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Permitted development explained

Permitted development is a national grant of planning permission, given in advance, for defined kinds of development within defined limits. It is genuinely useful and routinely misunderstood, mostly because people read the allowance and skip the conditions.

Get a fixed-fee quote See how it works
Where it comes from
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015, as amended
Applies to
England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own rules
Key point
It is conditional. Exceed one limit and the whole right falls away
How to be certain
A lawful development certificate for proposed development
Last reviewed
October 2026

Watch the 2-minute video briefing

Prefer a short overview first? Watch our plain-English briefing on UK permitted development rights from our planning video blog (@DHPlanningUK).

  • 0:00 What Permitted Development Rights are
  • 0:38 Extensions, lofts, outbuildings & change of use
  • 1:14 Listed buildings, conservation areas & Green Belt
  • 1:55 Prior approval & Lawful Development Certificates

How it actually works

The General Permitted Development Order is arranged in Parts and Classes. Part 1 covers development within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse. Class A is enlargement, improvement or alteration. Class B is roof additions. Class E is outbuildings. And so on.

Each class has a grant, then a list of things that take the grant away, then conditions attached to it. The grant is the bit people read. The list is the bit that decides whether you need permission.

It is all or nothing

Permitted development is not a discount. If your extension exceeds one limit by 200mm, the class does not partially apply. The whole thing needs planning permission, and if you have built it, the whole thing is unauthorised. There is no rounding.

The six things that remove your rights

  1. A planning condition. Extremely common on estates built since the 1990s. A condition on the original permission removes Part 1 rights for the whole development. The house looks ordinary; the rights are gone. Always check the original permission.
  2. An Article 4 direction. The Council can withdraw specified rights across a defined area. Used for conservation areas, HMO conversions and shopfronts. Check the Council's map.
  3. It is a flat or maisonette. Part 1 applies to dwellinghouses only. Flats have no permitted development rights for extensions or outbuildings at all.
  4. It is listed. Listed building consent is needed for works affecting character, whether or not planning permission is. The two are separate and both are required where they apply.
  5. It is on article 2(3) land. Conservation areas, national landscapes (formerly AONBs), national parks, the Broads and World Heritage Sites. Rights are narrower: no side extensions, no cladding, restrictions on rear extensions and outbuildings.
  6. The house was itself created under permitted development. A dwelling created by a Class MA or Class Q conversion generally has restricted rights afterwards.

What Part 1 broadly allows at a house

These are outlines, not the rules. The rules are detailed, and the detail is where cases are won and lost.

  • Class A, extensions. Single storey rear extensions to three metres on an attached house and four metres on a detached one, extendable to six and eight metres under the larger home extension prior approval route. Height limits, eaves limits, a cap on the proportion of the garden covered, and materials of similar appearance.
  • Class B, roof additions. Dormers and loft conversions within a volume allowance of 40 cubic metres for a terrace and 50 for a semi or detached house. Nothing on the principal elevation facing a highway. Set back from the eaves.
  • Class C, other roof alterations. Rooflights, provided they do not project more than 150mm and are not above the highest part of the roof.
  • Class E, outbuildings. Sheds, garden rooms, garages and pools, incidental to the enjoyment of the house. Single storey, height limits that drop sharply within two metres of a boundary, and no more than half the garden covered. Critically, they must be incidental. A garden room with a bed and a shower used as separate accommodation is not incidental and is not permitted development.
  • Class F, hard surfaces. Driveways and patios, subject to porous surfacing or drainage to a permeable area.
  • Class H, antennas. Satellite dishes and aerials, with size and position limits.

Beyond houses

Part 3 covers changes of use, including Class MA from commercial to residential and Class Q from agricultural to residential; most require prior approval. Part 6 covers agricultural development. Part 16 covers communications. Part 20 covers upward extensions and new dwellings on blocks of flats. These are the classes where the money is, and also where the conditions are most technical.

How to be certain

If the answer matters, and particularly if a neighbour is likely to object or you will sell within a few years, apply for a lawful development certificate for proposed development. It costs half the planning application fee, it binds the Council, and it is the document a buyer's solicitor will ask for. The alternative is building on your own reading of the Order and finding out whether you were right when the enforcement officer calls.

Questions people ask about permitted development

How do I find out if my rights have been removed?

Look up the original planning permission for your house on the Council's website and read the conditions. If the estate was built after about 1990, a condition removing Part 1 rights is common. Also check the Council's Article 4 direction map. We do both as part of any quote.

Does permitted development apply to a garden room I will work from?

Working from home in an outbuilding is usually still incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse, so it is usually fine. What takes it outside Class E is separate residential use, or a business with staff and customers visiting, which becomes a mixed use and needs permission.

Can I add a dormer to the front of my house?

Not under Class B. Roof additions on the principal elevation fronting a highway are excluded, so a front dormer needs planning permission almost everywhere.

Do the rules apply in Scotland and Wales?

No. The General Permitted Development Order 2015 applies in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own orders with different classes and limits. We work in England.

Is permitted development the same as needing no permission at all?

Effectively yes, while you stay within the class. But building regulations still apply, party wall procedures still apply, restrictive covenants in your title still apply, and none of those are planning. Planning permission is one of several permissions, not all of them.

Related pages

Lawful development certificates

Formal proof that what you propose does not need permission, or that what exists is now lawful.

Prior approval

The faster route: larger home extensions, Class MA and Class Q conversions.

Householder applications

Extensions, loft conversions, outbuildings and annexes at an existing house.

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