First period property purchased : now what

[Flyfisher]

Good luck with HMRC and an SDLT refund but don't hold your breath. You might have more luck with a council tax exemption if you can argue it's uninhabitable and being refurbished.

 

[Kearn]

Good luck with HMRC and an SDLT refund but don't hold your breath. You might have more luck with a council tax exemption if you can argue it's uninhabitable and being refurbished.

Careful with the council tax / it’s not an exemption, but they remove you from the list entirely. Which means when you do start living there again, they treat the property as a new addition to the list which means reassessing its banding.

In our case, we looked at comparable properties and their banding vs ours and realised we’d save for a year or so, but once we started paying again, it would be a significant jump for evermore!

 

[haf]

In my old area of Birmingham we were charged more for leaving a property empty and it was better to try and get a single person discount. I think the property has been uninhabited for 7 odd years so maybe council will forget about me

 

[Flyfisher]

I suspect the rules are different in different councils or may have changed more recently than my experience? I took on my project in 2007 and didn't pay council tax while it was undergoing serious restoration. The local council sent out someone to check every year, but it was only a cursory inspection and they didn't even want to look inside, probably because all the extensive scaffolding made it pretty obvious that some serious work was going on. After a number of years (I forget the details) the exemption changed to it being empty, just for one year I think. Then the rules changed again and, to discourage empty properties, CT was made payable on empty properties at 150% rate (and since raised to 200% I believe). That was from the 2013/14 financial year, which I remember more clearly because that was the year we properly moved in! But at no time was the house removed from the CT list and we received the usual bill every year, even when there was a 100% exemption, so councils must have a fair amount of autonomy about how CT is managed.

So yes, be careful!

 

[Lacan07]

In my old area of Birmingham we were charged more for leaving a property empty and it was better to try and get a single person discount. I think the property has been uninhabited for 7 odd years so maybe council will forget about me

Yes, thats another thing to look out for! Its the same where I am, after a certain period they start charging you for an uninhabitable property. I would try and get your head round the rules first before applying for any exemptions.

 

[haf]

I think I am now reasonably upto speed on the Utilities side so will work on my options for a few months before deciding anything.

On a different matter, my interior is all lime plaster walls and ceilings - many in good condition but also various repairs needed, including a ceiling or 2 in poor condition. I would really like to put in internal insulations on the main walls but no idea whether there is any chance to get that agreed with planners so would appreciate any experience/thoughts in that area. Ideally without having to go back to brick as that may be a painful exercise..

 

[Cubist]

There are strict limits on how much water can be drawn from a private borehole. If the owner wishes to use more than 20,000 litres per day then an Abstraction License from the Environment Agency is required. Getting and keeping such licenses can be costly and the landowner may be entitled to charge fees to any users. That max capacity may sound like a lot but a farm may be using the supply for all their livestock and irrigation needs. Further, the borehole used may be drawing on an acquifer that from time to time falls to a level at which no water can be drawn - we have a local farmer who occasionally suffers this problem during high summer.

I suspect your CO will have no objections to your removing some old dilapidated sheds - ours didn't. But - you can expect some push-back on your plans for a brick-built workshop.

 

[Cubist]

In terms of the building restoration priorities you'll need to address any issues with the roof, guttering and downpipes first and then move on to the doors and windows to make sure the structure is watertight - and to get rid of that plant growing on its rear face and roof. Judging by the nature of some of the internal damage, site security would also be high on the list for me before moving on to the interior. You would be wise to invest in a good strong shed to protect your tools, equipment and materials sooner rather than later if you can't make the house secure against thieves - waiting for a brick built shed to be approved and built is not an option I would suggest. Without a water supply you will probably be dependent on hiring a bowser and water supply for it to meet your on-site needs for some time to come - these too are attractive to thieves. A portable generator will also be useful until an electricity supply can be provided and a new consumer unit installed - to be on the safe side it may be wide to completely strip out all the electrics before starting on the walls and ceilings. Oh, and while you're about all that - a temporary strong chain link fence of the kind used by contractors may be something you should consider too.

 

[haf]

There are strict limits on how much water can be drawn from a private borehole. If the owner wishes to use more than 20,000 litres per day then an Abstraction License from the Environment Agency is required.
I suspect your CO will have no objections to your removing some old dilapidated sheds - ours didn't. But - you can expect some push-back on your plans for a brick-built workshop.

It will be for a single person with fairly minimal water needs - there will be plenty of rain water for non drinking-cooking etc needs. There is already a huge water tank of some kind there already for rain water.

On the shed then I will tentatively ask the council LBC/CO or whoever I need to but am going to build it anyway - the plot is big enough and even if label it 'temporary' and demolish it at the end of the renovation, it will be worth it as I can get one built with a steel door for about 2k.

