change of use dwellinghouse Planning Contravention Notice?

[vtflats]

Hi,
does anyone on our forum have experience and advise on how to respond to a council Planning Contravention Notice for unauthorized change of use from a dwelling house to a holiday let?

Some background info:
in spring 2014 we started letting our family home near Windsor to tourists. As far as we know, our area is not subject to the London Council Act 1973 as our area is not part of central London but rather classed as the Home Counties. We did not consult the council prior to starting to rent the house as a holiday let because we wanted to try it first to see how it went and we did not know how soon we would need to use the house full-time ourselves again.
We chose to rent on a holiday let basis as we wanted to have control and regular access to our house and be able to use the house ourselves when needed.

The house sleeps max 15 persons and is always rented as a unit, mostly to family groups but also to groups of friends who want a weekend break away from London.
We don´t accept hen dos, stag parties, groups of under 25 year olds and we reject many bookings which we feel may cause a problem.
Since we started renting the house as a holiday let there has been one incident where our guests disturbed our neighbours but since then we have tightened up our house rules and parking rules and now our neighbours say things are fine and that the guests are not inconveniencing them apart from the odd parking inconvenience which we deal with as soon as we hear about it.
We pay normal council tax rates, we pay for one extra rubbish and recycling bin and make very little or no profit after the mortgage, utility bills, repair and maintenance costs are deducted.

We have now received a Planning Contravention Notice from the council where they ask questions such as:
-is the house your primary residential residence?
-when did you first start renting to paying guests?
-do you ever rent to unrelated guests? (we don´t)
-what types of guests do you have and how long do they typically stay?
-how many bookings have you had since starting and how many nights?
-do you stay on site when you have paying guests?
-do you keep any personal possessions in the house and if so, are they locked away?
-is anyone employed on site and what are their contact details and what are they employed to do and how often do they work on site?

We have been given 20 days to respond and the council states that we can be fined 1000 GBP or 5000 GBP for failing to respond or giving misleading info.

Naturally we are concerned about this Planning Contravention Notice. Has any one else on the UK forum been dealing with such a matter? What could be the purpose of this investigation? (to determine our level of council tax? to determine if we need to register for business rates based on number of nights rented or income? to determine our rental income for tax purposes? or something else?)
And what could be the consequences of this investigation? (could we be found to have committed an offense for having failed to apply for change of use when we started renting the house as a holiday let? could we be forced to stop renting as a holiday let and if so how soon? we have bookings until this autumn which we would not like to let down)
And what is the definition of persons employed on site? (a gardener who clears the garden once a year for cash payment? a handyman with his own company who repairs broken furniture on a one-off basis for a fixed price paid by bank transfer? A self-employed friend who is paid to clean the house between guests?)
Does a formal employment contract with a fixed monthly salary have to be in place for a person to be defined as employed by us or is any person considered to be employed who is paid for work done in the house?
And what is the purpose for the council to ask if there are persons employed by us?

In hindsight we realise we may have been naive and careless not to treat this as a business from the start and failing speak to the council first but we could ot imagine that there would be issues with using our home in this way as so many UK homes are rented on a holiday let basis.
We are thankful for any advise or thoughts from you as we wish to bring this to the attention of other LayMyHatters who may be affected by the same issues.
Please can you share with us your thoughts on how to deal with this to ensure we understand what is the motivation behind the council investigation, the possible consequences and how we can ensure to comply with any requirements which the council may impose on us as a result of their findings?

Many thanks,

[greenbarn]

Have a look at this link to an article about a court case that sounds very relevant.
One of the key factors was that the property was being let to "groups of friends" rather than "single households" and as such there was a material change in use for which planning consent should have been obtained.
Should be a useful start point if nothing else.

[Nuthatch]

On the council tax/business rates issue I've received my non-domestic rates bill today for 2015/6 and once again the small business rates relief brings it down to zero. Worth considering if change of use might work for you.

[vtflats]

Many thanks for your replies Greenbarn and Nuthatch, much appreciated.

[Joanna]

Curious letter - when we bought our houses (one in Chester and one in Devon) we asked about change of use and planning and were told that as long as it was still being used as a single house there was no need to apply for change of use. If we'd wanted to split it up and rent off rooms separately, as a B&B for example, that would have been different. But the basic use was going to be the same - one group of family/friends using at as a home, albeit for a short period. That would fit with questions about whether it is your main residence and if your guests are related to each other.

AFAIK council tax and business rates are a different thing altogether, unconnected with planning. It varies from council to council, but generally is based on the number of nights per year the property is available for letting. We became eligible to pay business rates without having to register a planning application for change of use.

Has the letter come from the Council Planning department? There may be info on change of use on their web site and a phone call to them might help establish what they are looking for.

[tchn]

Joanna +1 - we also asked before letting whether we required change of use and were told it was not required. Different area to you of course. Regardless of that we are on business rates.

[Joanna]

Just read that article and I should mention that our houses only sleep 4 so they are mostly let to complete families. Since yours is bigger it may fall into a different category.

I'd ring the council - this seems to be a grey area so I don't think you can be penalised for not applying earlier. The main issue is how much it's likely to cost you to apply now and whether permission's likely to be refused.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

[Bunny]

vtflats, we are in West Berks and have two holiday cottages on site to our own home. The 2nd cottages is a new build and built in 2013. When we obtained planning permission the planning officer questioned whether we had change of use permission for the existing cottage. We didn't, but we got our planning permission and it has never been mentioned by the council since. My understanding is that it is something that councils will ignore/overlook unless there has been a specific complaint. In which case they are obliged to investigate. My guess is that another neighbour has complained or reported it. The chances are that if you answer all their questions and can demonstrate that you are not causing a problem, they may well leave you alone. Our neighbour totally ignored several planning conditions and breached building regs but the local authority actually told us that just they haven't got the enforcement staff so they prioritise the worst. Don't panic too much at this stage. Easier said than done, I know.

[vtflats]

Many thanks for your additional answers, this is all very useful, we are trying not to panic.
Joanna - yes the letter came from the Planning dept at the council.
Will keep you all posted on developments.