Outhouse conversion.

Hi.
Probably another of those 'crystal ball' questions but here goes:

The mother in law's house used to be the village butcher about 50years ago. There is a large, 2 story lean-to section on the side of the house that used to be the butchery bit where all the wee piggies stopped going wee wee wee.

At the moment, this lean-to (approx. 5m x 3m on both floors) is used only as crap storage. The roof is in need of replacement, the main doors are simple double garage door types and the staircase to the upstairs has been removed. There is electric and water running to the lean-to. There is no damp to speak of.

Her daughter is getting married soon-ish and would like a place of her own but can't afford anywhere. She (mother in law) was thinking of having the butcher's area converted into an annex (granny) flat with one bedroom, small living room, kitchenett and shower room and parking daughter in there.

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the generall direction of how to go about getting the coversion started? What planning/BC issues would I be likely to face?

I'm not going to ask how much is it going to be, as I'm fairly sure of the abuse I will recieve from those lacking crystal balls!!

Cheers muchly.

In planning terms, it sounds fairly straight forward; the biggest problems your likely to face is getting it to comply with the latest building regs. Being pre- 1970 (ish) you need to consider if the foundations are up to it & BC may want you to dig big holes so they can have a good look & then spoil your fun by insisting they are upgraded. Also, if it’s listed, that opens a whole can of possibly expensive worms!

Other things to consider are the roof, upgrading the water/sewage utilities, insulation requirements, rewire & heating. Conversions are more in keeping with older properties & can look very nice but, generally, they are likely to be more expensive than if you pulled it down & started again!

I would say the first place to start is to visit the website of the ODPM & have a read up of planning requirements & the building regs. most of which are likely to affect you & then follow this up with a meeting at your local planning office with some brief details of what you want to do. If you’re inexperienced, it may be to get in some professional help; an Architect is a bit OOT & will be expensive, all you really need is a good (moonlighting) architectural technician – they generally do most of the work anyway & will do all of the PP & BC work for you if required.

Bonza! Nice one Richard.

More or less what I was afraid of hearing. The space isn't exactly ergonomic so it could work out easier, like you said, to just knock the thing down and replace it with a purpose built addition.