Residential planning permission - can I install a lodge

suzyq2909

I’ve seen a plot of land with residential planning permission granted but would like to purchase a high-end lodge to live in rather than building a house. Would this be permissible. TIA for any advice

MyRealNameToo

Has it got planning permission in principle, outline permission or full planning permission? 

You are likely to have to have further applications whichever it is, even if it has full permissions but you want to build something other than what was agreed. 

user1977

I'm not sure what the difference is between a "high-end lodge" and a "house"? If the use of the lodge is going to be residential then the use is permitted. The actual structure will still need approval though.

Grumpy_chap

suzyq2909 said:

I’ve seen a plot of land with residential planning permission granted but would like to purchase a high-end lodge to live in rather than building a house. Would this be permissible. TIA for any advice

If there is planning permission (full permission) for a house, then the development would have to be to build a house in accordance with the approved plans.

You may obtain permission to develop the site with the lodge rather than the currently approved house but that will require a new planning application.

Lodges are sometimes within permitted development rights but that is when the lodge is ancillary to the house.  In this case, it sounds like the house has not been constructed so the lodge cannot be ancillary.

If the plan is to live in the lodge permanently, the lodge will also need to comply with building regulations for habitable premises.  Many of the proprietary lodges do not satisfy this standard.

theartfullodger

Which country?(Eg NI, Wales..). Different processes.

Are all utilities (water, sewage, leccy,  ..) on site,  Know a local builder?

babyblade41

Just a little advice from someone who looked into this a few years back.. we already had the land which had a stone barn already in situ.

Our thoughts were to have one of those lovely lodges to sit on the land and demolish the barn... cost of lodge was in the region of 250K.... when you picked all the nitty gritty out and mashed the numbers it was going to cost significantly more as all the site had to be dug out to a certain spec, concrete base laid, all water and electric professionally done and signed off 

We were looking at 300k maybe more and an asset that depreciates over time, we had water and electric in the barn and financially we were better off converting the barn

The cost was considerably more but what we have ended up with is a solid build, built to our own spec and won't depreciate or deteriorate like a ledge would 
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Hope this helps

For me knowing what is involved in lodge buying it would be to build a house/bungalow everytime

Albermarle

We were looking at 300k maybe more and an asset that depreciates over time, we had water and electric in the barn and financially we were better off converting the barn

Everybody knows that mobile homes depreciate quickly, but is it certain that would apply to a high end timber lodge, if properly maintained ?

I do not know the answer, just asking out of interest.

suzyq2909

Thanks all for your useful advice. I was considering a lodge as I’ll need to move in asap once the sale goes through so building a house would be problematic

Section62

suzyq2909 said:

Thanks all for your useful advice. I was considering a lodge as I’ll need to move in asap once the sale goes through so building a house would be problematic

If the plot already has planning consent for a dwelling to be built, and is large enough, then it would normally be a formality to get a time-limited consent to site a caravan on the plot to live in during the building work.  Although a caravan might not suit your needs, it is what a lot of self-builders do to get round the issue, and is relatively economic if you opt for a caravan or static which is near end-of-life.

Timing might be an issue though - ideally housebuilding starts in the early Spring when the ground is drying up which means the groundworks and foundations can be done with less mud and snow/frost problems, and the build has reached at least a weatherproof shell before bad weather in the Autumn.  That also works well with temporarily living in a caravan as the weather is getting better, rather than starting out enduring caravan life in the depths of winter.

However, if the land is on the market now then by the time the purchase is completed, you've finished getting all the consents you need, got quotes from builders and selected one, and they have plant and materials on site ready to start, then you'll probably be into the Autumn before they start digging. That isn't ideal if you need to be living on-site.

Even with the lodge option you'd likely have a period of several months between completion and the lodge being liveable, and that would also require doing some things - like getting the consents underway - before the purchase of the land is complete.

sheramber

Do you mean a luxury type mobile home which is a complete unit that you move onto the plot?

What about connecting it services and utilities?

babyblade41

Our plot wasn't liveable so just got a very cheap mobile home to live in… a very interesting 18 months , one I wouldn't care to repeat in a hurry but now is a great workshop

I think your understanding of how a lodge siting works is a little off.

If you are buying the land then you can't commence anything until completion .

There is a lot of ground prep before siting a lodge so you would still need alternative living accommodation.

To answer your question about depreciation then the answer is yes , they do and relatively quickly.

If you have 300k for the lodge then maybe another 30-40. k getting everything ready then you could certainly build a small house and have an investment as well

The lodges look lovely initially but they soon get tiresome, a neighbour had one and soon decided that they would convert their barn too … wasted a lot of money