Mum living in annexe - complaint made by a neighbour about this. Can we get in trouble?

[Motherof1and2dogs]

I will try to keep this as short as possible but as much detail as I can. Myself, my husband and my Mum all decided it would be a good idea to sell our previous homes and all move in together, this was down to many reasons, however the agreement was Mum was to have her own independence and own place to live so we agreed to find somewhere with an Annexe. The place we bought was advertised as an Annexe. When we viewed the property the Annexe at the time was just being used for a business and has no kitchen or bathroom, just a toilet so it was more like an outbuilding/ garage and not a proper annexe.

We have been in the new place since October 2024. The Annexe is not yet self contained, my Mum has to use our bath to wash and has a make-do temporary kitchen until we save up to get her a proper kitchen and bathroom fitted.

I have just had a neighbour knock to give us the heads up that another neighbour of ours has complained to the council that we have someone "living in our garage". Can we get in trouble for this?

Our plan was to contact the council when was was ready to start the building process to get planning permission and then make it a self contained Annexe, and understand we would have to pay council tax on this eventually but as it's just 2 rooms with a toilet I didn't think we would need to notify anyone? It doesn't have its own address and Mum uses our address for her post.

I am not really sure what to expect. I really hope this doesn't cause too many problems for us. I don't need this right now, we don't make any noise, I have a 2 year old and I am 14 weeks pregnant. I want to cry because we both work full time jobs, we work hard, pay all our bills, we are nice genuine people and we are being targeted already. One reason we moved is because we wanted a quieter lifestyle (moved from a busy town location to a small village) and it's not been the best experience so far :(

Could someone please let me know what could happen to us in this situation. I'm so worried we are going to have to move again.

And we all know how successful that is at stopping it.

Not quite clear what the situation is. If the garage area was properly converted with planning permission then you may need building regs to fit in a new kitchen and bathroom. However, your builder or architect should be able to advise on this. Unless the building is listed or there is some other unusual issue I do not see a problem here in getting this completed outside of cost.

Have you informed your home insurance company OP?
Both building and contents insurance may be compromised if not.

So the neighbour says to the council 'an old woman is sleeping in that outbuilding' OP says 'No she isn't, she's living in the main house and just spends a lot of time out there'.

It's all 'he said/ she said', and I doubt they are going to get particularly involved beyond maybe checking once or twice.

So OP just have her sleep in the house a few nights a week if the council put the pressure on, and then go back to the current situation.

Honestly, it's all just daft. They can't prove it even if they film her going in there at night time, there's the argument that people keep different hours etc. And there is not even proper bathing and cooking facilities in there, or a postal address, so there's a strong argument that she's living in the house.

Did you not think to mention your intentions to the estate agent when you were in the motions of viewing and putting in an offer?

@MyDeftDuck yes of course! Even our solicitor knew about it and mortgage lender and all said it was ok and didn't mention we needed to make the council aware when we move in, just when we start planning to make the changes

The council have to write to the person reported.
They will site a potential contravention and the owner must respond

Of course the owner could deny it.
The council then could visit to check.

I would agree that OP should just get the permissions, do what’s needed and then her mum can move in.

Op even if you were doing something wrong they wouldn't just come round and fine you or whatever.

Someone from the council will come out due to the complaint. They will check and if you are doing something wrong, or need to make certain applications they will advise you what to do. If you then ignore them then you're opening yourself up to legal proceedings.

Eh?

You're not doing anything illegal! Tell them to get lost the nosy fuckers.

And:
I have just had a neighbour knock to give us the heads up that another neighbour of ours has complained to the council that we have someone "living in our garage"

Id be very suspicious that it's not the neighbour who knocked on who's being a shit stirrer.

@MillicentFaucet yes, both are aware. Both also asked many questions on the situation and we were able to get home insurance no problems. Our solicitor was also aware of the situation and mortgage advisor and estate agent. We wasn't hiding anything at all, it was made very clear from day one

The neighbours may be coming at it out of concern for your mum. A disabled lady living alone in effectively a garage/brick office in the garden. No kitchen, no bath.

Though for "annexe" purposes a cooker, fridge and sink can constitute a "kitchen"... are there fire alarms, fire extinguisher or fire blanket?

It rather looks as though their delightful neighbours might take care of that!

