I'm currently looking at converting a soon to be closed pub into a home for me and the wife.

I've talked to the LA Planer and he has stated that I would be required to pay a sum towards affordable housing and and this calculated by the council using a formula that considers the cost of site acquisition and preparation/servicing.

I've done a quick calculation based on some scenarios provided by the planner and it looks like they will want about £20k.

Is this yet another new housing tax?

The affordable housing contribution is required for all new housing. The net affect is that the developer reduces the value of the land by the amount they will need to pay.

Given the increase in value of land when it gets planning permission this is not unreasonable but a different calculation should be used on brownfield sites and for conversions.

They do have some discretion if the development would be uneconomic with the affordable contribution but you would have to demonstrate this.

Get PP before you buy the pub! Near me they have just refused PP for change of use back to a house.

Posted By: JoinerIn Shropshire, for a barn conversion, you could be charged up to 48% OF THE BUILD COST as a levy!

How the hell do you account for that in your budget given that any sensible person allows a contingency, which almost invariably isn't enough?

So having gone into greater debt by the build overspend (which could be due to severe weather as much as those nice granite worktops and Italian marble bathroom) you're liable for a tax you can't know the size of until the job's finished and you're wondering how to pay the mortgage.

Along comes the council. Cue ominous music.http:///forum114/extensions/Vanillacons/smilies/standard/devil.gif" alt="" title="" >

Anyone else gets hit with the Community Infrastructure Levy. After all, if you can afford to build yourself a nice house, you can afford to pay an extra tax.

Does anyone know the term for that kind of logic please?http:///forum114/extensions/Vanillacons/smilies/happy/crazy.gif" alt="" title="" >

The charge is actually based on the cost of an equivalent sized affordable home so it is quantifiable at the start. The charge does appear high and will probably reduce the number of barns being converted as farmers will not want to sell at what will be significantly lower values.

If your LA have set the CIL charge rate (and they can't charge you until they have done this, and published it) then it's easy to calculate the tax that will be paid. It's charged by the square metre of gross internal floor area, so as Nigel says above it can be quantified before the build starts.

If PP was granted prior to the introduction of CIL and there was a requirement to make an S 106 payment, for which all or part of the payment was identified for infrastructure that would now fall within the remit of CIL, then you cannot be charged twice for the same thing. S 106 agreements have been limited since 2010, so that they cannot now have contributions towards items that CIL would be expected to cover. Usefully, the same changes made it illegal for planners to take voluntary S 106 contributions into account when granting consent, limiting the ability for developers to "buy" planning consent (although technically this was supposed to be illegal anyway, although we probably all know the way it has been abused).