Could ANYTHING be done with this? Perfect location.

[Ooh1981]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51215639.html

Can't get link open.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51215639.html Should work now.

Thanks Bigger!

We need family home. Two DCs.

What do you mean? They are currently let out so you would need to look into the legalities of giving notice if you intended to renovate and live their yourself.

It's lovely. ...and all very liveable...depends on your need and budget....

It's lovely, what's the problem?

A floor plan would help but yes, I think you could do a lot with these, though what and how much will depend on your budget.

If you scout about on Rightmove, you should be able to find some long narrow houses to give you ideas about layout. You might end up needing two flights of stairs if you want to have three bedroom upstairs - but it's hard to tell without a floor plan.

The fab mature trees around the houses are also a real asset (except in the autumn when you will be leaf-raking a lot...)

You need a good architect to make the most from it....

Did you mean buy and turn the three cottages into one home? This will be very expensive indeed.

Think of it like a Breton Long House.

I don't think it will necessarily be expensive unless you want to open the whole thing up?

I wouldn't - I'm a cheapskate and I'd put 4 doorway in

Not much budget at all!!

Would have to be work in progress.

Here is kind of floor plan: media.rightmove.co.uk/36k/35312/35312_10003275A_3275_DOC_20_0000.PDF

It's lot 2.

I used to live very near there in Hutton Village it is indeed a very perfect location

Oh wow!

Depending on the location lots of local authorities are very reluctant to reduce the number of dwellings ie knocking two or more houses into one.

It could be done, but agree it will be both expensive and possibly a pain in arse to get vacant possession.

A few years back we bought a house (privately) that had been converted to four flats in the 1950/60s. As soon as we viewed we knew it was 'the one' - only three houses of that design (1880s) existed in the area and not only was it massive, it had bags of potential - but the tenants were still in situ. Alarm bells rang when we were not able to gain access to view the ground floor flat as the tenant was hostile to the idea of the house being sold.

The vendor - the father of an acquaintance - said he was selling with vacant possession, but in the end he had to take two of the tenants to court, they had to be bribed to leave and the bailiffs sent in.

In the interim we had completed on our sale and had to move in with family for six weeks with a toddler and all our stuff (contents of a four bed house) went into storage.

Reconfiguring the four flats into a single dwelling was an expensive and lengthy process (we did majority of it ourselves), but ultimately it was worth it as it became an amazing family home.

Deep pockets and a steely determination were the order of the day throughout the whole process. If you have these OP, then maybe, just maybe it could work out.

Otoh, is there nothing else in your budget that would make for an easier move?

little no she would not have to look into the legailites! The current landlord will have served notice.

Of course something could be done with it OP. It's very lovely.

The way I read it the tenants will be in situ, and depending on the type of lease they have it could be hard or nearly impossible to evict them.

If your considering it the first questions I would be asking is how long tenants have been there and if you could get details of lease. Google 'sitting tenant' to see what the situation could be.

if you have the money and if you can get permission to turn small houses into big ones (against many council policies) - you need to know how long the tenancies are. If they are fixed term the tenants can't be evicted just because of a sale, you will become the new landlord and then all the responsibility of that business falls on you.

if they have by any chance been there a very long time, before ASTs, then they could be unevictable.

giving notice does not mean they would actually leave.

shift to landlordzone for further advice as mumsnet does not like landlords who give notice to tenants.

As a tenant I can categorically say that if a landlord wants you out...then out you go. Yes..it can sometimes take a year but not much longer than that.

ImNamey - a cottage near me sold recently with a sitting tenant - that's the sort of situation I'm referring to. The particulars of the house linked to refer to an on-going rental situation.

to clarify - they will leave eventually but not necessarily at the expiry of the notice. This might not be due to being bad tenants; if they need council accommodation many councils won't provide help until someone is actually evicted. Leaving at the expiry of the notice is counted as 'voluntarily homeless' which is obviously unhelpful for all concerned.

bad tenants (and there are a few) could stop paying rent and trash the place as a parting gift.

small risks, big consequences; be aware.

I guess if the tenants moved out then the thing to do would be to keep the front door of the middle house as the main entrance and knock through either side to have a large kitchen one side and large reception the other. You'd probably relocate the stairs in the middle house and create a corridor to get knock through to bedrooms on either side - I don't think it's that difficult.

Do you need planning consent to knock two (or more) houses into one? You didn't used to - I thought it was necessary if you wanted to subdivide but not if you wanted to do the opposite.

Will be ringing agents in morn to discuss tenants - and poss of making it one house.

I would presume given it's relative cheapness that there is something going on there.

Thanks for your comments!

Its.