The outbuildings of a large country house had been converted into ten single self-contained units of residential accommodation for the purpose of holiday lettings. Nine of the units were in use by May 1991. In May 1995 the local planning authority issued an enforcement notice alleging a material change of use from residential to mixed use of residential and as ten units of holiday accommodation. If the change of use of each of the units was a change of use to a single dwelling-house the enforcement notice was not served within the four year time-limit in section 171B(2) of the Act.
Held: The conversion of an outhouse on a country estate into ten separate dwellings was not one single conversion with ten year use limitation, but the four year limit applied.
Nourse LJ said: ‘In my judgment, McCullough J’s approach to the meaning of ‘dwellinghouse’ was entirely correct. Although we were not referred to any of the many other decisions on the meaning of that word in other areas of the law, I am confident that an examination of them would reveal no requirement that before a building can be so described it must be occupied as the permanent home of one or more persons or the like. Nor do 10 self-contained units of residential accommodation which would otherwise be properly described as 10 single dwelling houses cease to be used as such because they are managed as a whole for the commercial purpose of holiday or other temporary lettings. Accordingly, I am satisfied that the Secretary of State applied an incorrect test in this case and that if he had applied the correct test, he could only have properly concluded that the 10 units are being used as 10 single dwellinghouses within section 171B(2) of the Act.’
Judges:
Nourse, Pill, Thorpe LJJ
Citations:
Times 18-Feb-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 235, [1998] JPL 877, (1999) 77 P and CR 114, [1998] 2 PLR 65, [1998] NPC 20
Links:
Statutes:
Town and Country Planning Act 1990 171B(2)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Gravesham Borough Council v Secretary of State for the Environment QBD 1982
The Secretary of State could find that a building built under a permission for a weekend and holiday chalet, but to be used only in summer, was a dwelling house. The distinctive characteristic of a dwellinghouse is its ability to afford to those who . .
Appeal from – T A J Moore v The Secretary of State for the Environment, The New Forest District Council Admn 25-Oct-1996
The applicant sought to quash an enforcement notice, regarding a change of use from residential to mixed residential and holiday accommodation. The change had taken in respect of several units over a long period of time. The inspector sought to . .
Cited – Van Dyck v Secretary of State for the Environment CA 1993
The court asked whether the four year enforcement rule applied in respect of subdivision of a larger building to create single dwelling houses or applied only in the case of conversion of a single building to single dwelling houses.
Held: It . .
Approved – Gravesham Borough Council v Secretary of State for the Environment 1984
A building had been erected under permission for a ‘weekend and holiday chalet’. In response to an enforcement notice served in relation to an extension to it, the Appellant submitted that the extension was permitted development because the building . .
Cited by:
Cited – Moore v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another CA 18-Sep-2012
An enforcement notice had been issued alleging an unlawful change of use without planning permission of the Appellant’s property from a C3 dwelling to use as commercial leisure accommodation. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Planning
Updated: 19 May 2022; Ref: scu.83819