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.

I would have said "No they aren't living in the garage, what are you talking about?" and then carried on to get planning permission to convert the annex to a self contained granny flat with access to the main house (if that is what you want) or completely self contained. When you go through that process you'll probably have to have a sign up on your property advising neighbours of your application and they can lodge objections at that point.

But everyone does things differently so I hope there won't be any kick back from what you're currently doing.

On a related note, if you and your husband were to divorce, would your mum get all her money back that she has given you?

If it’s gone into you and your husbands funds and you have no watertight legal agreement regarding her money, if you divorce she will end up with nothing as the money is technically now yours and your husbands and will be split between just the two of you.

Rude generalisation! I live in a village (have done for over a decade,) and find the vast majority of people lovely and friendly and kind and helpful. I found people in the suburbs on the private estates of the large town I used to live in far nastier, nosier, and more gossipy, than ANYone in this village - ever. Many were plain ignorant and didn't want to speak. People in my village are way nicer/friendlier/more sociable!

@Motherof1and2dogs What that person has done is spiteful and mean. You weren't affecting them in any way, shape, or form! You will just have to wait to see what fall out there is from it though.

The PP was very loosely worded - I wouldn't be worried if I were you. Nothing in there saying it cannot be used as a bedroom! The fact that it is well hidden could mean that it is speculation by a neighbour or they have tresspassed on your land to look through the window! If the council do inspect, your could put the bed on it's side and state that it is a store room and that your Mum sleeps in the house.

Great that everything sorted with mortgage lender.

@Motherof1and2dogs don't know if this info will help or not as rules may change with by-laws for different areas. We recently stopped in an Air BnB which had sitting / kitchen area with microwave dishwasher but no sink. Also a bathroom with toilet, sink and shower and a bedroom. I mentioned to the host that it was weird not having a sink in the kitchen area and she said that was the one thing that stopped it from being fully self contained so they didn't have to pay a separate council tax on it. Apparently checked with and approved by their council. Your current set up with your mum sounds good to me, let them complain if you mum wanted to live in unconverted garage sleeping on the floor it's no ones business but yours and hers so ignore the complainers

I was just about to ask about your mother in the event of a divorce, but that has now been asked.

what if you mother needs residential care - to such an extent you cannot safely provide it ?

as she has sold her home and gifted the money away, who will pay for her needs / residential / care home ?

Incidentally, our local council webpage says that an annexe is exempt from council tax if it is being occupied by a dependent relative over the age of 65, or under the age of 65 where they are either mentally impaired or substantially and permanently disabled. So, depending on your mother's situation, even with permission, the annexe might not be separately taxable anyway.

If I were you, I wouldn't do anything now other than start to consider what might have to be done to comply with building regs, but be open and honest with the council if their enforcement team contact you.

Alternatively, consider making an application now for change of use of the property. I'm not sure what the requirements would be in terms of facilities to make it "liveable" or whether once you've got change of use permission, you can then make changes over time, or whether you have to get them changed before it can be lived in.

You certainly couldn't make the changes and then make the application as it would be the wrong way round, especially if it were refused. But, if you apply and it's accepted, is there a time limit on completing (or starting, as with planning permission) the work? i.e. could you get permission and then work on the actual changes over time, while your Mum still stays in it?

Purposes incidental means incidental
ie storage of belongings or car etc. Not residential ie to sleep or permanently reside.

Its not going to say you can’t live there specifically because quite obviously from what you have just posted you can’t live there.
Your solicitor was wrong. Did they send you confirmation from planning and building regs relating to their advice that your mum could live there. I’m guessing not, as she can’t. Your solicitor is at fault here but equally it is obvious from the ‘incidental’ reference.
Even if you do intend to apply for the appropriate permissions and do the required works your mum cannot legally sleep there until all of that have been approved and completed.

Did she invest any money into this property when you bought it, and if so, is her name on the deeds? In other words, who are the registered owners?

I am just concerned that what we are doing could get us in trouble still.

OP, MN can speculate all it likes but nobody actually knows. Get on to your council asap and get the definitive answer. Don't hope it goes away, whatever the outcome.

Knowledge is power, when you are sure of the situation you can take the necessary steps - which might be none at all for now.

