BCP Council (Bournemouth area): Jess Glover has recently secured a Lawful Development Certificate for an existing use. In this particular application, the building had been converted in 2004 from a C3 dwelling into a Sui Generis 8 bedroom HMO in the Bournemouth Central ward of Bournemouth.
Lawful Development 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, it was required for us to demonstrate that the use had continued for a period in excess of 10 years. This required us to provide evidence including:
• Statutory declarations from the property owners and letting agents
• HMO Licence Certificates from 2004-2019
• Tenancy agreements from 2004-2019
• Bank account statements from the owners
Furthermore, the publicly available enforcement records were checked to ensure that at no time in the last 10 years the Council had served an enforcement notice asking for the unlawful use to cease.
With the application submitted, Pure Town Planning closely liaised with the Enforcement Officer throughout the application, including a site visit to validate that 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 application site has been in continuous use for the purposes specified for a period in excess of 10 years and issued a Lawful Development Certificate confirming that the existing use is now a Sui Generis 8 bedroom HMO.
So, if have an unauthorised use or building which you are considering to regularise why don’t you give Pure Town Planning a call on 01202 585524 for a free confidential discussion on how we can assist you.