Arlo

Hi,

I'm planning on buying a renovation project and I've seen a couple that are "cottage plus ruin" "cottage plus building for repair" type of offers.

Does anyone know (maybe a rule of thumb) what this does to property taxes and any purchase charges. If I buy them in one sale and they're on the same piece of land do I get IMI charged twice each year. Is it only if there's a roof on the ruin's four walls? If I rebuild the ruin do I need to get a certificate in order to sleep in it? Does the council tell me what they'll do before I'll put in an offer? Do I need planning permission to make the ruin habitable. I assume I can get insurance as a block from some companies.

Sorry for so many questions but any pointers to posts that have already answered parts of this would be useful (haven't found any yet). Any related information would be useful.

If it makes any difference I'm planning on renovating/rebuilding/renting out the properties for a couple of years then moving in permanently.

Thanks for any help

liveaboard

You do ask a lot of questions...
I assume your ruins don't have habitation licenses, as they have no roofs.
So what you're planning is what they call a "Project".
You'll need to have an architect draw up plans, and submit them to the council. They will shove the plans up to the next level after a while.
If you get approval [between 6 months and 4 years later], you can get temporary power connected and start work.
After satisfying all the various inspectors, you might get your habitation license after another year or three. After that, you can start working on getting your rental license.
You can get an "advice" from the council before purchase, basically stating that it is possible to get planning permission for this property [but not that they'll necessarily pass your particular plan].

IMI? I wouldn't worry about it this early.You will have to pay a transfer tax on purchase price, it's a few percent depending on the details.

You might consider buying a place already built, or at least habitable with habitation license and services connected. Most likely the cost will be the same [or less] as rebuilding a ruin, and you won't need to wait all those stressful years for the project permission.

If you don't change the structure, you can do whatever you want inside, and it's a much shorter process to get permission to change a door or window.

Arlo

Hi thanks for the info liveaboard.

Maybe I need to clarify the question. I'm not planning on hiring architects, connecting power or anything like that.

I'm asking if I buy something that has two buildings on a plot (one that used to be habitable maybe 50 years ago or maybe is almost habitable now) does that count - for tax puposes - as 2 separate buildings/IMI/etc.

As far as I understand 1 purchase = 1 lot of purchase tax, one lawyer bill, etc. It's the ongoing expense after purchase I'm unsure of. Also I may just want to demolish the second building/ruin at some point.

I don't have a particular purchase in mind as I need to know this info before looking.

Mike

Are there 2 Urban numbers on the deeds?

liveaboard

If it's one plot, it's one property and one property tax [imi] bill.
A single property can [and often does] have more than one building.

Arlo

Hi Mike,

I haven't bought anything, I'm looking and wanted to know if this (currently hypothetical) situation of 2 houses in a single sale would affect IMI, etc. No actual property yet so no deeds. I didn't want to spend time visiting/looking at/looking for properties if I'd end up with double billing.

Hi liveaboard,

Excellent, that's what I wanted to know, even if it's two cottages, provided I buy it in one one sale I won't have to pay two lots of IMI, etc for evermore (that's what I undestand from what you've said).
I wouldn't have expected to if it was a house and a barn but didn't know if that was true for two houses in one sale.

Thanks for that info