DC Casebook: Leisure and entertainment - Holiday occupation condition retained

Planning, 15 August 2008

The disputed condition stipulated that the chalets should not be occupied continuously for more than 46 weeks per year by any household. The local authority had issued enforcement notices claiming that they were being occupied all the year round by the same households. All of the appellants had retired and sold their original homes before moving into the complex, it asserted. Because they had purchased the properties as retirement homes on long leases, the inspector had no doubt that the alleged breaches of control had occurred.

Insisting on significant breaks between periods of occupancy would mean that residents were unlikely to be reliant on local services such as schools and medical services and would be more likely to spend money on local tourist attractions, he reasoned. In contrast, permanent occupation would increase the pressure on local services and undermine tourism's contribution to the local economy, he considered.

He noted the appellants' claims that the properties had been advertised as being unencumbered in terms of the period of occupancy allowed under the permission, a matter on which a prosecution under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 was under way. The fact that the properties were purchased in ignorance of the conditions was insufficient justification for quashing the enforcement notices, he decided.

DCS Number 100-056-436

Inspector Andrew Poulter; Hearing.