Rules on what business you can run from your home

[perpixon]

Hi,


When does working from home become an unacceptable change of use for your property requiring council consent / planning permission when you’re actually running a business from there?



We have found a property that has an office already in the house and outbuildings we would use for storage for our internet store. Currently we have 1 collection from Royal mail and about 2-4 courier deliveries per day. We also have an occasional customer coming in to buy direct (2 – 3 per day).


How do i find out if it would be a problem and what sort of business rates etc. would be applied?

 

[Big Pete]

Hi,


When does working from home become an unacceptable change of use for your property requiring council consent / planning permission when you’re actually running a business from there?



We have found a property that has an office already in the house and outbuildings we would use for storage for our internet store. Currently we have 1 collection from Royal mail and about 2-4 courier deliveries per day. We also have an occasional customer coming in to buy direct (2 – 3 per day).


How do i find out if it would be a problem and what sort of business rates etc. would be applied?

Just do it , its no problem ,if you tell them they will insist you put in for planning and all sorts of stuff they will drag out , from road access to Health and safety and even disabled toilets access and all that crap..

Generally as long as you do not annoy the neighbours you will be fine.. offices and mail order and what you say is ok .. BUT when artics deliver 5am in the morning you may have problems ..

So just use common sense , ie, would you be annoyed if your neighbours did it ? if the answer is yes then do not do it, if answer is NO then just get on with it..

 

[lemuelmayers]

It really depends from you on what type of business would you like to run in your home. Always think on what your neighbor needs and wants and you can go for that. There are lots of business idea to put up but you have to be keen in choosing the ideal business for you.

 

[Mark-T]

Purchasing a property without being sure you can use it in the manner you wish isn't the way forward.

There are a number of options but I'm afraid all of them do include asking the Local Planning Authority(but nothing stopping you doing that or even applying for planning permission if necessary before you buy the place).

A starter for ten would be finding out what the lawful use of the property is but I can tell you that businesses that result in customers attending premises are not popular and often result in formal action to prevent the use.

HTH

Mark

 

[OldWelshGuy]

I have to agree with Mark, the instant I read. 'customers coming to ym house 2-3 per day' the alarm bells started ringing.

If you lived next to me in a residential area, and there were 6-10 vehicles per day back and forth, commercial vehicles etc, all causing potential risks to my kids. then i would probably complain as I live next to a house, not a retail unit, not a warehouse unit, a residential premises, and there are activities going on neearby in a residential property that could impact on the safety of my family, and the value of my home.

Working from home is one thing, having people coming to buy from you is a complete different ballgame. When i spoke to the local authority about rates etc when i was having a dedicated office at home, the guy said, are you just workign from home? I said yes, he said will there be customers visiting you? i said no it is computer based. he said then i am not even going to cvome out, i will send you a letter tellign you we are aware of the use, that there is no change of use needed, and that your council tax will nto be affected.

My guess is that to run a business from home as you describe, you will need to apply for change of use for those outbuildings, and if people are visiting you, then you will need parking for x number of vehicles, THEn you come to the beast that kills many planning applications, and that beast is ACCESS! if access is going to affect the residential area then you will almost certainly get turned down, and, as I said above, if you posted a planning application to do what you are suggesting, I would certainly object, as would most people I believe.

 

[kulture]

What you describe is a shop and a mail order fulfilment warehouse. This is not a bedroom business. You will definitely need commercial use for the outbuildings. It may be straight forward if the property is in the countryside, with no near neighbours. If however you are in the middle of a housing estate, give up now.