Planning Permission Explained: When You Need It and When You Don’t

In this episode, we’re talking about planning permission — and how you can use permitted development rights to get the most out of your property projects. I’ll explain what you can do without needing full planning, and highlight the key caveats that can limit those rights.

We’ll also cover the types of projects that always require full planning permission, and the important considerations even when permission isn’t technically needed.

If planning has ever felt confusing or overwhelming, you’re not alone — it is a complex part of property investment. But with nearly 20 years of experience, I’ll help you make sense of it. Once you know the rules, it’s far more manageable, and there are real opportunities to move faster and grow your property business.

So if planning has been holding you back, this episode is for you. 

Topics covered in this episode:

• 03:00 Understanding Permitted Development Rights
• 12:01 Caveats and Restrictions in Permitted Development
• 23:46 Navigating Conservation Areas and Planning Permissions
• 31:11 Understanding Full Planning Permission Requirements
• 39:36 Key Considerations Beyond Planning Permission

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Transcript

Andy Graham (00:02.67)

Hey, I'm Andy and you're listening to the HMO Podcast. Over 10 years ago, I set myself the challenge of building my own property portfolio. And what began as a short-term investment plan soon became a long-term commitment to change the way young people live together. I've now built several successful businesses. I've raised millions of pounds of investment and I've managed thousands of tenants. Join me and some very special guests to discover the tips, tricks and hacks, the ups and the downs, the best practice and everything else you need to know to start, scale and systemise your very own HMO portfolio now.

Andy Graham (00:40.751)

Today we're talking about planning permission and I'm going to help you understand what you can do under permitted development to make the very most out of your projects. I'm also going to highlight the caveats, the circumstances that can often mean you can't take advantage of permitted development rights. I'm also going to talk to you about the types of projects that need without fail full planning every time. And finally, we're going to discuss the things that you need to think about even if planning isn't required.

Look, if planning permission scares you, if you thought that this was a complicated part of the property investment process, then you were absolutely right. But the good news is I'm here to help you. I've been doing this for nearly 20 years. I've done a lot of stuff that we're about to talk about in today's episode. And if you know what you need to know, it doesn't have to be too complicated. In fact, there are some great things that as property investors, if we know we can really take advantage of and that can really help us accelerate the results in our property business. 

So if this stuff seems scary, if it's been putting you off, if it's been confusing you, then today's episode is one you definitely want to stick around for. Please sit back, relax and enjoy today's episode of the HMO Podcast.

Hey guys, it's Andy here. We're going to be getting back to the podcast in just a moment, but before we do, I want to tell you very quickly about the HMO roadmap. Now, if you're serious about replacing your income, or perhaps you've already got a HMO portfolio that you want to scale up, then the HMO roadmap really is your one-stop shop. Inside the roadmap, you'll find a full 60 lesson course delivered by me, teaching you how to find more deals, how to fund more deals and raise private finance, how to refurbish great properties, how to fill them with great tenants that stay for longer, and how to manage your properties and tenants for the future. 

We've also got guest workshops added every single month, we've got new videos added every single week about all sorts of topics, we've got downloadable resources, cheat sheets and swipe files to help you, we've got case studies from guests and community members who are doing incredible projects that you can learn from, and we've also built an application just for you that allows you to appraise and evaluate your deals, stack them side by side and track the key metrics that are most important to you.

Andy Graham (02:46.617)

To find out more, head to theHMOroadmap.co.uk now and come and join our incredible community of HMO property investors.

Andy Graham (03:00.847)

OK, welcome back. So today we are talking about planning permission, one of the most important things about being a property investor. It's so incredibly important to understand what planning permission is, why we need it, when we need it, how to use it to our advantage. And I honestly think that this is one of the most essential things that as property investors we need to master. Whether you're doing single lets, HMOs, big developments, this stuff is absolutely critical. And I found over the years, 20 years of doing this now, that if you do understand this stuff, it can help you build a really powerful rinse and repeat model. It's a great way to add huge amounts of value to a project. And because it is quite complicated, that can often put other people off. And it means that you can often see opportunities in properties that other people can't. And that is incredibly important in business, especially in property business. 

So what I'm going to try and do today is simplify some of the most important planning elements that you and I as HMO investors are typically concerned with. I've seen a lot of questions flying about our community recently, a lot of confusion, and I have a lot of mentees and even with the guys and girls that have been doing this stuff for a long time, it can be quite confusing exactly what can be done. And it's really scary just how complicated this stuff is. The slightest nuance can be the difference of getting planning or not getting planning or making sure that something is under permitted development or kind of missing the mark and it falling under full planning. 

