Change of Use – Permitted Development Rights

Permitted Development rights allow for certain types of works and changes of use to occur without needing to apply for planning permission. Permitted Development rights are a general planning permission granted by Parliament.

The Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 state that a change of use is permitted to another specified ‘use class’.

Permitted Development Rights allows for a greater flexibility for commercial tenants when looking for their ideal property and gives them a greater chance of being able to achieve their dream premises, without having to apply to the Local Authority for full planning permission.

An example of this would be an Italian restaurant (Class A3) that closes down and then new tenants decide that they would like to open up a retail shop selling shoes (Class A1) – this change of use can be done through permitted developments without the need of having to go through a full planning application with the Local Authority.

Another example would be a building that is currently used as Business office B1a (offices) that the owners then decide that they wish to subdivide the building and turn it into residential units which would be Class C3 (dwelling houses) – prior approval would need to be gained from the Local Authority however a full planning application should not be required as it falls within Permitted Development Rights.

The table below summarises the Change of Uses that can be carried out within Permitted Development Rights (subject to prior approval by the Local Planning Authority).

Table source: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/9/change_of_use/2