Is this possible?

[Weenie12]

This is almost certainly a pipe dream but would love to know if it could ever work. Is it possible to knock through a pair of semi-detached houses into one?

The house attached to ours has only been lived in for about 18 months out of the eight years we’ve been here. Currently uninhabited for over two years and in total disrepair. We have a disabled child who will eventually need a ground-floor bedroom and wetroom. Our house doesn’t quite have the space to create these.

I have a vague fantasy of tracking down the owner of next door and somehow convincing them to sell to us for a bargain price so we can renovate and extend into it. Has anyone ever done similar?! What is the process legally and practically? We don’t want to have to move and there are very very few suitable properties nearby. Aware this would not be a cheap solution but just want to give it a little bit of thought.

You’ll need planning permission, but it’s perfectly possible.

It sounds like a good idea and would definitely be possible. I live in a road where the owner of a bungalow has done the exact same thing.

You'd need planning permission and it would take considerable finance to knock them both into one unit, etc.

I guess first step is contact the owner and find out if they want to sell. It's pointless planning further until you know that.

Yes perfectly possible and has been done before. Need planning permission then it’s a building job like any other.

I have known more than one person who bought houses next door to each other and knocked them into one. What an exciting idea!
Good luck 👍

Definitely possible. If you could get it for the right price. Consider the cost of buying it, doing the necessary building work/upgrades (though maybe you could get a grant for some of the work for your child’s space) etc. as it may be cheaper to move to suitable house, but as you say, not many available and you don’t want to move.

Think about long term - if you want to sell, the value of one combined house is likely to be less than two separate ones. Also think about the new entrance visuals - are the current front doors together? Or at opposite ends.

Finally not sure if UK taxes but I imagine you’d have to register both as one house to avoid extra taxes etc

Thanks all, really helpful to know it can work. We’d be eligible for the Disabled Facilities Grant but at £30k it won’t go all that far (unlikely to cover the cost of the work we’d need on our current house either).

I think my worry would be about making the purchase and then being refused planning permission. I suppose I would need to speak to the council beforehand and see if they have a position. Now to try and find out who actually owns it…

Yes! There’s an Instagram page I follow (two.houses.into.one) where they bought their neighbours house and have been documenting the renovation. Worth a look!

On the planning permission point - you could contact the owner first and make the purchase conditional on planning permission. You don’t need to own the land to have PP granted. If it’s refused then you don’t buy, and if it’s granted then you buy it with the benefit of PP.

Would this mean you would pay stamp duty on the basis of a second home? Also what about council tax?

Could you make the upstairs of the adjacent house into a self contained flat to rent out to help with finance?

As landlords living next door you’re unlikely to have a tenant that causes problems and as it’s likely to need a full refurb you can make sure it’s well insulated acoustically.

I wouldn’t have thought planning would be a problem, especially if there are no major external changes to the property.

i think permission for necessary alterations for a disabled person are more likely to be granted

OP would have to pay the extra stamp duty but could then try to get that bavk if they can prove they’ve moved into it
It’s a grey area as technically you have to sell the old one to get the stamp back
So its worth OP asking the council

Not all councils will allow knocking two into one if there’s a lack of housing stock but again always worth trying. Ask the planning department first

OP would need to apply for a new Council tax band once it’s converted. Up until that’s complete she’ll have to pay two Although most councils allow 6months free if there’s building work and it’s uninhabited but not more than once in 2 years ( again varies by council)

OP check out Landregistey for the owner. You’ll get the name. Then you could try companies house for an address. You never know they may be on there.

Otherwise it’s a lot of 🕵️ to find where the owner actually lives

Making homes accessible is a priority for planners but everything still needs to be within planning law.
They won’t override that for disabled people.
Those needing Disabled adaptations may jump the queue though

You dont always need planning permission if all work is internal - you would need building regulation consent. It can be permitted development so you should speak to your local authority. Obviously your council tax band could change, probably would.

To avoid reducing the value of the property you might want to make the changes fairly minimal so they could be converted back to two properties later. There would need to be an internal door.

It depends where you are. In London, for example it would be seen as depleting the available housing stock.
It wouldn’t necessarily be refused on that basis, but the planning department would definitely need to know.