And that can be the sort of thing that can cost you months and tens of thousands of pounds. It can get you in trouble with lenders and investors and neighbors and all sorts of stuff. So knowing this stuff, getting it right, I think should be right at the top of your list of priorities as a property investor. And today I'm going to do my very best to make sure that you know and feel confident with the most important stuff that will help you accelerate the results in your HMO property business. 

So here's how we're going to do this. First of all, we're going to talk through the most important permitted development rights that we can take advantage of. Then we're going to move on to some of the caveats, the times and the circumstances where these PD rights have actually been overridden and you can't take advantage of them. Really frustrating when that's the case, but really important to understand it.

Andy Graham (05:21.113)

Then we're to talk about the stuff that always needs full planning, the sorts of things that you might want to do to projects. But actually, you can't do it under PD. You've got to go through the full hog of full planning. Now, that's not necessarily always a bad thing. It's just important to know that there's a key difference. And we're going to talk about those sorts of projects. And finally, I think there are some things that you need to know, even if planning isn't required. And there are some things coming up, some legislative changes on the horizon currently being discussed in the House of Commons that could significantly improve things from our perspective as investors as well. 

So let's get into today's episode. Let's start with the good stuff, the easy stuff, the permitted development rights and benefits that we can take advantage of. These are the kinds of changes that you can make to a property without requiring full planning. You don't have to go and apply for full planning to the council. As long as your changes, whatever you're planning to do, their permitted development rights. And as long as they haven't been taken away, you can just crack on with these and nobody can really stop you doing it. And that's great because what it means is it can be done very quickly. It means that it's very predictable in terms of the outcome. And often these are really fantastic and incredibly valuable methods of adding value. And remember, as property investors, we always, always, always want to be looking for, in fact, prioritising opportunities to add value. 

Yes, of course, you can add a bit of value through doing refurbishment and improving standards, but it's not enough these days. If you want to be a professional property investor, you need to fundamentally add more value. And these methods are definitely ways of doing that. So first of all, let's just start with internal alterations. I'm sure a lot of you guys listening to today's podcast will know this already, but making internal alterations, knocking through walls, reconfiguring your layouts and your floor plan, optimizing stuff. All of that is permitted. You can just do that. You don't need the permission from the council to make internal alterations to your property. And that's a really important thing to know and understand. It means that you can sort of look at your space and carve it up however you like. And as long as you take a few other boxes, like building control, for example, you can crack on and do that.

Andy Graham (07:42.125)

And that's important to know and it's important to have the confidence in your ability to do that. Sometimes you will need the lender's approval. Sometimes, depending on the type of lending that you've got, you may be restricted. So this isn't to say that there aren't other things that might limit your ability to do this. And that certainly becomes increasingly important when you think about the spectrum of works that could be done. So there are light refurbishments and there are very heavy refurbishments, depending on the type of lending you've got, you could well end up breaching your mortgage terms. 

So be careful about not doing that. But internal alterations, generally speaking, completely permitted. You can just do it from a planning perspective. You can just crack on and do that. The second one, really important one, perhaps the most important one to us as HMO property investors is the permitted development sort of change of use from C3 to C4. So C3 is the planning class for residential housing, a dwelling house. And C4 is the planning class for HMO. 

And that is essentially classed as six or fewer unrelated individuals living in a property together. Now, you can typically speaking, purchase a property or even lease a property as long as it's residential and it benefits from C3 status already, you can make some internal alterations, which you've already established is something that you don't need permission for. And you can change the use class. You can actually then rent the rooms out to unrelated individuals, to a maximum of six people, and that does not need planning permission. 

Now, as I said earlier, we are going to talk about some caveats, so don't get too carried away yet. You will know, I'm sure many of you, one of the big restrictions on this, but generally speaking, across the majority of the country, that remains the case. And I have taken huge advantage of that over the last 20 years. It's becoming increasingly more difficult to do that as there are increasing numbers of restrictions popping up across the country to prevent us being able to do this. But generally speaking, that is absolutely the case of conversions then. You can convert loft into a usable room, habitable space. can add stairs, roof lights, insulation, lighting, whatever you like. You can convert a loft into a bedroom, into circulation space, communal space, whatever you want.

Andy Graham (10:05.623)

And that is a permitted development right. Nobody can stop you. You don't need planning permission to do it. You will of course need the appropriate volume in the roof. You will need the appropriate head height and room. So there are other limitations and building control is certainly one of the big hurdles that you have to get over when it comes to loft conversions. There can be some tricky space restrictions and height restrictions that you have to get around when it comes to lofts, but generally speaking, lofts are permitted and you can do that. 

