Hi,
I'm looking at buying a Victorian terraced house that is curretly split into 4 flats with the intention of turning back into a single property.
The original conversion was done in 2001 by simply adding fire doors on each landing and adding a kitchen to each done under a certificate of lawfulness.
The current state of the flats in a word is horrendous so currently wouldn't be rentable.
The problems I'm having is getting any straight answers from the council without first paying them for the pleasure.
The first issue I have is that I don't want to be paying 4 lots of council tax from the off whilst I decide exactly my plan of action.
I did get told that I have to get hold of the valuation office to get someone out to see I've taken the firedoors off and removed the extra kitchens so it is banded as a single property again. I've tried to get hold of the valuation office several times but never any answer on the phone and emails ignored.
Does anyone have any idea of how long this visit and banding takes, week, month, year? All I know is the council take 90 days to sort things once a new banding is given.
And can this rebanding happen before the planning side has been completed. Do the VOA and council tax care if planning is approved or not?
And ultimately would planning or change of use even be needed to change a house back to what it formally was? And is it a simple case of applying for or can it be rejected because of needs for flats even though these ones are uninhabitable.
Thanks
by 