Residential Development at properties formerly owned by the
Council
Guidance Note for Consent to erect new dwelling(s) at a property
formerly owned by the Council
Please note the information below only relates to self-contained
new dwellings. For consent to erect extensions to existing
properties, garages, sheds etc please contact the
Council's Conveyancing Manager with full details and plans of
the proposal.
This guidance note is relevant where an application for planning
permission has been made for residential development at an ex
Council property.
If the Planning Authority grants planning permission, the
consent of the Council, as the former owner will also be needed
before any development can take place. Please do
not assume that if planning permission is granted this additional
consent is not required. The consent of the Council as former owner
is a totally separate issue from planning consent.
When Council property is sold typical sale documentation says
that consent for any new building or structure is required. Such
consent shall be at the discretion of the Council and subject to
such reasonable conditions as the Council thinks fit.
Whilst the Council if asked for its consent will not seek to
be unreasonable it will seek to impose affordable housing
conditions on such consent where appropriate.
The reasons for this being
- Affordable housing is one of the Council's top
priorities.
- The Council acts as a Housing Authority for a district
that has an identified and pressing housing need.
- The land proposed to be developed was either originally
acquired from the Council as part of a major government initiative
to make owner occupied housing available at affordable prices
and/or is part of a Council housing estate.
- It is therefore not considered unreasonable to ally
consent to an obligation to provide affordable housing.
It is not the Council's intention in seeking to impose
affordable housing conditions to remove all profit element from the
proposal and during negotiations the Council will take into account
the reasonable development costs and any diminution in value of the
existing property
The process for obtaining Council consent will be as
follows:-
Property for sale (at a discount):
- Applicants to produce at their expense an open market
valuation of the proposed new dwelling(s) by a local Chartered
Surveyor acting independently of the parties and who certifies that
the Council can rely on that valuation.
- Agreement is reached between the Council and the
applicant regarding an affordable sale price for the dwelling that
will be less than open market value.
Once consent is forthcoming: -
- The new dwelling can be built and sold at an affordable
discounted price and that same discount expressed as a percentage
of the open market value will be applied to all future
disposals.
- The purchaser to be approved by the Council's Community
& Housing Manager.
The Council's aim is to provide affordable housing by means of
discounted sale. As an alternative to the above procedure the
applicant may ask for the discounted sale restrictions to be
applied to the existing (ex Council) property instead of the new
property thereby allowing the new property to be sold free of any
restrictions imposed in return for the Council's consent.
Property for rent (at affordable rents)
Where property for rent is to be provided the Council prefers
a Registered Social Landlord (Housing Association) to be
involved. Applicants are invited to discuss their individual
case with the Principal Strategy Officer, Community and
Housing Group.
Further information
Please contact the Property Services Manager at NPS North West
Ltd Aynam Mills, Little Aynam, Kendal LA9 7AH (Agents
for South Lakeland District Council) for valuation issues and
general information, the Conveyancing Manager for legal matters and
the Community & Housing Manager for consent to occupy
affordable housing.