Manchester Commercial Surveyors

Commercial property for conversion into a Class 4/HMO residential property

Brief: This was a pre-acquisition survey for a prospective purchaser who wished to convert a commercial property into an HMO.

Property: Corner terraced two storey building in Denton, Manchester. At the time of the survey the property was utilised as a commercial unit on the ground floor, with a residential one-bedroomed flat above.

Instructed by: Property investment company.

Key survey findings

• The property itself was structurally sound, but had several areas of concern, the most pressing being damp, which was rife. Our surveyor recommended that a budget of £30,000 should be set aside to remedy it.
• In terms of converting the property to a Class 4 HMO residence, our surveyor advised that, at present, that would not be possible because of the existing configuration of the property and materials utilised.
  • The survey report recommended that extensive redevelopment works would need to be carried out. For example:
    • the fire detection system was likely to be inadequate to meet with modern day standards and will require upgrading
    • redeveloping the inside of the property would be required to make it suitable for use as an HMO
    • the damp needed to be eradicated.
    • disabled access throughout the property would require further management upon occupation of the building.
  • We were aware that other HMOs had been developed in the Denton area of Manchester, which meant a precedent had been set. However, on occasion we have seen an overdevelopment of a particular type of social housing, which can be detrimental, and the Local Authority may have a limit within a specified area. We therefore recommended an initial meeting with the Local Planning Officer for further advice and recommendations on the proposals, prior to starting costly works.