From your update about the wording I would say you are in the clear.
Find a planning consultant though
and DO NOT PHONE THE COUNCIL

@OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon @BCSurvivor mum only lived in a mobile home before, we were shared ownership with debt to be cleared, the agreement was for us to move to a better area, we both sell (not getting a huge amount as mums was only a mobile a home and we was only shared ownership and only there for 3 years so didn't have much coming back our way) and clear our debt. This was a mutual agreement, mum is happy that all her income is hers and doesn't have to pay a penny to us and she can afford to do things and live a good life, and we are now debt free in a house and not stuck in a flat. The place she is living isn't much smaller than her mobile home. She has her own garden, her front door goes straight onto our garden with a path going to our back door. It's really cosy inside.
We did agree to not clear off our debt to get the annexe sorted but she didn't want that. We aren't that selfish. She's not elderly, she is 58 and still very mobile, my partner earns well so saving will only take months. Thank you for your concern but we made sure my mum was 100% happy before we made this decision. She is really happy here, yes she can't wait to have her own proper kitchen and bathroom but it's not the end of the world that she has to wait a few more months. She come to the viewing with us and loved it just as much as we did.

Notices do not say what something can’t be used as
They only say what they can be used as

@Soontobe60 she was the giftor for our deposit if this is what you mean when you say invested money. But the registered owner of the house is me and my husband.

Half the time you're saying its not suitable to live in, and the other half you're saying its lovely. I think for the council you need to make up your mind which line is true. Plenty of people have free-standing cookers and fridges, just because they aren't integrated doesn't mean its not a kitchen. If she's obviously sleeping there every night she's living there.

She’s not paying council tax?

I’ve always said if you ever need to orioritise bills then council tax is at the top. Because they’ll get their money

This is very bad advice. You need to look into this and speak to the council. You really don’t want to be in a situation where you spend more money on the annex and then have to bulldoze the whole thing because you didn’t have the right planning consent.

I would love it if, in my old age, I'm struggling paying the bills, etc. and one of my kids was happy to live with me in the annexe. I think that's lovely that the OP, their partner and their mum have found what works for them 🥰

You need to check the planning permission for the outbuilding and any conditions re: residential use. If there is a condition stating no residential use then you will need to apply for variation of condition or change of use from outbuilding to residential annex. if it states no residential use then your planning authority could take enforcement action and tell you your mum can’t live in it until you have secured this, regardless of whether you have done any building works or not. It’s the principal of changing the outbuilding to a residential annex you need to apply for on top of any building works. This is to ensure that issues such as overlooking or adjacent properties, noise, disturbance and any pressures on public services are taken into account (yes one annex might not make a different but if everyone put an annex in their gardens then that could have a big impact).
There is no guarantee you will get permission to use the building as a residential annex- it will depend on the policies your local authority has on annex’s. The planning permission for the outbuilding will be online or should have been included in the conveyancing for your purchase.

Why would she need to pay council tax?
She is a disabled relative of the home owner.

“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"

OP, it does specifically say that the annexe cannot be used to live in, just in fancy words. Purposes incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house means the kind of things a garage, shed, store, summerhouse are used for, possibly ok to use a home office/study if it is someone working alone without employees or clients visiting.

From gov.uk:

@Itsrainingloadshere this has all been spoke about, my mum isn't stupid and we have had this conversation and agreements are all in place, not an issue you need to worry about.

I didn’t say she was stupid I was just offering advice that’s all. If her money isn’t properly protected then if you divorce she won’t get any of it back. Sounds like it is legally in order as far as her money goes.

My understanding is that if the planning permission granted when it was built was for its use as a dwelling, then your mum stay there won’t matter. But if it was permission for it to be an office or some other non habitable use then you have changed the use by having someone live in it permanently and, yes, it’s an issue and the council could take enforcement action against you.

And if you have changed the use then it’s not that surprising some neighbours are upset. Use change isn’t just about how your mum is living in it now. If you establish use as a dwelling then you can replace your mum with young loud students you let out to, or another family, or the people you sell to could do the same. It makes the need for more facilities in the area, pressure on parking (especially if it was a garage, so loss of private parking as well as possibility of more adults who will want parking), more traffic generally, etc. Although I’m quite gung-ho about more development, lots of people aren’t. From their perspective, lovely quiet villages don’t stay lovely quiet villages if people keep adding to their houses, especially without planning permission. And if you have a neighbour who was denied planning permission themselves or who objected to the change of use from a garage to an office, they may have a personal vendetta against it regardless of their feelings about more people living there.

But - I am not a lawyer. Posters here don’t know your full situation or the area or property and even if we did you have no way of knowing what advice on this thread is valid. You need proper legal advice - which you should have taken when you bought the place. It shouldn’t cost much to find out the situation. You don’t necessarily need them to act for you, just advise you. You seem to have assumed planning permission would be granted when you finally got around to applying, which may be quite likely depending on a bunch of factors but it’s not a given. You and your mum have been quite cavalier about her living situation.

not got much else going on eh?