Backland Development
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Build a home for family in your garden in Ewell

The first question for any family in Ewell thinking about building in the garden is usually this: annexe or proper house? The answer turns on the person moving in, how long they’re likely to stay, and whether you might ever want to sell or let the building on its own.

An annexe is used with your home and usually tied to it by condition. A separate dwelling stands alone, with its own permission and potentially its own title. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council assesses them on different terms, and council tax, CIL and VAT rules split along the same line. Our free plot appraisal sets out both, so you can decide with your family and your advisers.

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Single-storey garden home with wide glazed doors and a covered porch at the back of a family garden
Planning authority
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
Postcodes
KT17
Noon sun, 21 March
About 39°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.3 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Surrey

Ewell: light, access and policy

How the two households will live together shapes the planning case as much as the drawings do. If your parent will eat with you, share the garden and rely on you day to day, an annexe is the natural fit, and that is what Epsom and Ewell Borough Council will expect the application to describe. If your son or daughter will run their own home, pay their own bills and perhaps sell up one day, it is a separate dwelling and will be assessed against the council’s Local Plan as a new house. For a family in KT17, we help set that out clearly from the start.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Ewell: about 39 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 39°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.4 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Ewell: around 39° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

How we’d take it forward in Ewell

Here’s what happens next for a family home in Ewell. You tell us about your plot and who the home is for, and we carry out a free desktop appraisal of access, space and the planning context. If it looks viable we visit, then set out the annexe and separate-home options. With your go-ahead we survey, design and give you a written quote, then prepare the application for Epsom and Ewell Borough Council.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We look at your plot, access and the planning picture from the desk, talk through who will live in the new home, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Survey and design

    A measured survey, then a design built around the person moving in: step-free routes, a ground-floor bedroom if needed and privacy for both households. You get a written quote after design and survey.

  3. Planning and approvals

    We prepare and submit the planning application and manage it with the council, which makes the decision. Before work starts, approval under the Building Regulations is in place and any CIL exemption has been claimed.

  4. Build and handover

    We build while you carry on living next door, with access, deliveries and working hours agreed up front. At handover you get the completion certificate and the paperwork you’ll need for council tax, lenders and any VAT claim.

Worth checking early

  • A separate home needs its own garden, parking, bins and access, so it needs more land than an annexe.
  • CIL exemptions are lost if work starts before the claim is made, and can be withdrawn if the home is sold or let within three years.
  • VAT savings available on a separate dwelling often don’t apply to an annexe; take advice from a tax adviser before choosing.

Ewell: questions to ask

Can I build a separate house in my Ewell garden for my son or daughter?

Possibly, if the plot can work as a home in its own right. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council will look at access, parking, garden space for both houses, privacy and the character of the street, as it would for any new house. If permission is granted, the plot can be transferred to your child with its own title, with your lender’s consent if the house is mortgaged.

Can you design a home in Ewell for a relative who uses a wheelchair?

Yes. The design can include a level approach and threshold, turning space in each room, a wet room, wider doors and worktops at a usable height. Where Epsom and Ewell Borough Council requires a particular access standard through planning, the design meets it; otherwise it’s your choice how far to go. Input from your relative’s occupational therapist is well worth having.

Who owns an annexe built in my Ewell garden?

You do. An annexe stays on the title of your house and usually carries a planning condition tying it to the main home, so it can’t be transferred to the relative living in it. If a family member is paying towards it, record what they’ve put in and what happens on a sale in a written agreement drawn up by a solicitor.

Will an annexe in Ewell put up my council tax?

It might. Annexes can be banded separately, but exemptions exist for annexes lived in by certain dependent relatives, and in some cases a discount applies where family live there or the annexe is used as part of the main home. Who qualifies depends on the relative’s circumstances and how the annexe is used. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council’s council tax team can tell you how the rules apply to your household.

Other options in Ewell

Family home in your garden near Ewell

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.

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