Shop to residential lawful development certificate

[chamfer]

I have a shop with a maisonette above it which I live in. The shop has been used by my daughter and her boyfriend for the last five years as a flat. The shop has it own kitchen and shower facilities, it also has its own electrical supply.

The shop is in a protective parade location and I have no chance getting planning permission.
So I am considering applying for a lawful development certificate, before I do I would like to know what I should have in place first?

Any help or advice much appreciated

Chamfer

 

[Nakajo]

I'm not aware of the term 'protective parade'. Can you tell us more about that?

 

[chamfer]

A recent application by a shop in the same parade was refused stating the following reasons

The premises fall with a Local shopping centre as defined under policy of Blah cities local plan, and which provides a range of services to the local community. In the absence of information to demostrate that there is no reasonable prospect that the premises could not continue to be used for purposes with Classes A1 and A2 of Use Classes Order it is considered that the proposal would have an adverse impact on the Blah road Local Shopping Centre and how it function

So basically my local council when drawing up there local plan decided that is was in the best interests of the city to make the the local shop centre that my shop is part of protected from conversions.
This was done without informing me the property owner, when I queried this I was told that tough luck should have paid attention to what was going on in my city's local plan

Hope this helps

 

[napoleondynamite]

If you can evidence 4 years continuous residential use you can apply for a Lawful Development Certificate to effectively regularise the use. Examples of evidence include:

• Has the Council Tax record been deleted? If so when?
• Is the flat registered for Council Tax? If so submit bills.
• Is the flat registered as residential with utilities, e.g. water, electric gas? If so can submit bills and get letters from them confirming the date it was registered as residential with them.

If the use has not been formalised in any of these ways you may have difficulty evidencing 4 years use. You could also submit statutory declarations where you or other set out the history of the property- i.e. when it was converted to residential, how it has been used in the last 4 years, this will carry more weight as an addition to one or more of the types of evidence listed above than it would do on its own.

 

[Nakajo]

Assuming you can't prove continuous use... when was the other application rejected. Note that recent amendments to GPDO (2015) allow for 'Prior Approval' to be sought for change of use from use class A1 to residential. There are of course exceptions, and this may well be one - but it might well be worth a call to the duty planning officer (assuming your local authority still has such a person) to check what the current status of that run of shops is.

 

[^woody^]

Just because the shop has a kitchen and shower and someone has been living there, does not make it enough for a change of use. You need to prove full residential use which would include deliveries, address use by etc.

But the main thing would be if you have not paid any council tax for the use as a home. And if you have not bothered to tell the council that it was used a a home, then that implies subterfuge, and a deliberate attempt to conceal the use for the intent of later gaining planning permission - which is not permitted, and will prevent the award of any LDC.

Presumably the front of the shop is shuttered and does not look like a home either? That again implies subterfuge and no attempt to use it as a home.

And then we come to whether its four years or ten years use for your cunning plan?

 

[big-all]

just a though as i don't have a clue

they may decide to backdate the council tax and still refuse

 

[LukeB123]

And then we come to whether its four years or ten years use for your cunning plan?

What Woody says + you do need to prove 10 years use for change of uses (even in residential situations) unlike the 4 years that Napoleon mentions.

 

[napoleondynamite]

A couple of points-

1. You can't apply for PRIOR approval after the change has taken place. That is set out in the GPDO.

2. Only 4 years is required for a residential use. 10 years in any other case.

 

[Nakajo]

With regards to prior approval, napoleon's right of course - but in the case of change of use, with no external evidence of that change, who knows, you might get away with it.

 

[^woody^]

A couple of points-

1. You can't apply for PRIOR approval after the change has taken place. That is set out in the GPDO.

2. Only 4 years is required for a residential use. 10 years in any other case.

Four years is not definite. The situation will need to be viewed in context of the planning unit, and the relationship of the shop to the flat above and the other shops and flats there - not in isolation. This will also apply to any non-operational development internally.

"Concealment" under the the provisions of the Localism Act may well come into play here, meaning that this deliberate deception is not immune from enforcement.