theRatandMouse - London's property blog

Tue

Aug

Live/work apartment owners evicted for not doing enough work

Two weeks ago, the 75 homeowners of Union Wharf, a trendy-looking block a stone's throw from Hoxton, N1, woke up to open an innocuous-looking letter from Hackney council.

Here's a very interesting piece in the Guardian. The letter apparently gave them 28 days to either apply for residential planning consent or clear orf. Nor is this a rare case. According to the piece, the council has sent 600 such letters, and has even filled a new council post - live/work Nazi - dedicated to tracking down and harassing people living, but not working, in live/work properties. The Rat and Mouse hadn't been aware of the obligations that came with these properties. Apparently - since the apartments are located in "employment land" - owners need to pay business rates, and capital gains tax when they move on. The result is an extraordinary reversal of every property priority readers will associate with our overcrowded, under-accomodated city: Londoners turfed from their homes to protect "employment land".

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

More in this Category - _Other
Other posts in the same month

Comments

Goodness! I actually looked at buying one of these when they were built. Business rates I can sort-of understand as you're supposed to pay if you run a business from home anyway. But /capital gains/... that really takes the biscuit.

Posted by Max Christian at August 28, 2007 1:44 PM

Comments

I think it would be capital gains tax on the portion of the house earmarked for business. (So not - in other words - on the entire increase in value.) It's a tricky area... I've heard that self-employed workers who claim too much in expenses for their use of a home office can be hit with capital gains tax when they sell... don't know anybody it's happened to, though.