Inside four homes for sale in Britain with garage conversions

Garage conversions have become increasingly popular, providing valuable additional space for various needs.

We pick four homes for sale with garage conversions, and take a look inside to see how the extra space is being used.

They include a workshop with a professional underfloor car pit for petrolheads, an office, and a child’s games room.

Converting a garage can be done in variety of ways and not just to create an office (scroll down for more information about this converted garage in Litlington)

Converting a garage can be a cheaper option than moving, once all of your moving costs are taken into account, including stamp duty.

A garage conversion can enhance the value of your property, making it more appealing to buyers – not only as it offers extra space but because it may help to reduce their stamp duty bill.

If you do want to brick up the garage door and add some windows and a front door, you will not need planning permission as long as the garage meets the general permitted development rules for outbuildings.

For example, it cannot be more than 2.5 metres tall if located within two metres of any of the boundaries, and it cannot take up more than 50 per cent of the garden area.

If it doesn’t meet all of the requirements, you may need to submit a planning application.

Daniel Copley of Zoopla, said: ‘Garage was the second most searched for keyword on Zoopla in 2023 demonstrating that the additional space a garage provides continues to be as in demand as ever.

‘Besides the obvious use as storage, the extra space can prove beneficial in lots of ways, allowing homeowners to be as creative as they want – or need – to be.

‘Whether it’s a new workspace, gym, extra bedroom, office or even a yoga studio, garages should be seen as a blank canvas to add character and potential added value to your home.

We take a look inside four garage conversions…

1. Three-bed house, Weybridge, £600k

This three-bedroom property for sale in the Surrey town of Weybridge is for sale for £600,000 via Curchods estate agents

The garage has been converted into a utility room with a door that leads to the garden at the rear of the property

The original garage is to the left of the main home and has been transformed into a useful living area

This three-bedroom house in the affluent Surrey town of Weybridge has a garage converted into a utility room.

The space could be also be used as additional living accommodation.

The house is on the market for £600,000 and the sale is being handled by Curchods estate agents.

2. Four-bed house, Litlington, £600k

This four-bedroom property in the Cambridgeshire village of Litlington is for sale for £600k via Ensum Brown estate agents

The garage has been converted and now has electric roller doors and space for multiple vehicles

The converted garage has a professional underfloor car pit and several wall cabinets

If you’re a petrolhead who is house hunting, this property in the Cambridgeshire village of Litlington may suit you down to the ground.

It has a converted garage that has been extended to provide a garage with electric roller doors and space for multiple vehicles.

It has two air heaters, a professional underfloor car pit and several wall cabinets.

Externally to the garage, there is an EV fast-charging system and wall mounted IP65 240-volt double sockets, as well as sockets to the front and rear of the house.

The four-bedroom property is for sale for £600k via Ensum Brown estate agents.

3. Five-bed house, Brentwood, £1.55m

This five-bedroom house in the Essex town of Brentwood is for sale for £1.55million via WN Properties

It has a converted garage with two floors that houses a utility room on the ground level and a large games room on the first floor

This five-bedroom house in the Essex town of Brentwood has a two-level garage that houses a utility room on the ground floor and a large games room on the first floor.

The substantial property is for sale for £1.55million and WN Properties is handling the sale.

4. Four-bed house, Basildon, £600k

This four-bedroom house in Essex’s Basildon is for sale for £600,000 via Purplebricks

The garage conversion shows that you don’t need to spend vast amounts of money to create a useful interior space

This four-bedroom house in Essex’s Basildon proves that you don’t need to have deep pockets to convert your garage into a useful office.

Some electrical wiring has been added to the walls to provide two ceiling lights, while the brickwork has been simply painted white to help make the space feel light and spacious.

The property has an asking price of £600,000 and is being sold by Purplebricks.

Stamp duty cut on annexes

Sean Randall, of accountants Blick Rothenberg, explains the partial tax relief available to people buying a house with an annexe:

The issue is complicated by what defines an annexe, as it may not be as straight forward as it initially seems.

People may try to describe an attic with a microwave in it as an annexe, but the taxman is unlikely to see this as eligible for the relief.

Annexes are disregarded as ‘additional’ dwellings for the purposes of the 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on second homes and buy-to-let properties.

It means you can have your cake and eat it – at least for now (see below). The annexe counts for the relief, but it does not count for the surcharge provided certain conditions are met.

These conditions are that the annexe must be on the same land or in the same building as the main home and must be worth one third of the total purchase price or less.

Meanwhile, the first threshold for stamp duty on your main home currently stands at £250,000, which means you pay no stamp duty up until this level.

It means that in this example, there is no stamp duty to pay. Take a £1million property with a qualifying annexe.

The stamp duty bill would be £41,250 if no relief is claimed, and this is a first-time buyer or replacement of a main home.

The stamp duty would rise significantly to £71,250 if no relief is claimed if the property being bought as a second home or buy-to-let.

But if the relief is claimed, stamp duty would drop to £25,000 – a saving of £16,250 – for first-time buyers or replacement of a main home. It would be £55,000 – also a saving of £16,250 – for buy-to-let investors. These calculations are based on the current stamp duty nil-rate threshold of £250,000, which is due to go back down to its usual threshold of £125,000 on April 1, 2025.

The tax calculation is based on the average price per dwelling. In this case, it would be £1million divided by 2, which is £500,000. The tax on a notional £500,000 dwelling is then multiplied by the number of dwellings (2).

It means that on a different house with an annexe being sold for £1.8million, the amount to pay tax on would be £1.8million divided by two, which is £900,000. The stamp duty payable on this for a homebuyer is £32,500 multiplied by two, which is £40,000. For a buy-to-let investor, the tax payable would rise to £119,000 (2 x £59,500). On this example, a house costing £1.8million where the multiple dwellings tax relief is not used would see a homebuyer payer £127,350 in tax and a buy-to-let investor or second homeowner pay £181,250 in stamp duty.

The relief is called multiple dwellings relief. The relief has a minimum amount of tax payable, which is 1 per cent of the total price.

Multiple dwellings means separate buildings or separate parts of a single building that are ‘suitable for use’ as self-contained living accommodation.

Reasonable views differ on what ‘suitable for use’ means. However, it is fair to say that HMRC (and the courts) set a high threshold. The opportunity to disregard an annexe as a separate dwelling for the purposes of the 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge but respect it as one for the purposes of multiple dwellings relief may end on 6 March 2024 – the date of the Spring Budget.

Separate rules and tax rates apply for purchases in Scotland and Wales.

Ms Applegate added a word of caution about buying a home with an annexe, saying that they may have potential extra costs that can deter some buyers.

She explained: ‘For homeowners who don’t want or need the space, extra accommodation can be a source of unwanted expense and time-consuming to maintain or convert back. So it’s understandable if a granny flat isn’t top of every home-seeker’s check-list.’

The research by Aviva went on to say that lockdown had only accounted for a small increase in the number of multi-generational households.

It said 3 per cent of households had seen adult children returning during lockdown while 1 per cent of households had taken in an elderly relative to support them during the global pandemic.

Ms Applegate, added: ‘While lockdown led to some new multi-generational households, this type of arrangement is already the norm in millions of UK homes, for a multitude of reasons.

‘Many young people are living with parents to save for a house deposit or ‘boomeranging’ back after university, while some older people are living with their families for health or financial reasons – so this is simply a way of life for these households.’

‘This type of set-up could be set to grow further still. Our data suggests that the number of older people living in multi-generational households has increased over the past four years, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to modern living.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk