Buying a house with illegal building on site

I am considering buying a house which has a pre fabricated building on the site. They are not being sold as anything other than outbuildings and are in good condition and are fully serviced. The current owners tried unsuccessfully to get retention on it as a residential dwelling some years ago, this was refused as it constituted a separate housing unit. I have been told by my solicitor that there would be know problem as the buildings had been there long enough to be exempt from planning and would just have to be listed accordingly in any contract. My concern is that I intend to use the buildings to run my business from, does anybody have any experience with this type of situation or know whether the planning authorities would object to me operating my business from there (its not heavy industry, I practice sports massage)

I believe you would need to make a planning application for a change of use on the buildings in question, and as retention has been refused, that would also be refused.

Despite what the solicitor says I would not countenance going any further with the vendor unless my solicitor were to write me a full unqualified indemnity against any losses or costs incurred in progressing the transaction. And pigs might fly...

If you are going to act on the advice given by your solicitor on the matter of retention then get this in writing from him/her first.

I had a similar situation a few years back, my solicitor requested all the details of the building in question i.e. architects letter of exemption (statute of limitation) and an affidavit from the owners. The contract was drawn up with full details of the buildings so I was satisfied. It will always come up again in any further sales but if you have all the paperwork it should not be too much of a problem, at the end of the day if they are pre-fabricated it would be no problem to remove them- they don't last forever anyway. As ClubMan said the key is to have everything in writing.
I am not sure what the situation is with running a business from it however, maybe there is somebody you could contact in the local CoCo?

what about if they burn down? you won't be able to replace them?

Thanks for the advise folks. The main concern I have is that the buildings are perfect for my needs at the moment. I tried ringing the county council to put the question to them but could not get a straight answer which is a concern. Mathepac, you mentioned change of use, do you think that this is 100% necessary given the buildings do not have a specific use now?
I would rather do things above board but am unsure what would happen if I just started operating, if I buy another house and start working from the sitting room would I need a special license or something? I have been searching government and local authority websites for these answers but am finding them hard to find.

Insurance could be a problem, as card said the buildings could not be replaced if a fire occurred. In relation to running a business from home it seems to be a regular occurrence, on my street alone there is a doctors surgery and also some trades people that operate there business from there ppr, I can't imagine they have all got change of use for all or part of their house!

" I have been told by my solicitor that there would be know problem as the buildings had been there long enough to be exempt from planning and would just have to be listed accordingly in any contract. My concern is that I intend to use the buildings to run my business from, does anybody have any experience with this type of situation or know whether the planning authorities would object to me operating my business from there (its not heavy industry, I practice sports massage)"

You cannot be compelled by the Local Authority to pull down the buildings. Nonetheless, thay are unauthorised, and, technically, if they burn to the ground, your insurance should not pay out.

In my view, you would need planning permission for user as a business - its not just a question of putting up a sign and just starting. Because the buildings are unauthorised, you may not get that pp - you really need to talk to a good local architect/planning consultant for real clarification on that point.

The fact that other people run businesses from their homes without pp, is no reason to ignore responsibilities.

So solicitor is right as regards building cannot be pulled down. And its not clear whether you actively sought his advices on user - but, in any event, you should get proper planning advice and it is better to look for that from someone other than the Local Authority.

mf