How to Start & Run a B&B BandBED2eBook-1 | Page 31

where residential care is not provided”*. Under planning use classes, a 500 bedroom
hotel is in the same planning category as a B&B.
*ODPM (now Department for Communities & Local Government) Circular 03/2005: Changes of Use of Buildings and Land
So the critical question becomes: what makes the difference between planning use class
C3 and C1? When does the planning authority class your house as equivalent to the
Heathrow Hilton, as opposed to a family home?
Amazingly, there is no guidance for local authorities from the Government department
responsible for planning (the Department for Communities and Local Government, or
‘DCLG’), as to when a change of use from C3 to C1 (from home to “hotel”) should be
applied for. It is up to the discretion of each local authority. Some may be happy for
busy B&Bs to be in class C3 (home), and others may try to insist that if a householder
lets even one room to one paying guest, he must apply for a change of use to C1 – the
planning category shared by, for example, the Heathrow Hilton.
From the point of view of the fair and consistent treatment of B&Bs, this situation is
clearly very unsatisfactory. In this book we can only try to give you enough of the
general information to be able to give a reasoned and informed reply to your local
authority, if they are demanding that you must apply for change of use.
B&B in what is primarily your family home, and you do not accommodate more than 6
paying guests at any one time, you should not normally have to apply for a “change of
use” from C3 to C1. The key is in the “primary use” of the premises – and here, local
authorities apply very different approaches in different areas. Some say that if 50% or
more of the building is used by guests – perhaps including the lounge and dining room
and corridors, say, measured by surface area (the actual “50%” test is not laid down in
law, and each local authority may look at it differently), then a change of use should be
sought.
In some cases we know about, people who have been running a B&B in their home for
decades have suddenly been told out of the blue by their local authority that they must
apply for a change of use, even though there has been no change to the activities which
the local authority has been accepting in a primarily residential building. This
understandably causes extreme consternation – if the owner accepts that he or she
needs to apply for a change of use, then is not granted it, they would be in the position
of having their livelihood or part of it summarily taken away. And the fact that the
local authority is suddenly telling them that they “must” apply for a change of use
seems to imply that, at the very least, that authority feels there are grounds for their
planning use class to be changed.
This is happening despite their being no negative “impact” on neighbouring properties
or the character of the area from the (secondary) B&B use, and despite their being a
significant economic benefit for the area through tourism from the B&B use of premises
– something which Government guidance asks local authorities to take into account in
their planning decisions.
This area of planning regulation and enforcement is messy, inconsistent, illogical and is
resulting in highly unfair and unjust treatment of homeowners who choose to attract