Sale of an extension house / granny flat as a separate residence?

cobrakev

Hi,

Does anyone know if you can sell a granny flat with separate entrance as a separate house? I am looking at a house which is essentially 2 houses. The original house had an extension made to it which is basically a full house with it's own entrance. I am wondering if legally the extension house could be classified as say 16A and sold as a separate house?

Thanks

Gumbo

cobrakev wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know if you can sell a granny flat with separate entrance as a separate house? I am looking at a house which is essentially 2 houses. The original house had an extension made to it which is basically a full house with it's own entrance. I am wondering if legally the extension house could be classified as say 16A and sold as a separate house?

Thanks

Nope. You technically can't even rent the granny flat to anyone other than a family member. When the grant was granted, it would state for the enjoyment of the main house and should revert back to the main dwelling once the ancillary family use ceases to be required (ie your mother in law moves out of dies to put it bluntly).

Now, you can apply for planning to separate the structures but the new unit needs to comply with current housing requirements with regards to parking, private open space and daylight requirements under BRE guidelines.

cobrakev

Actually I should have clarified that this is a house that I am looking at to potentially buy so I'm not sure yet what exactly the planning permission was granted for. I will speak to the estate agent about this.

It basically comprises a 3 bedroom semi detached house with a 4 bedroom self contained apartment / granny flat to the side of the property with it's own entrance. There is an internal door adjoining the 2 houses but I'm curious to see if this was closed off and other planning requirements with regards to parking etc. were satisfied if they could then be classed as 2 houses. I am informed by the agent that the previous owner had rented the 2 houses as separate accommodations. Not sure if they were entitled to do that but I will try get more details on the planning.

BryanF

cobrakev wrote: »

Actually I should have clarified that this is a house that I am looking at to potentially buy so I'm not sure yet what exactly the planning permission was granted for. I will speak to the estate agent about this.

It basically comprises a 3 bedroom semi detached house with a 4 bedroom self contained apartment / granny flat to the side of the property with it's own entrance. There is an internal door adjoining the 2 houses but I'm curious to see if this was closed off and other planning requirements with regards to parking etc. were satisfied if they could then be classed as 2 houses. I am informed by the agent that the previous owner had rented the 2 houses as separate accommodations. Not sure if they were entitled to do that but I will try get more details on the planning.

The original planning permission will likely state that the granny flat should revert to become part of the existing dwelling once its use is no longer required.

elastico

cobrakev wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know if you can sell a granny flat with separate entrance as a separate house? I am looking at a house which is essentially 2 houses. The original house had an extension made to it which is basically a full house with it's own entrance. I am wondering if legally the extension house could be classified as say 16A and sold as a separate house?

Thanks

I would think you can sell it ok, as in transfer the plot of ground. But if the buyer needs a bank loan against it then they will run into problems. Upshot is it won't achieve anything like full market price.

BryanF

elastico wrote: »

I would think you can sell it ok, as in transfer the plot of ground. But if the buyer needs a bank loan against it then they will run into problems. Upshot is it won't achieve anything like full market price.

False. For reasons as stated above by Kc and I

Calahonda52

cobrakev wrote: »

Hi,

Does anyone know if you can sell a granny flat with separate entrance as a separate house? I am looking at a house which is essentially 2 houses. The original house had an extension made to it which is basically a full house with it's own entrance. I am wondering if legally the extension house could be classified as say 16A and sold as a separate house?

Thanks

Bearing in mind what has been said earlier, is it priced as if it was two houses for the location.

Also
Bearing in mind what has been said earlier, are all the services separately metered?

I would like to see the planning permission on a 4 bedroomed granny flat attached to a 3 bedroomed semi-D

Gumbo

Calahonda52 wrote: »

Bearing in mind what has been said earlier, is it priced as if it was two houses for the location.

Also
Bearing in mind what has been said earlier, are all the services separately metered?

I would like to see the planning permission on a 4 bedroomed granny flat attached to a 3 bedroomed semi-D

Actually, just touching on this, OP, you need to make sure the extension has proper planning in place for what is on the ground. One/two bed granny flats would be the norm, but a 4 bed in my opinion would be refused planning due to private open space issues and over development.

cobrakev

kceire wrote: »

Actually, just touching on this, OP, you need to make sure the extension has proper planning in place for what is on the ground. One/two bed granny flats would be the norm, but a 4 bed in my opinion would be refused planning due to private open space issues and over development.

So I managed to find the planning permission for this.First there was a planning application refused to build a separate 2 storey 4 bedroom house attached to the existing. Then a second application was made and approved for a single storey granny flat extension to side and rear of house.This has since been built and has 4 beds. There is no indication in the planning that I can see that stipulates the number of beds allowed.As rightly stated above, the planning indicates that once the "use of the granny flat ceases it shall be incorporated into the main dwelling. The granny flat shall not be used as a separate dwelling and shall not be let as a flat independent of the main dwelling."
So this answers my main question. I presume given that this was so clearly stipulated in the planning as a condition for approval that any planning application for 'change of use' is very unlikely to be approved to separate the houses?

Calahonda52

Thanks for feedback, just wonder how is it priced, I don't want the exact number but if say the house across the road sold for 300 and this is asking 450 then the markup is 50% over normal 3bed S-D

cobrakev

It's priced at just over €500k. A standard 3 bed semi detached in this area of the same standard should go for between €350k and €400k. So if the houses could be separated with planning permission for 'change of use' then it would be a great investment. Sealing them off from each other and selling them individually would lead to a much better price (approx €700k). However I'm sure the existing owner is aware this is not possible and hence having to sell as the one property. The stipulations in the conditions for the planning for the granny flat make it seem that a change of use to a separate house is extremely unlikely.