There is.I am pretty sure there is a condition that you won't qualify for the grant if you have purposefully left a property vacant.
The government website is confusing as it refers to 'building'First I was told the grant scheme doesn't apply to agricultural buildings. In response I pointed out the structure is located on the main street of a village and has never been used for agricultural purposes - it was a workshop for the family business. I was then told the grant is only available for flats over over shops and pubs with accommodation upstairs. I pointed out that these restrictions are not mentioned anywhere in the guidelines on the grant and then got a very defensive response and was told I needed to make a full application for the grant and the council would 'look at it'.
I am deeply frustrated because I need to know whether the building qualifies for the vacant property grant or not before I spent a significant amount of money on paying a planning consultant to make an application for planning permission for converting it to residential. Can anyone give me any guidance?
They should where appropriate, but for example they shouldn't allow the existence of an agricultural barn be used to sidestep development plan objectives of more sustainable development. It's rare that a barn of that age would be suitable for conversion meeting today's building regulations without essentially knocking it and starting again. This scheme is intended for more modern buildings that need less work, hence refurbishment in the title. Converting a 100+ year old barn is not a refurbishment.Seems to me the councils should be encouraging the provision of housing from that, not trying to stop the OP.
Barns in a village don't fall under the agriculture exemptions. There are some wonderful barn conversions, but they only make sense where the barn is a protected structure or of very high quality. We don't have very many of them here.I would have thought a barn/shed/workshop on a street in a village was an excellent conversion.
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