Would we get planning permission to convert side extension into separate dwelling?

[lovemakespeace]

Hello wise property people,

We are looking to move in London with my brother. We were planning on building him an (ancillary) annexe in the garden. However we have just seen a detached house with a side garage. If we converted the side garage into a two storey one bed apartment (it is only 2.5m wide) do you think we would get planning permission to use this as a separate dwelling?

It could have a car parking space and some garden. Several two storey side extensions on the road.

Grateful for any wisdom as always :)

Probably not and if you have a mortgage they won't allow it either!!!

No mortgage.

Anyone know the reasons it wouldn't be allowed?

Thanks again :)

This is quite a big thing in some areas of London. BBC did a documentary about illegal garage conversions bring used as houses in Hayes / Uxbridge area. There were major issues re fire safety & these properties not having water and / or water.

Of course you would do yours properly & responsibly but there is a lot of ill will towards these conversions in some areas. I doubt permission would be granted but if you don't ask you'll never know

I'm not an expert but in our locality converting a garage to living space meant building regulations involvement. This was straightforward enough, but lots of requirements particularly with insulation as it was becoming habitable space. Creating a separate dwelling in our area means minimal requirements for outside space/place to put bins/parking considerations...it was never going to happen in our case.

You could call planning and see if you can sound someone out over the phone. They can check out the property somewhat using their mapping software and might give you an indication if it's worth exploring or not.

The first thing to consider is the parking issue, we converted a double integral garage and needed planning (no permitted development rights) and building regs.

Planning were very mindful of us removing somewhere to store a car (we would never put the car in the garage) but we have room for 4 cars on our drive so we were granted permission.

Also planning chap was impressed that we retained a back section of the garage for storage as where would you put all the stuff you would normally stash in a garage? (we have a big shed too)

As a separate dwelling for your brother? All you can do is ask. Have a drive round and see if anyone else has done it and look up their planning application on-line. If it was done fairly recently then you can have a look at the site visit info etc from the council to see what their concerns were.

Thanks all :) not looking too hopeful then...