Summary
I visited an interesting property this week. It was derelict, but had comprised of a shop with a flat above it. The shop had been a convenience/general store, but was standing vacant and in quite poor condition after years of neglect, but our savvy buyer recognised that the area had good prospects and buying gave him several options for redevelopment: 1. He could convert the downstairs shop back into residential use and create a unit with two self-contained flats (one on the first floor and one on the ground floor) 2. He could keep the downstairs as a commercial propertyand redevelop the upstairs into a flat. The property has existing A1 usage which means that it can be used for general retail. As the shop had once been a convenience store, this could be re-developed and opened again, serving the same purpose. In this scenario, our buyer would have to be clear about what goods he could sell.
3. He could apply to the planning department for 'Change of Use' from A1 to another category if he had another usage in mind. If he wanted to open the shop as a caf selling food and beverages prepared on the premises, he would need A3 usage. For aGuide tocommercial property usage classes andwhenchange of use is permitted, visit www.makingmoney fromproperty.tv/articles/20090401_1 Before deciding on his strategy, our buyer would have been well advised to carry out some thorough research. The sorts of questions he should be asking are along the following lines: 1. What would the resale opportunities be of the two flats scenario? Is this a residential area or is the unit surrounded by other shops with flats above? If the latter, the noise, smell and disruption associated with living in an area surrounded by shop units, could put potential buyers off.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Pros and Cons of Shopping Around
2. In the second scenario,wherethe downsta...
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