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Mr & Mrs D Artus, and Mr S Kearsley (Owners of 6 Sherwood Terrace)
20 Faaie-Ny-Cabbal Kirk Michael Isle of Man IM6 2HW Tel: +44 (0)1624 877870 1st August 2013
RECEIVED ON 01 OCT 2013 DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE
In relation to the attached planning application the owners would like to explain the situation and use of this flat.
The owners would also like to substantiate this letter with statements and utility bills.
Mr Stuart Kearsley his wife Angela Kearsley and another couple Mr and Mrs Rains bought the entire block of 6 Sherwood Terrace in 1999. This was sold by the then owner as 5 flat block with a landlords flat at basement level. (6 Flats in total). It has since been discovered that the deeds refer to the basement as a storage area and that no planning agreement was sought to change the use/description of this area.
In 2004 Mrs and Mr Rains Divorced. Mrs Rains sold her quarter share of the flats to her husband Mr Rains.
In 2009 Mr Rains sold his half share to Mr Kearsley.
In that same year (2009) Mrs Kearsley died and one quarter share was then sold to her daughter and son-in-law Mr and Mrs Artus – therefore the present owners are Mr Stuart Kearsley and Mr and Mrs Artus.
From pre 1999 the block consisted of 5 flats numbered 1 – 5, the deeds of the property also refer to basement storage space; however as mentioned above this was always a basement flat, the previous landlord lived in this flat.
The basement flat always consisted of – one lounge with solid fuel fireplace (front facing), one bedroom (front facing). In the rear a separate fully equipped kitchen, cloak room, separate bathroom including toilet and shower (no bath).
The owner (at the time he sold it in 1999) did live in this flat, but did not rent the flat out. Apart from a period in 2010/2011 when the basement was flood damaged this flat has continued to be used in that exact same way, a Landlords flat.
The owners since 1999 and presumably the previous owners did not believe they were in breach of any planning restriction as this flat was purely for private use – not for rent.
Adam Kearsley (the son of Mr and Mrs Kearsley) lived in the basement flat from 1999 until 2003/4.
In 2004 Tony Rains moved off Island to the UK, but visited the Isle of Man frequently so lived in the flat on those visits, (he was separated from his wife Barbara).
Stuart Kearsley spends most of his time working in Brazil where he owns a Bird Park. Since 2004 the flat was mostly used by both Stuart Kearsley and Tony who were by this stage both separated from their wives but visiting the Island frequently to see members of the family.
All the owners lived in and around the area of Kirk Michael and therefore this flat was also used for overnight stays while out in Douglas when not occupied.
In 2010 the owners decided to renovate the outside of the property, the front of the building had been coated in a plastic protection skin that was causing damp problems, they contracted a company called Blast Away to burn and pressure wash the coating off the front of the building, in doing so a drain outside the basement flat was blocked with the fallen plastic coating and the water from the pressure hose flooded the basement flat.
Because of the water damage it was then decided to refurbish the flat and while doing so change the some of the layout. We moved the kitchen into the lounge where the bedroom had been, removing a thin stud wall to make the lounge open plan, we moved the bedroom to the rear of the flat, the toilet and shower room remained in the back but were repositioned to optimize the space. No structural work took place, but obviously some minor electrical and plumbing work took place.
Feb 2011 - A front facing window in the basement flat was converted into a door to give an extra entrance/exit to the flat, planning was sought and gained for this change – Ref 11/00076/B CD/PT/AA
In 2011 the owners contracted a building firm (Eddie Hudson Ltd) to undertake the internal refurbishment work; however after the work was complete in Dec 2011 the parties ended up in disputed over charges and the matter went to court. The builder had been trying to extort extra monies from the owners above the agreed price. In the final stage of the dispute (Nov 2012) the builder informed the owners that he suspected the Basement flat was in breach of planning (something he failed to mention before or during the work). We saw this as a clear blackmail threat and immediately contacted Dalrymple Building Consultants to gain an opinion. Their opinion was that the flat was perfectly habitable however they advised us that we may be labouring under a misconception, that just because it was always a flat and never rented out to paying tenants did not mean that it could be used as a flat without the retrospective planning approval.
In late 2012 when the Mr Eddie Hudson came to understand that his blackmail strategy was not going work so he carried out his threat and contacted planning. By which time we had already starting investigating the issue.
For reference the Court found clearly in favour the owners, furthermore the Judge (Deemster Roberts) questioned the honestly of Mr Hudson due to numerous claims he made in court that were subsequently disproved. This was in January 2013. We only mention this because clearly Mr Hudson has an axe to grind in relation to this planning approval request.
Since January 2012 Mr Mathew Artus (the son of Mr David Artus) has been living in the basement flat. Again this arrangement means that Mathew acts a resident landlord (cleaning, dealing with tenant issues and holding spare keys etc) and therefore does not pay rent.
The owners would like to submit four statements relating the historic use of the flat. These are from the following people. Mrs Barbara Rains – Owner 1999 to 2004 Mr Tony Rains – Owner 1999 to 2009 Mr Adam Kearsley – Son of the owner and lived in the Basement Flat 1999 to 2003/4 Mr Michael Collins – Partner of the deceased Mrs Angela Kearsley since November 2002 and then Building Manager 2009 to Present.
If required Stuart Kearsley, David and Victoria Artus (current owners) would be able to submit a statement collaborating with all five statements. Victoria is the daughter of Stuart and Angela Kearsley (sister to Adam) and so has therefore seen what this flat has been used as since it was bought by the family in 1999.
We realise that a full record of utility bills would have made our case much easier. We been able to locate two Manx Telecom bills from 2000 and 2001 addressed to Adam Kearsley – Landlords Basement flat - (it was a miracle we found those), this line was ceased in 2004 when Adam moved out and MT do not keep records going back that far therefore we cannot provide more of these.
Because the basement flat has always been a Landlord flat it runs off the same electricity circuit as the hall lights and building as a whole. Obviously we can gain access to all historical bills but these bills reference the building as a whole – not the landlords flat separately. We have included a couple of samples for reference.
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