Residential building alterations and works are regulated. Most new buildings or major changes to existing buildings need permission from your local planning authority, which is tasked with making decisions about proposed building and alteration plans.

When undertaking new building or existing building alteration projects, you therefore need to consider if you need planning permission from your local planning authority (usually a department of your local council).

The planning system exists to try to control who can build what and where. Without it, you can imagine what might happen. As the Planning Portal website says, everyone could construct buildings or use land in any way they wanted, no matter what effect this would have on other people who live and work in their area.

Failure to obtain permission where required can result in enforcement action being taken against you by the planning authority and you may have to put the building back to the state it was in before your alterations. 

If you do not get permission, then you cannot go ahead with your project (or at least not without potential consequences, such as the local planning authority taking enforcement action and insisting that you undo whatever work you had done). 

Seeking planning permission is therefore necessary prior to undertaking any building works. 

Applications are ordinarily made as soon as your architectural planning drawings are ready, which are often needed for an application, and usually before any other work is undertaken, like preparing Building Regulations drawings. 

Proceeding with the preparation of Building Regulations drawings before planning permission is obtained is known as “proceeding at risk”. This is because it’s possible that your application gets rejected or alternatively the local planning authority requires you to alter plans to comply with regulations and local policies. If you’ve gone ahead with preparing other drawings, you’re at risk of wasting your money or incurring extra fees due to the need to change Building Regulations drawings. 

This post concerns only England and Wales. For Scotland, see the Scottish government website as a starting point. For Northern Ireland, see the NI Direct website.

The first step is to determine whether or not the work you plan to undertake is subject to planning permission. 

Broadly speaking, general internal refurbishments or maintenance do not require permission from your local planning authority. For many other building works, you will either need to obtain planning permission or what’s known as a lawful development certificate from your local planning authority. 

Under legislation applicable to England and Wales, you’re allowed to carry out certain types of building works without needing to apply for planning permission, subject to various conditions and limitations. This is called permitted development. 

For example, you have a Victorian terrace and you want to do a dormer loft conversion. If the proposed works comply with the various applicable permitted development limitations and conditions for a terraced house loft conversion (things like total extra space by volume, roof lights, side windows, roof height and so on), then the works will be lawful and permitted. 

If your works fall into the permitted development camp, you are entitled to carry out the works without obtaining planning permission. However, the practice is that you nevertheless apply to obtain what’s called a lawful development certificate. It signifies that enforcement action cannot be carried out against the development referred to in the certificate. You will therefore likely be asked to produce that certificate when you go to sell your property in the future. 

Frustratingly, a simple household planning application with no complicating factors is effectively the same process as an application for a lawful development certificate. Best to just accept that and be pleased that the lawful development certificate route is at least usually processed quicker. 

The application for the lawful development certificate typically involves submitting an application form, paying the fee, and providing scaled drawings of your proposed alterations showing your property as it exists and as it will exist from various views including cross-sections. 

Assuming your plans are in line with the relevant permitted development rights and your application was done correctly, the certificate received from the planning authority would simply state that your planned works would be considered lawful, often with some informational paragraphs (called informatives). 

If your proposed project doesn’t fall within the permitted development rules, you’ll need to apply for planning permission from your local planning authority. 

For example, you have a Victorian terrace and you want to do a dormer loft conversion. If the extra space to be added goes beyond the permitted development additional volume limitation, you’ll have giant side windows, the dormer is really a two storey extension and you reckon it’s probably good if it goes over into the neighbouring property, Tudor-style, given that they’re not using that airspace anyway, it won’t be a permitted development and you’ll need to submit a planning application (which, in our facetious example, would be rejected). 

There are two common routes for submitting a planning application. One is the householder planning application, the other is a full planning application.

The householder planning application is a slightly simplified process covering the commonplace proposals to alter or enlarge a single house. The full planning application is for most other plans, including flats. Listed building consent is a separate application process and more onerous. 

For a householder application, the application typically involves submitting an application form, paying the fee, and providing scaled drawings of your proposed alterations and a site plan, which is a simple 2D block plan of your property and its immediate area (think of a very basic version of Google Maps). 

For a full planning application, you’d typically submit all of the same documentation as for the householder application but also a Design and Access Statement and potentially various other documentation depending on the proposed works. 

A Design and Access Statement provides a simple, brief overview of the proposal and certain information pertaining to the plans. It can also be useful to submit a Design and Access Statement with a householder application if there is anything unusual about your application that may benefit from elucidation. You local planning authority website should provide information about any specifics that they require to be included in a Design and Access Statement.

If successful, the Decision Notice received from the planning authority simply states that you have been granted permission to carry out the planned works and sets out any conditions and any informatives the local planning authority cares to add. 

If not, the Decision Notice will tell you that your application has been rejected and why. You can then appeal or change plans and reapply.

As always with regulatory frameworks, the above may all sound simple and straightforward, much like making a cup of tea. Things can get complicated though, fast, and soon you find yourself with 2 kettles out, 4 teapots, 15 different teas and preparing for some ornate Japanese-style tea ceremony. 

For instance, not all permitted development rights that apply to house freeholders also apply to flat leaseholders (not to mention the added complications of getting consent from your freeholder, landlord or managing company and navigating the various terms and other restrictions in a leasehold agreement). Similarly, things get trickier if your property is listed or is in a designated area. The latter two situations also being examples of when certain internal refurbishments or maintenance may require permission. 

Whoever you use to create your planning drawings should advise you regarding planning and what may or may not be required. Alternatively, you could engage a planning consultant. 

You could possibly muddle through yourself, but this is one of these areas, particularly if your plans are not absolutely run of the mill, where it is really beneficial to pay some money to have an expert handle things for you. If you do elect to do it yourself and you don’t want to cost yourself a fortune and four years of your life having to reapply multiple times, be certain that you have considered and are aware of all relevant planning rules and that you have all relevant materials needed for the application. 

This post is just intended as a brief introductory overview because there is already a wealth of well-written information available elsewhere online.

The best place to start digging further is the Planning Portal website, particularly the following pages:

In addition, we recommend that you check your local planning authority’s website, both for the information they provide, including their requirements for applications, and to see others’ applications. 

We found it incredibly useful to pull up various permitted development applications and full planning applications to see what applications others in the immediate area had submitted and with what documentation. Seeing others’ plans and drawings is also very helpful when initially developing your project plans. Likewise for gauging whether your plans are in line with what others in the area have done or if you’ve gone totally off-piste and are careening recklessly like a wild and untrained skiing yeti toward a giant signpost that simply says “No chance. Much love, your local planning authority.” We’d suggest that you use your own local planning authority / council’s website. So you can see an example though, here’s Waltham Forest’s planning portal (our local council) where you can dig through various applications.

It’s worth adding as a final note that the above all relates solely to building works planning, not any other kind of planning nor complying with Building Regulations or any other regulatory considerations (some of which can make the Japanese-style tea ceremony situation seem like a walk in the park).