A property that lacks planning permission to be used as separate flats can often be overcome with a Lawful Development Certificate, which provides you with the necessary permission for the use of the building as separate flats. This requires careful planning, as you need to provide evidence that the building has been configured and used as separate flats for a minimum of 4 years (the rule was updated on April 25, 2024; any conversions after this date are subject to a 10-year rule).

The challenge with this particular property is that it is Grade 2 listed, which means we can't apply for an LDC; it needs full planning permission.

We have strategically agreed to use exchange with deployed completion (on the condition of obtaining full planning permission) for this project. Upon exchange, we would have full, unconditional access to the entire building to carry out the refurbishment works while our planning and heritage consultant progressed the planning application. The advantage of doing this meant that we not only saved thousands of pounds on financing the purchase, but we could also complete works, use the title split strategy, and exit onto individual buy-to-let mortgages.