Extension - 'Permitted Development'

davegouge

Hi,

Hope this is the right forum!

I'm in the process of getting an extension built on the back of my garage at the side of the house for a utility room and wc.

See my quick ms paint sketch at twitpic . com / 2uue7v (Sorry about the rubbish url, as a new user I can't post links )

The Permitted Development rules state that "Single-storey rear extension must not extend beyond the rear wall of the 'original house'* by more than three metres if an attached house or by four metres if a detached house." planningportal . gov . uk

I took that to mean the 'rearmost' wall of the original house, which we would only be extending beyond by about half a metre. The planning dept at the council though have said that it is not a permitted development and must go through planning permission because the extension extends greater than 4 metres from the garage. So have they made a mistake or have I?

If there is anyone who can offer some advice I would be most grateful.

Cheers,

Dave

WestonDave

My take on this is that they are defining the rear wall of the "original house" to be the line running from the top left corner of the house to the top right corner of the garage. The point about permitted development is its about allowing extensions of a fairly small size - so picking a "rear wall" that happens to be a fair way forward, and then extending a long way from that would seem to be outside the spirit of permitted development. The fact that its a garage rather than the house is possibly academic when the two are joined as in your example.

Your line of challenge to their decision would appear to be that the garage is not part of the original house, which to me appears to fail on one of two counts - either it was built as part of the original house in which case your argument is rather tenuous, or it was built seperately later in which case you may already have used up your permitted development rights.

What happens if you cut the size back to level with the rear of the house - does that get you within the 4 metres? Given that you only need 0.8m for a toilet (unless building regs re disabled access kick in!) you surely don't need over 4 metres just for a toilet and utility room.

davegouge

Thanks for your reply.

The garage was built as part of the original house, so yes, I can see how this could be argued that it is part of the house.

It just seems odd that they are quite happy for me to build an extension of the back of the house 4m into the garden, but not for an extension off the garage that only extends into the garden for half a metre and would hardly be visible to neighbours.

Anyway, thanks for the reply. We're going to have a chat with the planning people this week and hopefully common sense will win out.

Doozergirl

It's not a rear extension is it really? I'd interpret it myself as a side extension! Or as you have.

It's not the sort of thing I could see being turned down for PP if it's single storey, even if it needs it! It's not exactly overdevelopment is it?!

Doozergirl

WestonDave wrote: »

or it was built seperately later in which case you may already have used up your permitted development rights.

You don't exactly 'use them up' like that. It's not about volume anymore, it's about the dimensions.

PD allows them to build a single storey extension all the way down the side of the house, (as long as it meets certain height/boundary restrictions) and then again right off the back of the original house to 4m - as long as they haven't built on more than 50% of the original garden. It's quite simple, but on top of that, they can convert the garage and convert the loft as well.

This one is semantics really - is it side, is it rear? Probably isn't a side extension that falls within PD because it extends slightly past the back wall of the original house and it isn't a rear extension that qualifies for PD because it's further than 4m from the original house at that point. You can extend far more than the OP is doing under PD but it just looks like the measurements are slightly out. As long as it's not a designated area, I can't see them throwing that out.

Imp

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/100806_PDforhouseholders_TechnicalGuidance.pdf

It's all on the world wide web - page 17

WillowCat

My understanding was that permitted development rules went from the bit of the house the extension is on - so if the of the rear house is 'stepped' as yours is, the 3m or 4m rule is also stepped.

System

Doozergirl wrote: »

You don't exactly 'use them up' like that. It's not about volume anymore, it's about the dimensions.

PD allows them to build a single storey extension all the way down the side of the house, (as long as it meets certain height/boundary restrictions) and then again right off the back of the original house to 4m - as long as they haven't built on more than 50% of the original garden. It's quite simple, but on top of that, they can convert the garage and convert the loft as well.

I've actually had the opposite experience of this statement where a conservatory needed planning permission since the garage and loft had been converted, the planning department decided that the permitted development rights had been "used up" for the property.... which kind of makes sense i suppose otherwise you could just continuously add small extensions onto a property and always had pd rights - also some properties have pd rights removed and it doesn't always apply.

Doozergirl

the_r_sole wrote: »

I've actually had the opposite experience of this statement where a conservatory needed planning permission since the garage and loft had been converted, the planning department decided that the permitted development rights had been "used up" for the property.... which kind of makes sense i suppose otherwise you could just continuously add small extensions onto a property and always had pd rights - also some properties have pd rights removed and it doesn't always apply.

PD rules changed in October 2008. Was it before then?

Yes, some properties have had PD rights removed altogether. But the majority of houses all the same rules apply.

Doozergirl

Imp wrote: »

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/100806_PDforhouseholders_TechnicalGuidance.pdf

It's all on the world wide web - page 17

And page 18 is where the side extension comes in. And it's bonkers. You can build a new garage and all the way down the side and then another 4m back if there was nothing already on the side. But if the garage is original to the house you can only go back 4m from the back of the garage without PP. Bonkers.

So OP, it looks like it would depend entirely on whether the garage is 'original' as to whether your plans fall under PD.