Identifying opportunities to secure an uplift in the value of land and property prior to sale.

The permitted development regime allows for a certain amount of development to take place without the need for express planning permission. There is still a requirement to secure authorisation from the Council but this is a more streamlined process. Our client came to our estate agency office in Pulborough to discuss selling his dairy farm as he was approaching retirement and wanted to scale down operations.

Residential Permitted Development

He had no idea that his land and buildings might have development potential, and that he could obtain a far greater return if he was able to secure planning consent before putting the estate on the market. We assessed the site, which comprised a number of agricultural buildings, two of which we considered would be suitable candidates for conversion under Class Q of Part 3 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 (as amended) which allows for the change of use of an agricultural building to a residential dwelling. These were an old ammunitions store erected in WW2 and kept for use on the farm, and a functional, purpose-built building used as a milking parlour and dairy. Both were granted consent as independent dwellings.

Our client had chosen to create living space within another of his barns. Technically, he needed planning permission to live in the barn but had been living there for long enough that we could make a case that his use of the barn was now lawful. We provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate this and secured a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use, regularising his use of the barn. This is a good example of how Batcheller Monkhouse can identify opportunities to secure an uplift in the value of land and property prior to sale.