Garden outbuilding - distance from boundary rules

johan46

I am planning to create a new shed outbuilding in my garden. I have read the planning rules and the building regulation rules in the following links: planning rules - building regulation rules. My understanding is the following:

• If an outbuilding has eaves height up to 2.5m and total height of 3m for mono-pitched roof builds it is permitted development as long as the outbuilding is "at least 2.5m away from the boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse"
• Building regulations will not apply if the total internal floor area is under 30sqm and there is no sleeping accomodation and the outbuilding is "at least one metre from any boundary"
  

I want to construct the shed right on top of the fence at the back of my property. Normally, I would say that this does not allow for the above minimum distances.

However, at the other side of the fence is an alleyway, which I have today realised that it is part of my plot of land, however others have the 'right of way' according to the deeds. Attached image shows the property boundary and the alleyway. The alleyway has width over 2.5m.

My question is: for the purposes of planning permission (2.5m rule) and building regulations (1m rule), would this distance be counted from the other side of the alleyway (red line in image) or from the existing fence? I do not plan to encroach on the alleyway at all.

Section62

johan46 said:

I am planning to create a new shed outbuilding in my garden. I have read the planning rules and the building regulation rules in the following links: planning rules - building regulation rules. My understanding is the following:

• If an outbuilding has eaves height up to 2.5m and total height of 3m for mono-pitched roof builds it is permitted development as long as the outbuilding is "at least 2.5m away from the boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse"
• Building regulations will not apply if the total internal floor area is under 30sqm and there is no sleeping accomodation and the outbuilding is "at least one metre from any boundary"
  

I want to construct the shed right on top of the fence at the back of my property. Normally, I would say that this does not allow for the above minimum distances.

However, at the other side of the fence is an alleyway, which I have today realised that it is part of my plot of land, however others have the 'right of way' according to the deeds. Attached image shows the property boundary and the alleyway. The alleyway has width over 2.5m.

My question is: for the purposes of planning permission (2.5m rule) and building regulations (1m rule), would this distance be counted from the other side of the alleyway (red line in image) or from the existing fence? I do not plan to encroach on the alleyway at all.

For planning the key word is "curtilage".  The curtilage is not the same as the (current) legal property boundary.  You'll only be able to get a definitive answer from your local planners, but I would expect them to say the alleyway/access road is not within your curtilage and therefore you need to measure the distance from the boundary between the alleyway and your garden.

Also note that the requirements you mention are just some of those that need to be met for a proposal to be permitted development - not all properties have full permitted development rights, and there is a limit on the %age of the garden you can cover with outbuildings.

I'd be less confident about which boundary would be taken for building control purposes, but the 1m rule applies to all boundaries - therefore if you are planning a building of 15m2 or greater and you need to keep 1m from each boundary, your resulting building is going to look a bit odd and probably won't give the most economic result in terms of £/m2.

Being next to a public road means you'll be less likely to get away with developing without the necessary consents.

You also need to check the situation with rights of access along the alleyway, and be absolutely sure of the boundary position.  Having built your shed you won't want to knock it down because it encroaches onto the RoW by a small margin.

All in all, you may be better off going through planning and building control to get the shed you want, rather than trying to adapt what you want to what the rules allow without going through the processes.  Often people put so much effort into 'avoiding' planning/BC that they lose sight of the important thing - i.e. getting the building they need at a sensible cost.

johan46

Section62 said:

johan46 said:

I am planning to create a new shed outbuilding in my garden. I have read the planning rules and the building regulation rules in the following links: planning rules - building regulation rules. My understanding is the following:

• If an outbuilding has eaves height up to 2.5m and total height of 3m for mono-pitched roof builds it is permitted development as long as the outbuilding is "at least 2.5m away from the boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse"
• Building regulations will not apply if the total internal floor area is under 30sqm and there is no sleeping accomodation and the outbuilding is "at least one metre from any boundary"
  

I want to construct the shed right on top of the fence at the back of my property. Normally, I would say that this does not allow for the above minimum distances.

However, at the other side of the fence is an alleyway, which I have today realised that it is part of my plot of land, however others have the 'right of way' according to the deeds. Attached image shows the property boundary and the alleyway. The alleyway has width over 2.5m.

My question is: for the purposes of planning permission (2.5m rule) and building regulations (1m rule), would this distance be counted from the other side of the alleyway (red line in image) or from the existing fence? I do not plan to encroach on the alleyway at all.

For planning the key word is "curtilage".  The curtilage is not the same as the (current) legal property boundary.  You'll only be able to get a definitive answer from your local planners, but I would expect them to say the alleyway/access road is not within your curtilage and therefore you need to measure the distance from the boundary between the alleyway and your garden.

Also note that the requirements you mention are just some of those that need to be met for a proposal to be permitted development - not all properties have full permitted development rights, and there is a limit on the %age of the garden you can cover with outbuildings.

I'd be less confident about which boundary would be taken for building control purposes, but the 1m rule applies to all boundaries - therefore if you are planning a building of 15m2 or greater and you need to keep 1m from each boundary, your resulting building is going to look a bit odd and probably won't give the most economic result in terms of £/m2.

Being next to a public road means you'll be less likely to get away with developing without the necessary consents.

You also need to check the situation with rights of access along the alleyway, and be absolutely sure of the boundary position.  Having built your shed you won't want to knock it down because it encroaches onto the RoW by a small margin.

All in all, you may be better off going through planning and building control to get the shed you want, rather than trying to adapt what you want to what the rules allow without going through the processes.  Often people put so much effort into 'avoiding' planning/BC that they lose sight of the important thing - i.e. getting the building they need at a sensible cost.

This was a very helpful answer, thank you very much. However it is a bit demotivating - I would have expected that 'curtilage' includes the alleyway, since it is clearly part of the legal property boundary. I will try to ask the local planners, or just submit a planning application and see if it gets approved.

Thank you for raising the other points, indeed there are other requirements as well - my question was more specific on the meaning of curtilage and distance from boundaries, trying to figure out what those boundaries should be.

Section62

johan46 said:

This was a very helpful answer, thank you very much. However it is a bit demotivating - I would have expected that 'curtilage' includes the alleyway, since it is clearly part of the legal property boundary. I will try to ask the local planners, or just submit a planning application and see if it gets approved.

No, the meaning of 'curtilage' is very different to the legal boundary.  There are some cases in planning (particularly with listed buildings) where the curtilage of the property includes land owned by someone else entirely.

Don't see it as demotivating.  People erroneously see the planning system as a barrier to doing what they want.  That isn't really the case - the system is there to help people develop sensibly.  It costs a bit more to get planning consent, but it would be money well spent if the result is a better project than you could have got by maxing out the PD rules.

TELLIT01

Put a planning application in based on what you ideally want to do and see what the outcome is.  Worse case is you are told it needs to be further into your garden.  Best case you get approval.

Ectophile

The "curtilage" of a house is the house and its immediate gardens.  These are normally outlined by fences, walls or hedges.  It's quite possible to own land outside the curtilage.

In your case, you may own a bit of land that the alley crosses, but it's outside the fence or wall that marks the edge of your garden.

theoretica

You don't want to go for the option of building something under 2.5 m high?