Permitted development rights

Permitted development rights allow householders to improve and extend their homes for certain forms of development without the need to seek a specific grant of planning permission.

The Department for Communities and Local Government produces a guide entitled ‘Permitted development for householders: Technical Guidance’ to help people understand more about the detailed rules on permitted development and the terms used.

Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (as amended) gives householders permitted development rights to undertake a variety of forms of development without the need to seek a specific grant of planning permission. These include, for example, the building of extensions, the undertaking of alterations, the provision of outbuildings and the laying of hard surfaces.

The availability of permitted development rights is dependent on a number of factors including that they have not been taken away whether by a condition on a previous grant of planning permission or removed by way of a direction served by the local planning authority restricting them for some or all forms of development.

Their availability also depends on adherence to a detailed set of criteria which are to be assessed on a case by case basis. To be certain that a proposed development is lawful and does not require an application for planning permission, it is possible to apply for a Certificate of Lawful Development from the local planning authority.

If granted, such a Certificate provides certainty that planning permission is not required. This is beneficial to all parties at the time of the undertaking of works especially in case of any issue.

It is also beneficial subsequently, for example upon the sale of a property when the need or otherwise for a planning permission for a development which has been undertaken commonly arises.

Permitted development rights are continually changing. It is possible by the time this article is published that further rights may have been announced in the Autumn Statement on the 3 December 2014.

Currently householders can benefit from additional rights introduced in May 2013 for a temporary three-year period which allow them to erect larger extensions than was previously the case, subject to compliance with criteria and the following of a prior approval process.

These additional permitted development rights expire on 30 May 2016 and developments being erected under them need to be completed before then.

Failure to complete by then as matters currently stand would likely mean they are unauthorised and would require planning permission which may or may not be forthcoming.

The end of these additional rights is therefore only some 18 months away which, in the context of many building projects, is not long away.

It is important to remember that permitted development rights only cover planning permission and other permissions, Listed Building consent and Building Regulations approval can still be required.

For more information on the issues raised by this article, please get in touch.