Hi All,The detached house we bought came with a detached single garage with aflat roof. It's an eye-sore and badly built. We plan to knock it downand rebuild one of the same size but with a pitched roof.Getting planning permission to do this doesn't worry me.What I'm worried about is the other part of our plan -- I want the newgarage to have a partition wall splitting the rear 1/3rd of it off.This area will have its own door and desk in it. It will be my office(I am self employed and work at home) and full-time place of work. Thehouse itself is the registered address of my limited company.How much more complicated does this make it? Does it then become"commercial" property?Should I own up to the office part of the plan at all? I'd like to doit all "by the book" but only if it doesn't turn in to somebureaucratic nightmare.Jake

As long as it is not used exclusively for work then you are ok.So stick a comfy chair and a small TV in there, and call it your study. It is not exclusively used for business and hence does not attract business rates or require a change of use.If you describe it as a "study area" I can't see it being a problem.

Using a garage as an office -- permission needed?

Sep 11, 2007 24 Replies

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Jake 18 years ago

I asked if the garage there now ever had planning permission in the first place. He had a look and said there was nothing at all for our house and that their systems go back to the 70s. I know the garage is at least 20 years old but probably not as old as 30+.

But, he said if it's been there more than 4 years it doesn't matter anyway.

He also said that when demolishing a structure it's as if it was never there in their eyes so planning permission is needed as if it's a

*new* structure. Rebuilding a similar garage doesn't automatically mean no permission is needed.

Jake

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Stuart Noble 18 years ago

Shouldn't that be, "as long as it *is* more than 5m from the house" ?

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Jake 18 years ago

Dunno. Should it? The way I interpreted it was that anything close to the house was an extension. Anything more than 5m away starts becoming a separate building in its own right.

Who knows...

Jake

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Stuart Noble 18 years ago

And needs planning permission.

Anything more than 5m away starts becoming

And, if it's not living accommodation, doesn't need PP, however substantially built it is.

Not me.

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Brian Sharrock 18 years ago

AIUI; (my neighbour had an extension built) the extension cannot encroach within five metres of the 'other' (garage) building. His extension _extends_ from his house and it's end is up to five metres from the pre-existing garage.

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