Garage with planning condition - What kind of planning permission to apply?

LLP_80

Hey everyone!

I live in a 20-year-old "new" private development. My house is freehold, but because it is part of a private estate, it has a managing company. When the developers asked for PP, they added a parking condition with a legal agreement, and the developers also added this into a title deed covenant.

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

I am very confused about what type of planning to apply! 

Do I apply for a householder permit or a full planning permit? Or the removal of the variation of conditions alone? 

Section62

LLP_80 said:

Hey everyone!

I live in a 20-year-old "new" private development. My house is freehold, but because it is part of a private estate, it has a managing company. When the developers asked for PP, they added a parking condition with a legal agreement, and the developers also added this into a title deed covenant.

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

I am very confused about what type of planning to apply! 

Do I apply for a householder permit or a full planning permit? Or the removal of the variation of conditions alone? 

Probably worth obtaining paid-for planning advice from the council.  The reason for the condition and legal agreement is to stop people doing exactly what you want to do.  Even if you aren't using the garage for parking yourself, the garage provides one off-street parking space for the property and there will be one less if the garage is converted.

If parking still matters to the council (and with EV's becoming more popular off-street parking it probably does) then they may be likely to refuse the application.

Getting planning consent and the covenant removed, along with ManCo consent, is not likely to be a cheap option - if you have space in the rear garden you might want to consider a rear extension instead.  Extending may work out more economic per sqm.

gwynlas

Given garages have remained a standard size for years it might be worth pointing out that it would be impossible to accommodate many current cars due to width and space to open doors therefor making space redundant

Section62

gwynlas said:

Given garages have remained a standard size for years it might be worth pointing out that it would be impossible to accommodate many current cars due to width and space to open doors therefor making space redundant

...to which the planning officer might point out that many new cars do still fit comfortably inside standard size garages and although 'you' don't own one, the next owner of the property may do.

The claimed redundancy is only temporary: loss of the parking space would be permanent.

TELLIT01

Don't do any work without the agreement of the management company and the council planning department.  I've heard of management companies ordering fences to be removed from front gardens because they fall foul of covenants on the development.  That would be annoying.  Much more of a problem if you do building work that's not permitted.

LLP_80

Thanks for the replies!

Absolutely, would only do it with all the permissions. I wouldn't do something that would hinder me from selling the house in the future. I don't think the management company would have any issues with it, especially if I have a planning permission and pay a fee for their administrative work.

The car can just fit, but not comfortably, it's a pain to park, and that's why everyone, that the car still fits, parks in front of their houses for many years, and this hasn't caused any traffic or congestion issues within the estate, as no one apart from the resident can park in front of their houses and parking in the estate is not public.

The council I live in now has a new rule that some new builds should not come with parking spaces, especially in places where there are multiple ways of public transport, which is my case.

It won't be easy, but I'll try to build a case and reason with the council. I'll go with the householder type, and fingers crossed it works.

Section62

LLP_80 said:

...
The council I live in now has a new rule that some new builds should not come with parking spaces, especially in places where there are multiple ways of public transport, which is my case.

It won't be easy, but I'll try to build a case and reason with the council. I'll go with the householder type, and fingers crossed it works.

This rule may have been reintroduced, but isn't 'new' as such.  When your house was built it was around the peak of what were perceived to be anti-car policies of the then government.  Something called PPG13 had been introduced in 2001 which meant planning authorites should no longer require a minimum provision of car parking spaces, and instead should seek to minimise parking through the use of maximum standards.  The 2001 version of PPG13 was replaced by a revised version in 2011 which scrapped those maximum standards and allowed councils to apply standards appropriate to the local area.

When your estate was built the developer could have made it car free if they wanted to (even if there was no public transport) because planning authorities were not able to require the provision of parking, but in practice councils informally let developers know that obtaining planning consent would be tricker if they weren't providing parking, and developers were also aware that car-free homes wouldn't sell unless there was very good public transport.

So in other words, a property built in 2006 likely got planning consent under planning policy which is broadly the same as the new rule your council is working to.  And whilst many have policies which encourage development with reduced parking in some situations, don't be surprised if this doesn't apply in your case.

This is why you might want to go down the 'advice' route first (depending on cost).  Only the planning officers at your local council will know how their policies will be applied in your situation.

WIAWSNB

LLP_80 said:

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

What do you mean by 'partially' convert? 

LLP_80

WIAWSNB said:

LLP_80 said:

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

What do you mean by 'partially' convert? 

I'll leave part of the garage as it is, with the garage door in place.

WIAWSNB

LLP_80 said:

WIAWSNB said:

LLP_80 said:

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

What do you mean by 'partially' convert? 

I'll leave part of the garage as it is, with the garage door in place.

And the rest will become what?

LLP_80

WIAWSNB said:

LLP_80 said:

WIAWSNB said:

LLP_80 said:

I want to partially convert the garage, so I will need to ask for planning permission and later ask for permission from the managing company. Together with the partial garage conversion, I am also making some changes to the rear of the house, so I want to apply for everything together.

What do you mean by 'partially' convert? 

I'll leave part of the garage as it is, with the garage door in place.

And the rest will become what?

It will integrate with the living area of the house.
The house has a weird distribution, because of the garage, the kitchen/living room is on the first floor. On the ground floor, there's the garage and a cold "bedroom" that gives access to the garden. We want to move the kitchen and livingroom downstairs.
Right now, there's only space for a kitchen, and getting part of the garage would allow for a small living/tv area too.