Home empty since the 60s confirmed as not abandoned

Owen Devenport assisted in a certificate of lawful use case in order to confirm that a dwelling last used as a family home in the 1960s was in fact not classified as abandoned. This was key as its location in a rural area meant that if it was abandoned it would be unlikely to ever gain a use as a dwelling again.

We assisted our client in preparing a detailed statutory declaration including the history of the property and how it became unoccupied. It was also important to set out our client’s history of carrying out continued maintenance to the property over the years with the intent to maintain the building as a dwelling.

Due to the client’s upkeep of the dwelling it remains in an acceptable condition and it was obvious that the full intention was to occupy the dwelling in future. It was also clear that the building has never been used for any other purpose therefore no change of use had occurred over the years.

We set out a detailed Planning Support Statement to solidify these details and submitted the case to the council. After a long period of discussion back and forth with the council we were pleased to receive the approval which stated that the property retained its lawful use as a dwelling and was not in fact abandoned.

Our client was ecstatic with the results and may now continue to upkeep the building and use it as a dwelling in future.