Do You Need Planning Permission for a Garden Room?

If you’ve been researching garden rooms and have finally decided that it is the perfect solution to your problem, now it’s time for the planning phase. This is where you figure out where you want it, how big it’s going to be, the features, and all the good stuff. Before beginning to plan all this, it is important to take planning permission into consideration.

When building structures on your property, most times you need planning permission. For a garden room, however, you are not required to get it. Under Permitted Development rules, they are classified as outbuildings and outbuildings generally do not require planning permission. It’s more complicated than that though. Like with everything, there are restrictions and conditions to this rule.

What Exactly Is Planning Permission?

Outdoor Building Group, which builds garden rooms in Scotland, has outlined some of the details of planning permission and how it applies to garden rooms. Most buildings require planning permission before you build them. Basically, what they do is make sure that the building meets national, regional, and local building codes. Building permission usually comes in the form of a building permit. Whether your new garden room needs planning permission or not is dependent mainly on size, location, and the purpose of the building.

Do I Need It for My Garden Room?

It’s always easier when you don’t have to deal with the technical part of things and can jump right in to building.  You must meet a lot of requirements in order to not need permission.

Location Restrictions

• If you live in a flat, maisonette, or any other building type other than a house, you must get full permission. Those types of buildings don’t have developmental rights.
• You cannot build in front of the main, front wall of the house. This is going by the way the house was originally built, not any alterations that may have taken place over the years.
• You cannot build it more than 2 m (6.56 ft) from the property line.
• Conservation areas require full permission in order to build there.
• If your property is in a National Park, you will need full permission.
• Areas of Natural Beauty require full permission.
• If your home or any other structure on your property is listed (an important or historical building), you must get full permission.
• It cannot be closer to the road than the original house.

Size Restrictions

• It cannot be higher than 2.5 m (8.2 ft) from ground level.
• It must only be one story high.

Other Restrictions

• You can’t get a balcony installed.
• Any raised decking cannot exceed 300 mm (11.8 in) high.
• The garden room cannot be for the purpose of a living space or have any type of antenna attached.
• Your garden room cannot take up more than half of the land around the house.

True, there are a lot of restrictions but if you stay within the guidelines, you can cut out an extremely time-consuming part of building your garden room. If your plans comply with all the restrictions listed above, you shouldn’t need any permission in order to build.

How Do I Get Planning Permission?

There are some things that you can’t get around even if you want to. If you read this and realized your garden building plans do not comply with the requirements, that’s okay, you can get permission. It’s not the easiest process in the world. There are many different consent forms for planning permission depending on your situation. For a list of all the different types and links to most of the forms,  go to Planning Portal.

Once you get your plan together, fill out your application, and collect all necessary documents, you’re ready to submit your application. It could take up to eight weeks to get a decision. It is smart to track your application status online instead of waiting to hear something. This way you can make sure that things move smoothly and there are no unexpected delays.

If your application isn’t approved the first time, don’t be discouraged. According to Home Building and Renovating, if it’s refused the first time, you can withdraw it, revise the problems in your plan and resubmit it. There is no application fee for resubmitting it.

Be sure to completely fill out the application, provide all the details in your plan, and all documentation that is required upon submittal the first time.

Time to Get Started

Using the information above, you should have an idea whether you need planning permission for your garden room. If you don’t, great news! You can get started right away! For those of you that do, it’s no big deal! You know where to start now, how to go about obtaining them, and what to do if you are denied. Hopefully you can build the garden room of your dreams soon!