What are Permitted Development Rights?

Navigating planning permission in the UK can be lengthy: most applications take 8 weeks, and complex ones up to 13 weeks - time that costs both resources and momentum. Permitted Development Rights (PDRs) offer a powerful shortcut, allowing certain types of development without full planning applications, enabling you to act faster and smarter.

What are permitted devlopment rights?

PDRs are legal exemptions embedded within the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (GPDO 2015) that grant automatic permission for specific developments.

Originally introduced in 1948 and updated significantly in 2015, PDRs continue to evolve annually, offering developers an expanding toolkit to accelerate delivery/

Common types of permitted development rights

Householder Works (Schedule 2 Part 1 GPDO): includes rear/side extensions, roof alterations, porches, outbuildings, driveways, chimneys, TV antennas - subject to size and location criteria.

Commercial‑to‑Residential Conversion (Classes O/MA): class MA now allows the change of use from commercial (Use Class E) to residential - no minimum vacancy period and no floor-space cap.

Agricultural Conversions

• Class Q: Barn-to-residential conversions now allow up to ten dwellings and individual units capped at 150 sqm. Rear single-storey extensions up to 4 m are now permitted.
• Class R: Agricultural-to-commercial conversions now permit up to 1000 sqm—double the previous allowance

Restrictions to permitted development

With an easier route for ‘prior approval’ for certain projects, homeowners, landowners and developers have greater freedom. Nonetheless, certain restrictions will still apply, these include:

• Listed buildings
• Conservation Areas
• National Parks
• Areas of outstanding natural beauty
• Article 4 Direction (see below) 

How Article 4 impacts permitted development rights

While Permitted Development rights are in place nationally, LPAs can issue an ‘Article 4’ direction. These are usually restricted to certain areas such as commercial and industrial hubs or conservation areas where the Local Authority wants to preserve the existing character and employment uses of the area. 

When an ‘Article 4’ direction is invoked, planning permission will be needed to carry out work that is usually not needed in other areas. Because these are seldom publicised widely, one needs to do thorough research on whether one exists in your local neighbourhood.

Recent amendments to permitted devlopment

Since 2013, much of the PDR changes deal with the conversion of Office, Retail and Industrial to Residential uses. These changes are part of the government’s attempt to deliver more housing in England. It is estimated that 15,000 additional dwellings have been delivered annually.‍ In 2021 some of the existing PDRs for permanent change of use were changed or updated - 

Part 3 Classes A-F and PDR Class JA replaced with a new right to change from casino, betting office, pay day loan shops, and takeaways to use Class E with no limitations or conditions.

Part 3 Class M partially retained to allow the sui generis uses to continue to benefit from Class M. But in most cases Class M is now superseded by the new Class MA.

Class MA Retail, takeaway or specified sui generis to Residential. Class MA has replaced Class O office to residential and partially replaced Class M retail.

Permitted development rights today

Class MA

As of March 4 2024, floor space rules for Class MA have been scrapped. Prior to this developers could only transform properties of 1500 sqm or less. The government have also ditched the requirement that building sneed to be vacant for 3 months prior to application.

Hotels C1 to residential

Right now, going from C1 (hotels) to residential is a no-go unless you get full planning approval. But, they're thinking about changing the rules. The plan is to let Class C1 hotels transform into residential spaces. This could be a game-changer for developers, but there might be some limits in place in certain areas to protect tourism. That might mean creating new Article 4 rules.

Class Q – change from an agricultural building (barn) to residential

There's been some significant changes to Class Q following a change to the rules on 21 May 2024. You can now build up to ten dwellings with a total space of 1000 sqm with each having a floorspace cap of 150 sqm.

Here's the exciting part -you're now able to create a single-storey rear extensions of up to 4m during conversions.

Class R - agricultural barn to flexible commercial use

Like Class Q policy, Class R has also received a slight update in May 2024. The total floorspace that can be converted has doubled from 500 sqm to 1000 sqm - unlocking new development opportunities for those interested in creating cafes, restaurants, shops, gyms and training facilities on agricultural land.

Want to know how we can help leverage PDRs to find your next big development opportunity? We've got you covered with our intelligent land-sourcing tool! We’d recommend you jump on a demo with our team so they can show you everything Searchland has to offer.