Man Who Disguised House as Barn Loses Court Battle

A man who built a house which appeared from the outside to be a barn has lost his battle to obtain a certificate of lawful use for the property.

The man originally obtained planning permission to build a barn. He then constructed a fully-equipped three-bedroom house, the exterior of which resembled a barn, and lived there with his wife. Four years after the building was constructed, he applied for a certificate of lawful use in respect of the use of the building as a dwelling, on the grounds that the council had not taken any action regarding the breach of planning permission within the statutory four-year time limit for doing so. The council, which had been unaware of the breach of planning permission, refused the application.

After a number of appeals, the case ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled that despite the apparently clear wording of the relevant legislation, the dishonesty exhibited by the couple was so far out of the contemplation of the framers of the legislation that the council was entitled not only to prevent the continued occupation of the property as a dwelling but also to require its demolition.

This decision indicates that using deception in an effort to get around planning decisions is a highly dangerous strategy.