Adding an additional room

[Bill12345]

I am building a house in Wales that I plan to sell, we have just got it water tight and although planning permission is 2 bed there is plenty of room to change the upstairs layout to make it 3 bed, do I need planning permission to do this or is it allowed under permitted development?

 

[Brad Ninch]

Have a look at the page from the Planning Portal
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/internalwalls/
If you are not making any changes to the external envelope you should be OK. If the consent was granted alongside a Section 106 Agreement or a Unilateral Undertaking it would be wise to check the terms but I would not have expected there to be any constraining clauses. Definitely need to ensure Building Regulation compliance and a "sign off" which you will need for your warranty provider.

 

[^woody^]

Any deviation from the permission granted requires consent.

Permitted development does not apply in this context.

 

[Brad Ninch]

Also have a look at
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/responsibilities/buildingregulations/difference
It includes the paragraph:
"Planning seeks to guide the way our towns, cities and countryside develop. This includes the use of land & buildings, the appearance of buildings, landscaping considerations, highway access and the impact that the development will have on the general environment."
Since you are not changing any of these things it is difficult to see why any planning is required. As with an earlier post, it is worth checking that you are not contravening any of your local planning policies. For example, if your LPA have differing parking requirements for two and three bed-roomed properties you might be falling foul of those requirements (but my guess is that is unlikely). However, if you are feeling unnerved to be without a formal OK you should go back to the LPA seeking a "Non material amendment". These are usually not costly - your LPA will have a published fee.

 

[^woody^]

go back to the LPA seeking a "Non material amendment".

An extra bedroom room is material. Very material.

 

[Brad Ninch]

Any chance of quoting the legislation/section/paragraph/clause that requires this please woody?

 

[chappers]

Whether the addition of an extra bedroom is material or not would depend on the local planning policy and whether permission would have been granted for a three bedroomed property, based upon any rules within the local plan. As has been said there could be rules surrounding parking or the density of certain sized properties. However this would be less likely to apply to a single property development.

 

[^woody^]

Any chance of quoting the legislation/section/paragraph/clause that requires this please woody?

It's probably in the '47 or '90 TCPA.

Something along the lines of someone applies for permission and the authority grants and defines the permission.

 

[chappers]

Just a word of advice, if you are planning on selling, don't get this wrong any decent solicitor will spot the difference between what has been built and the planning permission and will want assurance that what you have done is correct. The simple answer is to ask the planning department.

 

[Nakajo]

'Material' or 'immaterial', there is certainly precedent for local authorities approving Non Material Amendments in relation to the provision of additional bedrooms that were not cited in the original application. So, an NMA would appear to be the way to go.

 

[Brad Ninch]

Sound advice (above) about checking with your planning department. If they say anything other than "It is OK, go ahead, you do not need to let us know," ask them why clauses (2)(a)(i) and (2)(a)(ii) in Section 55 of Part III of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 do not apply. Part III is titled "CONTROL OVER DEVELOPMENT" and starts with "Meaning of development". Section 55, Para (2) says

"2) The following operations or uses of land shall not be taken for the purposes of this Act to involve development of the land—
(a) the carrying out for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any building of works which—
(i) affect only the interior of the building, or
(ii) do not materially affect the external appearance of the building"

Section 57 titled "Planning permission required for development" says in paragraph (1) "Subject to the following provisions of this section, planning permission is required for the carrying out of any development of land." Have a look at the restrictive provisions that follow (it is probably only paragraph (3) that might have any bearing on your situation) and if none of them apply your proposals for internal changes are not "development" and so planning permission is not required. I would be interested in their response. Best of luck.

 

[^woody^]

Sound advice (above) about checking with your planning department. If they say anything other than "It is OK, go ahead, you do not need to let us know," ask them why clauses (2)(a)(i) and (2)(a)(ii) in Section 55 of Part III of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 do not apply. Part III is titled "CONTROL OVER DEVELOPMENT" and starts with "Meaning of development". Section 55, Para (2) says

"2) The following operations or uses of land shall not be taken for the purposes of this Act to involve development of the land—
(a) the carrying out for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any building of works which—
(i) affect only the interior of the building, or
(ii) do not materially affect the external appearance of the building"

Section 57 titled "Planning permission required for development" says in paragraph (1) "Subject to the following provisions of this section, planning permission is required for the carrying out of any development of land." Have a look at the restrictive provisions that follow (it is probably only paragraph (3) that might have any bearing on your situation) and if none of them apply your proposals for internal changes are not "development" and so planning permission is not required. I would be interested in their response. Best of luck.

Non of that is relevant

 

[^woody^]

'Material' or 'immaterial', there is certainly precedent for local authorities approving Non Material Amendments in relation to the provision of additional bedrooms that were not cited in the original application. So, an NMA would appear to be the way to go.

So you are saying that any additional room, which includes use of the room, is not material?