Harry Styles is doing this so it must be possible!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14582635/Harry-Styles-super-mansion-rule-renovation.html

higher rate SDLT would be charged on the basis it's the purchase of an additional property as at the point of purchase there are 2 separate properties in existence, so higher rate applies to the 2nd one since both will be contemporaneously owned.

if the building works are then completed within 36 months of the date the purchase contract was exchanged (not the purchase completion date) it is possible to reclaim the higher rate SDLT paid, meaning you are then left with having paid only the standard rate of SDLT
It is vital that the adjoining property works are completed on time since the conditions for the refund are that you must have "replaced" the existing (current) home with a new home (the combined building) so the new home has to exist by that deadline.

merging two properties into one, and thus "extinguishing" the council tax listing for each and creating a new (combined) property listing is bog standard stuff for the VOA. The key consideration is whether there is now only a single self contained dwelling. For example, leaving separate kitchens in each property will be a major problem because then, on paper, each property remains capable of housing self contained occupants able to live independently of each other. It is the physical nature of the property that matters, not who or how it is used.

Yes it is doable, and you get a significant VAT reduction in costs in doing so to 5%as you are changing the number of dwellings). Our house was subdivided into two flats when we bought it and we combined it. The VAT reduction was a massive help with the cost of works. Here is one link https://uklandlordtax.co.uk/vat-treatment-on-property-conversions/

Obviously get advice on this - and also find out from your contractors how it works (we only got the money when they did their VAT return)

@Weenie12 dont assume you would get the full amount, if anything, if our experience is anything to go by. They very much wanted to spend the absolute minimum of anything at all, and even said why didn't we buy a more suitable property!
But, in answer to your op, I dream our neighbour wants to sell up and that it tied up with us being able to afford it and we get a huge garden and a house suitable for our two disabled dds. Not that we don't get on with them mind, they are good neighbours. Hope it works out for you 🤞

Are you in England? I don't know but this scheme might be available in other parts of the UK too? If the property hasn't been lived in for 2yrs or more, there is a scheme to get it back to a liveable property. If empty 2+yrs you only pay 5% VAT on products to get in liveable again such as boiler, windows, permanent things in the home (not removable items such as curtains, sofas, garden things etc). It it was empty 10+yrs, its 0% VAT.

We've recently renovated a derelict property but found that very few trades or building merchant type places were aware of the scheme. Its not the same as a new build one where the home owner claims the VAT back. I don't know how that fits with getting a disability allowance or discount for connecting 2 homes, but another, legal scheme to look into.

We needed the council to supply certification of how long the property had been derelict and a list of 'suggested' things required to get the home liveable again. This only involved calling the councils 'Empty homes Officer' and booking an appointment for them to see our property. He checked the council tax records and determined when they last council tax was paid and provided the list of things needed doing. Its just another thing that might be helpful in saving money OP.

Thank you all so much, things like the VAT scheme are really useful to know about, and the need to confirm the stamp duty situation. Shouldn’t need much in the way of external changes because of the layout. And just taking on the ground floor and renting out part of the property has crossed my mind - we don’t actually need an entire additional house.

I will have a look on the Land Registry and also see what Harry Styles is up to!

those VAT rules are applicable across the entire UK
However, worth noting that certain info on that website is country specific, for example, they talk about Land Transaction Tax (LTT) not Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). The are key differences between those two taxes.

We tried this and failed - council insisted we would have to meet newbuild standards even to knock a door between the two, so we would have to do full acoustic and thermal insulation, fire doors etc. This might have been a petty official, but I think they didn't want to lose housing stock (desirable city, growing fast).

It's also worth thinking about: would you keep 2 central heating systems? 2 gas and electricity accounts? 2 council tax? What about house insurance? I think it used to be easier to do these things, it's a massive hassle these days.

I'd talk to the council people, stressing the disabled son bit, before going any further. And get a response in writing if they seem helpful - its a lot to gamble unless you are sure they are OK with it.

Should have said: it's both building control and (maybe) planning permission. Think it was building control folk who were so demanding for us.

We got quite far into trying to do this. Our local authority said a hard no. They’re under pressure to increase the number of dwellings in the area and were not open to reducing the available housing stock 😭