Do I Need Planning Permission For A Garden Room?

 Bringing together the expertise of our team, we have created a guide to the planning permission required for custom garden rooms. While we touched on this topic in our ‘How to design a garden room’ blog, we thought we’d go into a little more depth in this article. You should find everything you need to know about the development rights and regulations in this article so that you can spend more time designing your ideal space, and less time thinking about the paperwork.

Whether you’re a flourishing creative in need of a fully-equipped home studio, a considerate host who would prefer to put guests up in a self-catering accommodation pod, a dancer keen to practice in their own dance studio, or an eco-friendly remote worker thinking about a sustainable garden office, you’ll need to confront the subject of planning permission sooner rather than later.

Whilst thinking about regulations and development permits might not be nearly as exciting as thinking about the look and feel of your bespoke space, it is crucial that you understand the formalities around planning permission for garden rooms to avoid your project encountering any unnecessary hurdles.

At Multi Space, we have plenty of experience when it comes to navigating the world of planning permission and always take the time to ensure that our clients understand their planning rights.

Though in many cases garden rooms do not require planning permission as they meet the criteria for permitted development, this isn’t always the case, and it is vital that this subject is reviewed as early as possible to make sure that plans can move forward without obstruction.

In this article, we’ll take you through the important terms you need to know and help you to answer the question of whether you need planning permission for your garden room.

What is Allowed Under Permitted Development Rights?

Referring to any kind of building work or change to a property that is not substantial enough to warrant planning application, permitted developments rights mean that it is often possible to build a garden office without having to complete lengthy forms and paperwork.

Whilst this may seem straightforward enough in principle, local laws as well as additional terms and conditions outlined on the YouGov website do apply, so be sure to thoroughly review these guidelines to avoid disappointment.

If you’re at all unsure about whether your project is likely to meet the criteria for Permitted Development Rights, feel free to contact our team at Multi Space today. We’ll be happy to review your plans as part of our service.

Is Planning Permission the same thing as Building Regulations?

It may sound as though planning permission and building regulations are one and the same thing, however there are subtle differences which you should be aware of when looking to design and build your own garden office.

The two terms are defined as the following:

Building Regulations – refers to the body of standards that are required to maintain the overall health and safety of the people who will be using a given building. In addition to general wellbeing, these standards also ensure that buildings have the necessary power and accessibility to make them wholly functional.

Planning Permission – refers to a request for undertaking building work which is granted or refused depending on whether or not this request meets criteria set out by local planning authorities. In order to find out more about the specific requirements for your constituency, you’ll need to get in contact with the planning department of your local council. It is also your personal responsibility to acquire planning permission where necessary and it is important that you do this prior to beginning any kind of building work.

So, what does all of this mean for the planning permission required for a garden room?

To answer this question, it is necessary to understand the regulations that apply to outbuildings. The reason for this is that garden rooms, bespoke garden offices, and other custom garden buildings all qualify as outbuildings because they possess a purpose which is incidental to the house they are an extension of.

The definition of incidental in the case of outbuildings refers to uses which are secondary or an accompaniment to the main building they belong to. For example, if you plan to use your garden building as a place to work in, this would be considered as incidental as it would not be a commercial building that brings a host of workers out to your location.

Thankfully, outbuildings are considered as permitted developments and, as such, do not require planning permission. There are, however, a range of criteria that need to be fulfilled in order for your bespoke garden building to be considered as an outbuilding.

Specifically:

Your garden building cannot be situated on any land that is forward of a wall that forms the principal elevation

Your garden room must be a single storey formation with eaves that do not exceed 2.5 metres in height

The overall height of your garden room cannot be taller than four metres

Your garden room cannot be over 2.5 metres in height if it is within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the house it belongs to

Your garden room must not feature any verandas, balconies or raised platforms

No more than half the area which surrounds the house would be covered by additions or other buildings once your garden room has been built there

If your residence is in a National Park, the Broads, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or a World Heritage Site, a garden room 20 metres from the property cannot be larger than 10 square metres

If your residence is on designated land, you will need to seek planning permission for your garden room

If your residence is a listed building, you will need to seek planning permission for a bespoke garden room

In addition to these requirements, it’s important to note that they only apply to houses and do not apply to:

Flats or maisonettes

Houses which are converted or have been built using permitted development rights to change use

Properties which have specific restrictions

In the event that your property falls into any of these categories, it will be essential that you acquire planning permission ahead of building a bespoke garden room.

Whilst these guidelines should hopefully provide you with a good indication of whether or not you need to acquire planning permission for your garden room, we would always recommend that you get in touch with a professional to provide you with a definitive answer.

Having built a range of glamping pods, home gyms, annexes, and all other manner of garden rooms, our team are well-positioned to provide you with expert guidance which will ensure that your project ticks all of the right boxes and moves forward as swiftly as possible.

Multi Space provides this service for you should you choose us to build your garden room. Our previous clients agreed this takes the burden off them, meaning they can sit back and let us handle every aspect of their garden room build including the paperwork. A full turn key service.

To make sure that you’re on the right track, be sure to get in touch with our team at Multi Space today. As experienced builders of custom spaces, they will be happy to discuss all of the options available to you and ensure that your project is all properly certified, leaving you with more time to focus on the exciting stuff.