New regulations came into effect in England on 30 May 2013 to introduce new permitted development rights that give landowners more rights to carry out works and change the use of their property without needing to apply for planning permission.
The new rights are varied and include the controversial new right to build bigger extensions on existing houses without needing to apply for planning permission. Other changes include:
- Increased rights for agricultural property to be converted to various other uses to boost the rural economy.
- Increased rights for industrial, warehouse and retail buildings to be extended without the need for planning permission.
- Greater rights to convert properties in various commercial uses to Class A uses such as shops and restaurants to encourage the reuse of empty buildings.
Perhaps the most significant change however is the new right to convert offices into houses.
This new right does not apply to the areas of England listed in a new Article 1(6A) inserted into the 1995 General Permitted Development Order. Nor does it apply to listed buildings, scheduled ancient monuments or sites in a safety hazard area or a military explosives storage area. Likewise if the development is of a type or scale so as to require an environmental impact assessment or appropriate assessment then the right does not apply and a full planning application will be required.
Other than these restrictions, the new right allows the conversion of any building to Class C3 residential use so long as it was in use as a Class B1(a) office immediately before today or, if empty immediately before today, the last time it was in use.
While any external alterations to the building will need a planning permission, one clear advantage of the new right is that it avoids any requirement for a planning obligation to be entered into providing for affordable housing or (subject to the caveat below) other infrastructure provision. If the gross internal area of the building is not increasing and the building has not been empty for a long period of time then there will also be no liability for community infrastructure levy.
In order to take advantage of the right the residential use of the building must be commenced before 30 May 2016 and it is necessary to use the new prior approval process to gain the local planning authority’s approval of the transport and highways impacts of the conversion and to confirm that any contamination and flooding risks have been addressed. While this prior approval process may require the provision of planning obligations relating to these specific issues, this is still much narrower than would be the case with a full planning application and the principle of development is, subject to an acceptable resolution of these issues, unable to be disputed.
These new rights, and the ability to convert from offices to housing in particular, will be of significant interest to landowners and developers but they are time limited so act now if you want to take advantage of the relaxations.
