If recent economic turmoil has led you to set your heart on improving your current residence rather than moving to a new one, this could seemingly throw up an obstacle in itself: the need for planning permission.
In many scenarios, however, you wouldn’t need to apply and wait for this permission before you can proceed with improving a UK home. You could, for example, opt for one of these projects…
A standard loft conversion
Ideal Home insists that most loft conversions in the UK are classed as ‘permitted development’, meaning that planning permission is not required.
Nonetheless, the site does list various situations where a need for planning permission would actually come into play. As long as you work within these boundaries, you could board your loft with no worries — especially as Instaloft provides a great loft boarding service.
A garden office
In the work-from-home era, garden rooms have developed an obvious relevance — and you don’t strictly need to use a garden room just as a home office, either.
You are unlikely to need planning permission or Building Regulations Approval for a garden room if it is detached from the house, comprises less than half of the garden and is smaller than 15 square metres. Still, you should contact your local council’s planning department for clarification.
Replacing windows
Doing this can enhance your home both aesthetically and in more of a practical sense, such as by improving your property’s energy efficiency and consequently saving you money on energy bills.
You can replace single-glazed windows with double-glazed windows sans planning permission unless your home is listed. You can also replace all of your home’s windows on the condition that the new ones are akin to the old ones in style and provide insulation that is just as good if not better.
Installing solar panels
This is a delightfully eco-friendly move, and one that can be made without planning permission. However, though fixing solar panels to a roof is often deemed permitted development, important exceptions and provisos still apply — so, you should look these up beforehand.
A porch
This can be built without planning permission if the floor will not exceed three square metres and be more than three metres above ground level. Also, no part of the porch should fall within two metres of any of the house’s boundaries or a highway.
Alas, if you intend to bring the property’s front door into the porch, planning permission could indeed be required.
An improved wall, gate or fence
As Homes & Gardens explains, you can alter or repair a wall, gate or fence — or even remove it entirely — without needing planning permission as long as the structure won’t end up higher than it was before the work was undertaken.
Within this limit, improvement and maintenance work can be carried out on the structure with little fuss. However, if you are eager to increase the height of a wall, gate or fence already in place on your land, you will need to secure planning permission beforehand.