Planning permission 6 October 2018 at 1:12PM in Scotland 3 replies 3.8K views

shivvymac41

Hi there I wonder if anyone can advise...
Years ago my partner's late wife and latterly his daughter ran a hairdressing salon from his house. He complied with all the legalities regarding change of use from a domestic room to a business. Now that his daughter no longer uses the salon, we want to turn it back into a spare bedroom. He was told he would have to apply for a planning permission and building warrant to change it back for domestic use. Is this right as it sounds as if it will be a very costly exercise just to rip out a couple of sinks etc.....Any advise would be greatly received.
Many thanks!

slbhill

You need to take advice from your Local Authority planning department (the answer may be different depending on where you are). If it's them who have said you need consent then you're stuck with it I'm afraid. I'm not an expert but there are some changes of use which need planning consent and others that don't - and sometimes you can go from one use to another without consent but need a consent to return to the original use.


Getting the consent may be easier than you fear though - it can be a straightforward process for a simple change of use. Most planning depts. are very helpful and will explain how much work will be needed to apply for the consent.


As an example this is a clear list for Stirling council:
https://www.stirling.gov.uk/__documents/planning/planning/applications-planning/supplementary-guidance-planning/use-classes-order1997.pdf
Hairdresser is class 1, and there are no permitted changes (ie. any change of use from class 1 will require consent).

parking_question_chap

Go on to the local authority website and read the decision notice about the consent obtained. I would be surprised if there is a requirement to obtain permission to change it back, more likely it will revert back to a domestic room when the hairdressing use ceases.

slbhill

parking_question_chap wrote: »

Go on to the local authority website and read the decision notice about the consent obtained. I would be surprised if there is a requirement to obtain permission to change it back, more likely it will revert back to a domestic room when the hairdressing use ceases.

What's your judgement based on?
In my experience planning consent (for changing use to a hairdresser in this instance) isn't usually temporary.