Building Annexe/Granny flat in back garden.

[Simon Bags]

Afternoon. A friend of mine has a property with quite a bit of land in the rear garden. He's interested in building a 2 bed property, detached from the main house. He could have a brick bungalow built but he's come across suppliers of pre-made out buildings. Some of them look really nice, fully fitted, insulated, all the trimmings. Anyone gone this route? Any recommendations?

Just getting thoughts.

Simon.

[bergclimber34]

I have lived in one.

It depends hos you do it.

Mine was an expanded garage next to a bungalow, used the main houses water, utilities. but was also liable for council tax obviously.

Not sure if you can do this all separate, I expect in your case it would be as not attached or linked.

Caused a lot of issues with my life, as the address was exactly the same and not registered with Post Office so had all sorts of issues when it came to ID, credit etc.

None of this is building related, but also you might have to consider neighbours.

And long term might make it harder to sell a property with that on the premises. See it a lot with Asian families actually, build annexe for older fam

[Simon Bags]

I know planning permission an issue, as is the gas, water, sewage etc supply as this will be totally seperate, but the seperate address as far as billing is concerned is an interesting point.

[smokey mow]

I see these a lot and getting them through building control (which is required as soon as they contain any sleeping accommodation) can be a massive pain as they’re designed and built to a standard that is generally intended to avoid the need for regulatory compliance.

Everyone assumes that being a simple low cost building means that it will make planning and building control much easier but the reality is the opposite.

[JoshSm]

What's the access like? Is there any?

[Simon Bags]

JoshSm said:

What's the access like? Is there any?

Yep, that's not a problem.

[bergclimber34]

I know of two people who have them, they are both linked to the existing property.

[Fast Bug]

My neighbour built an annexe in his garden. As part of the planning he wasn't allowed to put a kitchen in as that would've potentially made it a dwelling. I know he had some battles to get planning through, so maybe different in other parts of the country? Worth checking though

[Jeremy-75qq8]

Planning wise it is about ancillary use

"He's interested in building a 2 bed property,"

A two bed property - as described - is not that likely to fall in that definition but it might

I have built 3 of these all with bath rooms with no issue. But they were ancillary to the use of the property - two were gyms and one was a pool outbuilding.

The previous cases on this look at the scale of the dwelling and if it fits. So if the outbuilding and the house are the same size the probability is low. If the oit building is far smaller then the ancillary use is more likely.

If it is described as a "2 bed property" then it is a guaranteed no.

If it is a gym and billiards room with shower facilities then as long as the house is of some size it will likely be fine but if the start letting it as perm or holiday accommodation then that will cause issues.

There was one near us in Esher that tried multiple times including at appeal and the answer was the same each time - no you are trying to get an independent dwelling approved by the back door. The report in essence said we are not daft. No.

Edited by Jeremy-75qq8 on Monday 9th November 09:07

[okgo]

A fair few companies use the Caravan Act to get these things through, we considered it on a small property we were debating buying, but didn't in the end.