Change of Business Use advice sought: what happens if only 1 floor leased?

[thorwood]

Hi,

This is my first post on here, and I'm hoping someone can assist.

We are looking to move into a building which, currently, has D1 Planning Permission (non-residential institution), as a former College building.

The building has 3 floors.

We've put in an application to rent the middle floor.

However, we've been advise we should request Change of Use to 'Sui Generis'.

However, funds permitting, we'd like to expand to rent the top floor as well as soon as possible.

My question is....would we need to Change the Use a second time? Is it granted per space you rent, or is there a way we could have the use granted for the top floor ahead of actually renting it?

Any advice would be gratefully received

Thanks in advance,

Tim

 

[^woody^]

Planning works in terms of "planning unit", and the unit to which the use class refers must be self contained. It's distinct from the process of renting and subdivision for renting.

You can't normally just divide up properties into floors and have different uses classes by floor. Well you could, but this would involve extensive work to physically partition off each unit and form a self-contained area, with its own address and services.