 

[haf]

Cubist, I a thinking along very similar lines in terms of sequencing the urgent works. I checked the main roof (double story side) and its actually already been rebuilt and the original tiles put back, The loft hatch clearly shows new-ish beams and the waterproof membrane etc so thats a plus. The single story above the 'lounge' seems fine but is inaccessible to check without lifting tiles - no sign of water ingress at least. The chimneys are in need major works so thats likely expensive.


I plan to buy a digger and a generator (second hand) and store them in the brick shed alongside a large steel drum for burning the numerous wood thats already piled up from sheds and clearout etc before I took ownership . Plus will seal up the property aside from a solid rear door with multiple locks for access. Main priority early on will be to gut the building (wallpaper, kitchen, bathroom, carpets, etc so its easier to see whats what and get work arranged.

On the water side I took a walk down the route I am allowed to have the connection and its a long way away - over a kilometre - its all fields apart from the last bit as I stopped at a road and am not sure how much further to go. I plan to get a meeting with the guy who is responsible and then get a real quote. The borehole is suddenly looking like a decent option - especially with the minimal water needs I will have.

Other good news I that there is a phone line and I found a broadband router in amongst the mess - hopefully that can be restored at whatever speed is poss through a line from a pole across the main road.

I was told that there is a septic tank but no obvious signs of where it might be so will have to do some searching after a bit of a chopping down of the overgrown plants

All in all very exciting and am trying to get a meeting with the local CO to talk about the things I want to do

 

[Cubist]

My comments concerning the need for an Abstraction License was in reference to the service offered to you by the Trustees rather than yourself should you decide to install a borehole. Given that that source may be a Kilometre or more from your property and perhaps has to cross a road - private I guess but could be a public road - the cost of trenching to a depth of circa 1metre to ensure the water pipe is sited below the frost line could prove extortionate. You might want to have a chat with suitable contractor or two to get a guide price per metre and also find out of that road is a public highway - a mole might be the only permissible way to get the pipe under that and of course thee may be other service lines beside it that must be avoided. On balance I think your own borehole would be the best and least expensive route.

I applaud your thoughts regarding the capture and use of rainwater for your 'grey water' needs. A few years back the First Lady and I stayed at a house in a Hawaiian rain forest that used such a system and we were very impressed by everything except the monster storage tank - more like swimming pool - in the grounds. That said I incorporated the principles in a proposed development here for the flat I then hoped to build over one of our outbuildings.

That's good news about the roof - one of the photos seemed to suggest it was in a poor state - nevertheless get rid of that climbing plant. Sorry to say it but the BC department will take one look at a proposal for a brick built shed and then show you the door. They have a checkbox approach concerning what constitutes a 'temporary' structure and a promise to demolish doesn't appear in that list. Could I make a couple of suggestions though?

It will obviously take you some time, maybe a couple of years, before you get around to building that planned extension to the house. Its base has largely been constructed and this would be an excellent platform upon which to site your temporary workshop. I appreciate that you plan to store some heavy plant in there and that this may give you some concern as to the bases ability to handle the weight and traffic implied but that issue could easily be overcome. A solidly built timber frame construction capable of incorporating large doors is more than feasible. As is constructing it in a fashion that would allow later disassembly and reassembly elsewhere in the grounds. An additional thought would be that you might also consider raising the external walls of the proposes extension, if it's ultimately to be a brick structure, to say waist height and then build the timber shed superstructure off this.

A further suggestion if I may; be careful where you put your feet. Some old septic tanks were brick-built and covered with a man-hole cover but some even older systems were simply covered with wooden planks. I would be tempted to walk those grounds with a heavy stick in hand and giving the ground ahead a good whack at each step forward.

 

[haf]

Cubist - thanks again for your wise words and different approach top doing things. You are correct in that the extension will be a long way off so that could indeed be a base for the brick shed so great suggestion. I will still have it out with the CO given that I am teh one giving this dilapidated building a new lease of life so the least they can do is to be reasonable.. may well fall on deaf hears but nothing to lose in pushing the boundaries

 

[Flyfisher]

I will still have it out with the CO given that I am teh one giving this dilapidated building a new lease of life so the least they can do is to be reasonable.. may well fall on deaf hears but nothing to lose in pushing the boundaries

We're G2*, which means English Heritage (or whatever it's called now) had to be consulted on each of our four LBC applications. It turned out that they were stricter than our very helpful and pragmatic CO, but with some carefully reasoned arguments by our CO, EH eventually conceded the merits of the proposed works and their district officer admitted that unless these old properties were allowed to be sensitively adapted to meet modern living demands then no one would take them on and everyone knows that nothing decays faster than an empty and abandoned building.

So yes, argue your case, be sensitive to the building, try to enhance what's there with additions rather than alter what already exists and remind the powers that be that you are the one putting your money and time towards helping preserved this little bit of our heritage, if only they would let you get on with it.