Planning permission - Advice requested please

[Jenny C]

Contacting the planning office for clarification would seem like a very sensible step to take. Any restrictions on the use of the property will be subject to planning restrictions, on which the council will be able to advise I am sure. The FHL tax laws which you also refer to will only be a consideration once you have determined how long you are actually allowed to let out the property for. I'll be interested to hear what the answer is from the council!

[French Cricket]

As far as I'm aware (and we looked into this in north Norfolk) there are 2 possible restrictions that might apply to you, ianh100. One is what's known as the seasonal occupancy restriction, often used in caravan or lodge sites, that enforces a closure at some point during the year (thus avoiding full time occupation).

The other, which is the one I'd guess from what you say applies to you, is the holiday occupancy restriction. The basic restriction here is that the accommodation cannot be occupied as a main residence - or by someone who doesn't have a main residence elsewhere. It seems to be less about the length of a let, but simply whether the occupant is living there as opposed to having a holiday there while maintaining a home elsewhere - questions will include things like 'is the occupant going out to work from the property' or 'are there children attending local schools from the property'. In theory if you let to someone for two weeks while they were between houses you could fall foul of the condition, while letting to someone who is genuinely having a six month holiday could be perfectly fine!

Annex C of this government guidance might help: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... 151753.pdf.

[Nemo]

A couple of pointers. For FHL treatment, each let needs to be for less than 31 days. You can get round that by having a series of lets, even if it's to the same person, but they would need to "vacate" and then "arrive" I think?!

Secondly, our park is for holiday use only. In theory that means that every owner must have a registered address elsewhere and should use services (such as doctors etc) at their main home. In practise this is ignored and we have several permanent owners.

So taking those two issues, if you have a tenant for say 10 weeks, then as long as they have a permanent address elsewhere and they sign a series of letting agreements, then in theory you've complied with both FHL and planning.

Of course this is all from a laymans perspective and planning law is anything but logical; that's how I would view it anyway! I think you need clarification. If you explain to a planning officer exactly what your intentions are, I can't see it as being a problem if they give you the go ahead.

[Nemo]

I just found a site that has some interesting points on holiday use written by Martin Goodall, a solicitor specialising in planning law.

http://planninglawblog.blogspot.co.uk/2 ... f-use.html

It doesn't specifically answer your point ianh, but talks about change of use etc. In your case, whether it's a week long let or a 3 month let, you're not making a change of use to the property, whose function remains primarily a holiday let.[/url]

[Sam V]

Glad to be of help, Sam! Everything I said in my post is, as far as I am aware, still relevant and there are no major changes that I know of.

I have not heard anything about the business rates exemption being extended though, so I doubt this will happen unfortunately.

Whereabouts are you based, Sam? Your profile says the Algarve, but I know nothing about Portuguese tax or councils, so wouldn't be able to make any suggestions as far as foreign tax is concerned!

If you are UK-based, I would suggest speaking to the council's planning department first. Planning permission is simpler if you are not listed (we are grade 2 listed so it was a bit of a nightmare!) or in a conservation area. You may also wish to contact some architects to obtain quotes. Some architects will do all of the liaison with the planning department / planning permission (which they will charge a fee for!) and others will do the drawings but you would deal with the planners. It is up to you what arrangement you put in place, and may depend on your budget.

Hi Jenny, thanks for the reply. We do live in UK and its an annex next our house we want to let, it's not listed. It was originally a workshop possibly built early 40s and converted at some point, with permission, stated on the deeds as 'a dwelling' as the 'Gardener's Cottage' . We renovated it in 2011 then moved in last year, while we had the main house renovated. we only moved out and back into our house a couple of days before Christmas. We only need to get the garden sorted and any safety regs needed for letting installed. ... And try to get a hotel tv licence sorted, but that's another story on another topic!