When searching for your new home in Cumbria, you may have come across properties advertised as having a Local Occupancy Clause and wondered what this could mean. Having sold hundreds of properties with this clause over the years, we’re here to explain it to you, to work out whether you could qualify for one of these properties yourself.
Various degrees of local occupancy can be stipulated within the clause, which means that you must have lived or worked within a specified area for the last 3 years consecutively. Often these clauses can be Cumbria wide, but sometimes they are limited to certain parishes, areas of a national park or within a radius of the property. We’d always recommend checking with the estate agent when booking a viewing for a property with a local occupancy clause, to check exactly what the clause stipulates.
Why do properties have local occupancy clauses?
Often these clauses are a requirement by the planning department on newly built properties to ensure local people always have housing options available to them. In some cases, the property will be an ex-local authority property and when they were sold off, the clause will have been added to ensure the property remains a sole residence to someone from the locality.
Selling a property with a local occupancy clause may seem worrying, with a restricted market, but living in such a beautiful part of the UK, there are plenty of purchasers that want to stay in the area. If you’re thinking of selling a home with a local occupancy clause but want to discuss it with an estate agent first, call us on 0800 389 2939 or message us online.