Exactly this happened to my neighbour. Down the lane we live in, we’ve all got large gardens and pretty much every house has at least one outbuilding. Most of them done up very nicely and could easily be converted to full accommodation. Our NDN have three generations living together in their house and wanted to use their large outbuilding as a separate accommodation for their son. He already lives in their house, so no more people, no more cars, no more pressure on the local environment.
But they were refused permission.

I do agree of course - they should do what they are supposed to in the long term. But really, I just think this whole thing with the neighbours is a silly waste of everyone's time. They are busybodies who need to get over themselves.

I can see why people might have an issue with rowdy airbnbs, but this is just an old lady living in an outbuilding - come on.

Even if the council visited, it would be pretty easy for OP to argue that she's not living in there.

But you have made a change, you’ve made a change to the use. Changes aren’t just about physical changes.

Sounds like you’ve been chancing your arm , moved her in without the proper permissions . Naughty Naughty
Not surprised you have neighbours who have rightly expressed concerns .

If I were you I’d try and have an informal chat with a local planning consultant (or one who regularly deals with your Council) in the first instance. To be classed as a kitchen your makeshift one would need running water I believe so if there’s no sink etc you’re hopefully not contravening planning with that. However having your Mum sleeping out there contravenes the current planning - though I’m not sure how they prove it or what they can do about it…

You need to call the council and tell them she's living with you, for council tax purposes. Not sure if you need to tell them that she's living in the garden? If it's her dwelling, maybe it changes the purpose of the building in the garden? Call the council and talk to them about it. Explain it hasn't happened yet but want to know where you stand.

I wouldn’t have thought it’s their role/job to have that discussion with you. Surely the solicitor is just been pain for conveyancing? Or did you pay him extra and specifically ask for legal advice on planning matters?

The issue is
Whilst the neighbours may be called busybodies the council will be very much ‘Thankyou for letting us know’. It’s the only way councils find out about this stuff

The neighbours aren’t going to go away any time soon. If they’ve reported it they are clearly invested.

In terms of ‘this is just an old lady living in an outbuilding’ there are safety issues etc to deal with before someone can sleep in a building safely. Building regs requirements must have been met.

I think you will have to pay Council Tax - and it may be backdated ??
With regards to the neighbours - well you get people like that - hope they get karma - that being said - the Council does have property inspectors, and do NFI checks on buildings so you may have been found out anyway.
The property may be small enough for a small charge, and with single occupier and any benefit reductions your amount may be negligible

That's unfortunate, and your solicitor may be potentially negligent, but it'd depend what their understanding of your situation was.

You have permission to use the outside business as an office; but not permission for anyone to live there, even with no changes being made to it. Unfortunately, there's a risk that you will never be granted permission to make changes and have it as a separate annexe, so I'm surprised the solicitor didn't encourage you to make that application first - it would have given you a solid answer, and a few years to do the work. We would have, where I work.

You don't have permission for her to legally reside there, so I would now proceed as if you will get an enforcement notice that requires you to move your mum out. Is there room in the main house?

@BestDIL so all mortgage lenders, estate agents, insurers, solicitors knew the situation, my mum was a giftor for our deposit, she had to sign a lot of paperwork, sold her property, they knew of this from day one.

The planning permission states "the garage and store should only be used for those purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house as such, and not for any commercial or business purposes" - it doesn't mention about no one being able to live there. Our solicitor would have seen all of this and never raised an issue knowing full well my mum was going to be moving into the outbuilding straight away. We was told we only need to notify the council when we start to plan the internal changes. At the minute my mum is only really using it as somewhere to sit and sleep, she comes to ours for washing and bathing.

It was originally a garage which was then converted to the above, but it's all been gated off and we have our drive at the back, so to get to the annexe you have to walk on our drive first and then go through the gate. But it has been this way for years, the previous owner was actually using it for his business. Not sure how they know how my mum is living in it as it's well hidden, maybe word of mouth. I'm not sure

This is my concern also.
Your poor mother.
She's effectively got an office toilet and small sink as a bathroom, no proper kitchen or her own door, and has to trek outside in all weathers to enter your house to use the bath/washing machine etc.
Which is probably what the neighbours have also been concerned about, if they've spotted her.
Why wasn't an amount of money put by to make a proper bathroom/kitchen/access for your mother?

A lot of modern slavey cases involve someone (including family members) living in garages, outhouses and caravans. I get it’s not nice to feel ‘watched’ but the neighbour may just be acting out of concern. If you’re doing nothing wrong then any involvement from the council will be pretty short lived.