Dilemma, not sure what to do..

[thantipants]

Hi people, thought I’d pick your brains, in a bit of a pickle, not sure which way to go

To cut a long story short, we own a dry cleaners with a 5 bed house on top, which we have permission to convert into 2 flats.

Nearing the end of the conversion our builder said that our loft extension which was meant to be an en-suit bedroom of the flat below is rather large and we should make it into a self-contained bedsit

So, the dilemma is, we have now made into a self-contained unit and its lovely, however the min requirements from our local council is the 30m2, now our loft conversion, with its own kitchen, toilet / shower and entrance comes in around 26m2. ( Not counting the stairs )

If we apply to the council for a bedsit we may get refused as it doesn’t meet the minimum requirements of 30m squared.

I spoke to HMO and they said we don’t require a licence as no facilities are being shared.

Are we allowed to rent it as a self-contained room with its own shower / kitchen even though it is more or less a studio flat.

I want to do everything by the book to rent it out , so what should we do and how can this be rented out?

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

[Flashback1966]

What you have done is create 3 self-contained flats rather then 2 flats which you have planning permission for. It is a breach of planning. If the council serve an enforcement notice you would have to revert it back to two flats., which will cause drama if you have 3 different tenants, as you would have to evict them, to carry out buildings works. You have gone a long way down. Does it comply with Building Control? There are issues such as fire safety etc...

Planning Permission can be rejected not only due to minimum floor size, but other factors such as over-use (too many flats), lack of bin-space, lack of garden space or parking space etc... It all depends on local council's planning policy.

Councils are getting strict, especially if there are complaints from neighbours, which would alert them. Even if tenants are causing problems, you will get blamed for doing an illegal conversion.

[thantipants]

Hi flashback,

It does comply with building control, I understand exactly what you mean, our local council Angel, is quite notorious for serving enforcement notices.

Lets say we do rent it out for 4 years, with no issues, can we then apply for permission for it to be a flat?

From my understanding, if it does unnoticed for 4 years and you constantly have tenants living there paying council tax than the council will give the green light?

Also, can we not rent it out as a room with its own kitchen and bathroom as oppose to a self contained flat, its more like a bed sit

hope this makes sence , thank you