BCP Council (Bournemouth area): Jess Glover is pleased to have recently secured two Lawful Development Certificates for an existing use. For these particular applications, the adjacent units had been converted from two offices in two self-contained residential flats in the Westbourne and West Cliff ward of Bournemouth.
These applications take time to prepare to ensure that on the balance of probability the evidence submitted will make evident to the Council that the unlawful use has continuously operated for the minimum amount of time required to become lawful under the relevant statutory legislation.
For this particular application, which was an unlawful change of use to dwellings, it was required for us to demonstrate that the use had continued for a period in excess of 4 years. This required us to provide evidence including:
- Statutory declaration from the property owner
- Tenancy agreements dating back to 2014
- Council Tax bills
- Correspondence from Accountant
- Bank statements from property owner
Furthermore, the publicly-available enforcement records were checked to ensure that at no time in the last 4 years that the Council had served an enforcement notice asking for the unlawful use to cease.
With the application submitted, Jess liaised closely with the Case Officer throughout the application, including a site visit to validate the evidence submitted does relate to the existing situation within the property.
The Case Officer concluded that on the balance of probability and on the basis of the evidence provided as part of the application that the use of the two application sites has been in continuous use for the purposes specified for a period in excess of 4 years and issued a Lawful Development Certificate confirming the existing use as C3 residential flats.
So if you have an unauthorised use or building which you are considering to regularise why not give Pure Town Planning a call on 01202 585524 for a free confidential discussion on how we can assist you?