Permitted Development rights for home extensions.

[tony1851]

For those interested in planning law, the government is consulting on widening permitted development rights for all sorts of development and changes of use of buildings in town centres.
This is to encourage more residential building.
They are also proposing allowing vertical extensions to buildings, though that will be contentious and how it would work is anyone's guess.

On the home-extension front; the PD right to build rear extensions to dwellings (6m for terraced house/semi, 8m for detached) is proposed to be made permanent - ie not subject to the current 3-year time limit.
The downside is that instead of being free, there would be a fee of £96 for the application (though still cheaper than the £206 for householder planning apps.).

Details here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-reform-supporting-th

 

[catlad]

Hi Tony
so are you saying that you can now build a 6m rear extension to your terraced house under permitted development as long as you pay the fee?

 

[tony1851]

Hi Tony
so are you saying that you can now build a 6m rear extension to your terraced house under permitted development as long as you pay the fee?

No, not quite.
First of all, it has to satisfy the normal permitted development rules for single-storey rear extensions, chiefly that the eaves must be no more than 3m high, and the overall height of the extension must be no more than 4m.

But in particular, if the house has an outrigger on the rear, no extension to the side of the outrigger would be allowed if the extension were to be more than one-half the width of the house. In effect, it means that the 6m rule is only useful for houses which have no outriggers/extensions on the back.

What happens is that you send the council a simple sketch plan of the site (doesn't have to be to scale) together with a short letter stating what you intend to do and which includes the adresses of the properties either side and at the rear (there is a standard form you can use instead of a letter).

The council writes to the neighbours advising them of what you want to do, and if no-one complains within 21 days, the council confirms that you can go ahead with the work.

 

[catlad]

Thanks Tony
So I live in a semi with a flat back and is 6m wide
with a large garden and only a neighbour on one side.
what size of extension would be permissable do you think possible under current planning rules?

 

[tony1851]

Hi Cat,
Well, you try for the full 6m deep extension and see what happens. If the neighbour raises any objection, the council then have to look at the
application, and if they feel it would be detrimental to the neighbour's amenity, they will write saying it is not permitted development and that it
would need a full application for planning permission. If they receive nothing back from the neighbour, you can go ahead.
The beauty of this scheme is that if no neighbour objects, the council have no input and cannot stop you building.
(If you are going to try this route for a large extension, best sound out your neighbour first. Also, look up on your council's website
for planning applications and you will see a few of these applications, which give you an idea of how the process works).

 

[catlad]

Thanks Tony
I have built my extension unfortunately or I would have gone a bit bigger. I am enquiring now as next door is thinking of having an extension.

 

[Leofric]

What about amenity space ? If the garden was only 7 metres long and you built a 6metre long extension you would only have 1 metre of amenity/garden space left !

 

[tony1851]

Thanks Tony
I have built my extension unfortunately or I would have gone a bit bigger. I am enquiring now as next door is thinking of having an extension.

 

[tony1851]

What about amenity space ? If the garden was only 7 metres long and you built a 6metre long extension you would only have 1 metre of amenity/garden space left !

Under permitted development, you can build on up to 50% of the area of the curtilage of the property, minus the area of the footprint of the house itself.
The area includes garden/yard space at the side and front of the house as well.

 

[Leofric]

Yes there is more to it than just saying you can build a 6 metre long extension under permitted development , as you have explained Tony.

 

[Nakajo]

Shall we wait until the consultation is complete before discussing the what-ifs?

 

[catlad]

I am aware that there will be other factors to consider but me and the neighbour both have 20m long gardens
so that will not be an issue.

 

[catlad]

Consultation!!!!!
I now feel like I am on the clock.
Tony I will put some beer tokens on your twitter account.

 

[^woody^]

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