Back

Our offices will be closed over the Easter weekend from 5:30pm on Thursday 28 March. We will reopen as usual at 9am on Tuesday 2 April.

Get in Touch Menu

Live/work use for planning purposes

21 November 2012

The description ‘live/work accommodation’ is often used for a barn or other rural property that has been converted for domestic use. For planning purposes, this use is classed as sui-generis (meaning ‘of its own kind’ or ‘the only one of its class’). To comply with its planning designation, the accommodation must have a genuine mix of residential and business use.

Home-working

Homeowners should be careful that they are not simply ‘home working’. For example, working at home from a computer one or two days a week would constitute using the property as a dwelling house, with the ‘working from home’ part being ancillary to that use. This would be a material change of use from live/work and would be likely to require planning permission.

Ultimately, the decision as to whether a proposed use meets the live/work accommodation criteria is a matter for the local planning authority to decide. Each authority has different opinions: some have guidance on what constitutes live/work accommodation which may assist.

Live/work accommodation

It may also be worth looking at how the building was used in the past and whether the previous owner used it as genuine live/work accommodation. Continued use in breach of a planning condition could be immune from enforcement action under certain conditions when a certificate of lawful use can be granted.

For more information about live/work accommodation, please contact our agriculture & estates team.

Contact us
Disclaimer: All legal information is correct at the time of publication but please be aware that laws may change over time. This article contains general legal information but should not be relied upon as legal advice. Please seek professional legal advice about your specific situation - contact us; we’d be delighted to help.
Contact
Adam Hale BA (Hons), TEP, FALA
Partner
View profile
Adam Hale
Related services
Share this article
Resources to help

Related articles

The advantages & traps of option agreements

Agriculture & rural affairs

An option agreement can be utilised when a developer is considering purchasing land for development. It grants them the ‘option’ to purchase land for an agreed-upon price (or price mechanism)…

Adam Hale BA (Hons), TEP, FALA
Partner

Making the most out of your land with an overage agreement

Agriculture & rural affairs

With the current housing shortage, farmers and other landowners are finding that their fields, agricultural buildings and even small parcels of unused scrub land are increasingly being considered for development.…

Adam Hale BA (Hons), TEP, FALA
Partner

Grazing licence or Farm Business Tenancy: Which is right for you?

Agriculture & rural affairs

Grazing licences and Farm Business Tenancies (FBTs) are both occupational arrangements available to landowners – but which is right for you? This will largely depend on the activities to be…

Adam Hale BA (Hons), TEP, FALA
Partner
Contact us