Can you extend your home without planning permission?

publication date: Mar 26, 2014
 | 
author/source: Kate Faulkner, Property Expert and Author of Which? Property Books

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Extending your home without planning permission

 

Many of us want to extend our home, but find it daunting with the requirement for planning permission and nervous about involving architects and then finding a builder who doesn't turn out to be a complete cowboy. 

Well it is possible to extend your home without securing any planning permission at all. All you need to do is find out if your home is eligible for permitted development rights. 


What are permitted development rights?

If a home is exactly the same footprint as it was when it was built, then it's possible to extend your home without planning.



Real Homes have created a really good article from different property experts, including me!
 

So if you want to know everything there is to know about permitted development rights, both myself and Hugo Tugman, co-founder of Architect Your Home will explain how you can use them to maximise space in your home. Jeremy Leaf, estate agent and housing spokesperson for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, explains how it could help to add value to your property. 


Don't forget, even if you don't have to apply for planning permission, if you extend your home you will need sign off by Building Control. This is often more costly than applying for planning permission and is also more difficult to comply with. 


One of my top tips when extending your home and if you use a builder or third party contractors, make sure you agree - in writing - who it is who is responsible for sign off by Building Control. 


If you don't, then you are likely to end up having a row and possibly falling out with your builder big time, if they haven't taken responsibility in writing, then any amendments Building Control require the builder to do is likely to end up with a higher bill for you, which you won't want to pay! 


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All our information is brought to you by Kate Faulkner OBE, author of Which? Property books and one of the UK's top property experts.
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