Planning Permission For Change Of Use From Pub To Residential Houses, Do You Have To Prove To The Planning Dept That You Have Tried To Sell The Pub As A Going Concern Before You Apply For Change Of Use?

[Lesleytyler63]

I'm trying to find online the rules and regulations for this but can't find any information.

[EDDIE51]

48 pints a day is about £20 profit without any overheads such as wages and electricity. It is not even 10% of what you need to just survive.
Sorry but the pub is a loser.
I have run the bars in a sports club and in 3 other pubs, I know for certain that you need at least £300 a day gross profit to even exist.
As said I sympathise totally but you are wasting your time, and if you bought the place you would probably go bankrupt it a year or less.

[EDDIE51]

The blunt answer to your question is NO , you DO NOT have to prove to the planning dept that you have tried to sell the pub as a going concern before you apply for change of use.
If a person owns a pub it is theirs to do with as they wish as long as it is legal. Pubs get changed to housing every day of the week, it's sad and I wish it didn't happen but it does and we have to accept it.
Change of use from pub to housing is very easy as pubs (public houses) are the houses for the manager or landlord anyway. I believe it is just a change in a sub clause rather than needing full planning permission.
I have never heard of a case where planning permission to turn a pub into housing has been refused in over 30 years.

[retroactive]

I think the question is misleading actually. There is nothing to stop the owner of anywhere APPLYING for planning -I could apply for planning for a mock tudor mansion with two towers in our garden but wouldn't get it. To apply for 'change of use' from business to residential does not require that the property is put up for sale as a going concern. These two things are completely separate. Hopefully the OP has now realised this.

[Barmaid]

I do think the OP should take some proper advice. There is one area that ought to be looked at which is the issue of covenants on the land charges register. Some older properties have some quite odd covenants. It's a long shot though. Copy can be obtained from the Land Reg for £3.50.

[EDDIE51]

Interesting web site here
This company specialises in getting change of use > pubs to housing!
http://www.change-of-use.com/pubowners.php

[EDDIE51]

^^ Intresting point from that link is that you only need to apply for change of use for the ground floor. Pubs are normally already residential above the ground floor trading area, as it is where the landlord lives!