp may well be granted irrespective of the fact I did not own the land. Planners are not interested in land ownership or non--council attached covenants, only that the proposed development is in line with council planning policy.


You cannot claim it was a mistake by the planners. Although it is usual for planners to attach a condition to the pp forbidding selling off the second dwelling separately from the main house, it is purely at the planners' discretion.


There is no legal definition of an annex. CT legislation only seeks to establish if a building is a separate dwelling for CT banding purposes as defined in either Section 115(1) of the General Rate Act 1967 or Statutory Instrument 1992 No.549.

Jude57

KittyMac said:

QrizB said:

The planning permission wasn't "incorrect" though; the council will only have granted what was asked for.

(Unless the records on the council planning archive show otherwise?)

You are right in that they have granted what was asked for but what was asked for breaches a covenant on the title deeds for the property if it is not an annex. The man at the council said they are not interested in Covenants unfortunately. I have found lots of info on the net but nothing that clearly states what an annex is - as it shares our garden and has no access other than our driveway I would have thought that was enough.

Regarding the access to the other building being only over your driveway, this is actually very common and easements to use a driveway or footpath across a neighbouring property occur on all sorts of properties from detached, rural ones to terraced city properties where, for example, everyone owns the entire back lane of the terrace and grants each other an easement for access. Sharing a garden may be less common but I don't believe it alone would be proof that the other building is an annexe of the main dwelling.