Planning, change of use, mortgage, funding, etc
Discussion
Bit of an all-encompassing title, I'll admit, but I was hoping to gain a bit of knowledge on all or some of the above...
My partner and I are looking to move shortly, our current property is on the market and we are looking at places to move to.
We have found an old church (I say old, in terms of it has not been used recently, the actual construction itself is a horrible 70's era building). This is up for sale locally to us, and has been for some time. We like the idea of acquiring it and eventually living in it.
My question(s) are, the church and associated land do not currently have any sort of planning permission to be used as a residential dwelling. Having not done anything along these lines before, I assume the process would be something like this:-
1) Obtain a mortgage on the church and land (being a "commercial" property, I assume, this cannot be done under a standard mortgage - how do we go about this, and who from)?
2) Come up with a proposed design and apply for planning permission to change the use and also implement our ideas to convert this into our new house. This is the bit that worries me slightly, I assume we have to buy the church "blind", not knowing if the planning will be approved or not, so in essence, this is somewhat of a gamble? I was perhaps hoping that we could apply to the council with our plans before purchasing, to see if it may be a possibility or not, before committing to step 1?
3) Providing planning is passed, we would then need to raise funds to renovate the property. Again, how can this be achieved, can this be obtained through our original lender, on an up-front basis, based on our proposed plans, or are we normally expected to float the improvement costs and re-mortgage at various stages of improvement to re-coup money?
Are there any other glaring points I have missed and should be considering?
Money wise, we have enough for a 10% deposit on the church itself and enough to cover all other associated costs to do with moving house.
Any advice greatly welcomed.
Joe.
My partner and I are looking to move shortly, our current property is on the market and we are looking at places to move to.
We have found an old church (I say old, in terms of it has not been used recently, the actual construction itself is a horrible 70's era building). This is up for sale locally to us, and has been for some time. We like the idea of acquiring it and eventually living in it.
My question(s) are, the church and associated land do not currently have any sort of planning permission to be used as a residential dwelling. Having not done anything along these lines before, I assume the process would be something like this:-
1) Obtain a mortgage on the church and land (being a "commercial" property, I assume, this cannot be done under a standard mortgage - how do we go about this, and who from)?
2) Come up with a proposed design and apply for planning permission to change the use and also implement our ideas to convert this into our new house. This is the bit that worries me slightly, I assume we have to buy the church "blind", not knowing if the planning will be approved or not, so in essence, this is somewhat of a gamble? I was perhaps hoping that we could apply to the council with our plans before purchasing, to see if it may be a possibility or not, before committing to step 1?
3) Providing planning is passed, we would then need to raise funds to renovate the property. Again, how can this be achieved, can this be obtained through our original lender, on an up-front basis, based on our proposed plans, or are we normally expected to float the improvement costs and re-mortgage at various stages of improvement to re-coup money?
Are there any other glaring points I have missed and should be considering?
Money wise, we have enough for a 10% deposit on the church itself and enough to cover all other associated costs to do with moving house.
Any advice greatly welcomed.
Joe.
Edited by joe oliver on Tuesday 22 July 20:12
Thanks for the reply.
So I assume as we can't realistically stretch beyond 90%LTV, that it's a non starter?
How about if planning for change of use is obtained and approved in advance, would a lender be more likely to loan at that level?
If not, any idea what percentage deposit we'd be looking at to make it work?
Joe.
So I assume as we can't realistically stretch beyond 90%LTV, that it's a non starter?
How about if planning for change of use is obtained and approved in advance, would a lender be more likely to loan at that level?
If not, any idea what percentage deposit we'd be looking at to make it work?
Joe.
Edited by joe oliver on Tuesday 22 July 20:50
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