Yahoo News Home extension laws explained as loft conversion rules 'could be eased'
Labour is set to introduce reforms to make it easier to build upwards by effectively side-stepping council planning committees - but will it work in practice?
Labour is set to introduce a host of reforms to planning laws in a bid to resolve the UK's “acute housing crisis”, including a relaxing of rules on building loft conversions and extra storeys.
The government is expected to unveil its plans on Thursday as part of its goal to build an additional 1.5 million homes over the course of this Parliament.
Housing secretary and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said the government was focused on "streamlining the planning process and speeding up building".
She told the Times: "Expanding existing homes and building up is a great way to create more living space and will help us get Britain building as well as to meet our 1.5 million homes target."
Rayner said councils would be prevented from blocking extensions because they are too high. Experts, however, have raised doubts over how much impact the proposed changes will really have.
What are the rules on home extensions?
There are some cases where you can undertake an extension on your home without needing to get planning permission from the council – this is called "permitted development rights".
Single-storey rear extensions can come out by up to three metres for semi-detached, terraced and link-detached homes, and by four metres for a detached house, according to the Homeowners Alliance. This is based on the original plans of the building, or as it stood on 1 July 1948 if older.
Some height restrictions still apply, for example, a single-storey extension cannot be higher than four metres to the ridge and the eaves, and the ridge height of an extension cannot be higher than the existing property. Double-storey extensions must not be closer than seven metres to the rear boundary.
Government guidance says: "Materials used should be of similar visual appearance to those in the existing house, but does not mean that they need to be the same materials."
If you're planning an extension that doesn't meet the above criteria, you will likely have to apply for planning permission from your local council, which you can find out how to do here.
Generally, planning permission is required for any building work involving an extension that is more than 50% of the original size of the house, or more than four metres in height, according to Abbey Extensions.
However, this can vary depending on location and size, with homeowners in densely populated London facing more stringent regulations.
What are the rules on loft conversions?
A loft conversion carried out in England should not require planning permission, providing a few conditions are met, according to the Federation of Master Builders.
New roofing should not add more than 40 cubic metres for terraced houses, or 50 cubic metres for detached and semi-detached properties.
The extended space should not go beyond the plane of the existing roof slope facing the highway, and should not be higher than the highest part of the existing roof.
Side-facing windows should feature obscured glazing and an opening that is 1.7 metres above the floor.
There should be no raised platforms or balconies.
New roofing materials should be either an exact match for, or very close to, the original.
Any extensions should not overhang the outer face of the original wall of the house.
If any of the above guidelines are not met, you will need to apply for planning permission through your council.
Labour's plan to 'build up'
As part of its strategy to remove barriers to development, the government aims to encourage homeowners to build upwards by making it harder for councils to block applications for higher houses.
Currently, planning permission can be rejected on the account of an additional storey being too high, or because neighbours do not have additional storeys, with planning committees often saying they are "out of keeping with the area".
Rayner has said that Labour's changes will give local authority planning officers the power to rubber stamp development plans without having to seek permission from planning committees, provided they agree with locally agreed plans and national regulations on standards.
Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the housing secretary said councils will be required to formalise their own development plans, claiming an absence of these has led to developments getting "stuck in the system".
A requirement for roof extensions to be no taller than surrounding buildings and “consistent with the prevailing height” of a street has been dropped under Labour's plans, according to the Telegraph, although extensions will still be required to mimic the "form" of the neighbourhood and "overall street scene".
The previous Conservative government said last year that it planned to make extensions and loft conversions easier for homeowners with a review into the extension of permitted development rights, while also promising to unblock bottlenecks in the planning system to speed up development approvals.
Then-housing secretary Michael Gove proposed new flexibilities to allow shops, takeaways and betting shops to be turned into living spaces, claiming Britain must “make better use of the buildings we already have”.
Will Labour's plan work?
Chris May, a planning law partner at law firm Freeths, told Yahoo News the plan to effectively side-step planning committees may not have "any practical impact in the short term".
"It is pretty much always the case that a development could be argued to be contrary to local development plan policy," he says.
"Take the issue of design; in practice, there is such a wide range of legitimate and reasonable views as to the quality of design of a scheme. If there is any concern at all, I suspect that officers will simply take it to committee.
"It is the same for many aspects of the exercise of professional judgement and, given the potential likely scrutiny – was it lawful to determine under delegated powers? – and criticism from councillors and objectors which will no doubt be forthcoming for officers who attempt to determine applications under delegated powers, I simply cannot see this happening."
May also suggests that if a council has an out-of-date local plan, officers may not be "brave enough" to make a decision on this basis without referring to the committee.
Matthew Price, associate director of Peter Barry Chartered Surveyors, says that as well as seeing more neighbours "come to blows" over extensions blocking out sunlight and dominating the street, some other practicalities could see proposals rejected.
For homeowners with functioning chimneys, raising a parapet wall and leaving the neighbour's chimney stack at its original lower height would fall foul of building regulations, he says, unless the neighbour was willing to make alterations to their home.
Meanwhile cost factors will see the "majority of property owners continue with more traditional loft extension", he adds.
Ben Standing, a partner specialising in planning and environmental law at law firm Browne Jacobson, adds that changes to the planning system "must be complemented by a dedicated drive to adequately resource planning authorities".
He says this lack of resourcing is "bringing the planning system to a gridlock" and preventing councils from updating their local plans, which is "why only a third have a plan that is under five years old".
Elle Cass, head of strategic built environment growth at SLR Consulting, said Labour's plans to bypass planning committees in situations where the development has been allocated at local plan level is "particularly encouraging", saying it "shows a level of understanding as to where the problems lie".
However, she cautioned: "The next step will be tackling the endemic resource problem across the construction industry. The target of 300 new planners doesn’t even cover one per local authority, but it’s a much wider issue than that – we simply don’t have the bricklayers, the plumbers, the ecologists, and any number of other professions needed to deliver 1.5 million homes.”