And I have done loads of these over the years and they've been fantastic ways of adding actual space and adding actual value, pure value add, and significantly enhancing your rental income. Of course, you can get an extra bedroom out of the loft, then you are definitely going to be quids in. Another PD, another permitted development benefit is the ability to add a rear dormer. You can add a rear dormer under PD to about, I think 40 meters cubed for terraces, maybe 50 meters cubed for semis and detached houses. Check those, but you have to stay within the limits and you can't raise the height of the dormer above the sort height of the roof and the ridge. 

But generally speaking, rear dormers again are a permitted development right. And this can be really, really useful because sometimes if you are a little bit limited on functional floor space in a loft because of the eaves, the sloping roofs coming in, which can limit the ability for people to move around in there. That can sometimes actually kill the opportunity of putting a bedroom up into a loft or something like that. Adding a dormer, rear door, gives you that extra head height in an area of that loft space. And sometimes that can be all of the difference. Sometimes it's just additional space on top of what you've already got in the loft. And you can further enhance the size of that space.

So I've done loads of loft conversions with rear dormers and I think that's a fantastic combination. I've done that on more than one occasion and actually got two bedrooms out of a loft that was previously being unused. You've got to get obviously a staircase and a bit of circulation space to get into doors and things like that, but a fantastic way of adding floor space and adding value. Number five, another fantastic permitted development right is the ability to convert an internal garage or an attached garage if you like.

Andy Graham (12:29.561)

Converting an integrated garage into a bedroom or an office, it's all under PD. So as long as you're not enlarging the building, it kind of is as simple as that. Again, there are some caveats to this and I am going to come onto a number of caveats. So don't get carried away with any of this stuff just yet. But generally speaking, garage conversion is another fantastic way of adding pure value and doing that through the addition of new floor space. 

Number six. Single story rear extensions. This one's really popular. And yes, you can go out to about three meters, I think on a terrace, maybe four meters on a detached. I think you can even go to six or eight meters in certain circumstances with prior approval. That's where you sort of notify the council that you're going to do it. And it's still sort of a permitted development benefit, right? But you have to notify the council and you typically have to wait for that prior approval period to expire before you can start your work. 

Look, I'm not a planning specialist, so make sure you read the details of all this stuff first. But generally speaking, those are sort of the permitted development rights for single story rear extensions. Again, another really powerful way of adding space and adding pure value to the price of a property. I've done it so many times to really, really good effect. Sometimes adding bedrooms at the rear, sometimes pushing kitchens and living quarters to the back of the house, really opening a space up.

There are so many circumstances where this can be really, really great for you as a HMO property investor, just adding all of that space and it gives you lots more functionality. Just be careful because there are certain limitations to what exactly constitutes a single story rear extension. I think the maximum height is to be four meters from the ground and it can't cover more than 50 % of the garden. I think it needs to stay within a couple of meters from the boundary. So there are various limitations to that. So you need to be careful if you're building on a slope or you've got a small rear garden, if you like. Make sure you check that sort of detail. But generally speaking, single story rear extensions are again, a permitted development. Right. Side extensions, single story. Side extensions are also permitted to a maximum height of four meters, no more than I think half the width of the original house. Maybe even less than that. And again,

Andy Graham (14:47.043)

proximity to boundaries and Kertley's rules do apply. Now, I think that it's harder to get functional space out of side extensions as opposed to rear extensions because you've got that full width of typically speaking from left to right houses provide greater opportunity than front to back. So side extensions I find on a pound per square foot basis in terms of pure bang for buck don't quite yield as much as rear extensions, but sometimes they do make a lot of sense to do as well. 

Number eight, basements. Basements are permitted development, converting basements. Now you can dig out or repurpose an existing basement space as long as there's no visible external changes. Things like adding light wells and digging under the garden, you know, stuff like that. That's not the same as just converting or adding a basement. You're definitely into a different planning territory there. But generally speaking, if you've got an old, stinky, wet, damp basement, that's the sort of thing that you can convert under permitted development. And again, I've done a few of these. I'm not a huge fan of basements because basements tend to be a bit dark and a bit dingy, and it can be hard to get that head height that you need. It's also more expensive because you've got the additional tanking that you need to do to waterproof them. 

Number nine, outbuildings. Again, another really fantastic permitted development right now. There's some real nuance to this. So garden rooms, sheds, studios all those sorts of things as long as they're single-story and there are some height and size limitations and as long as they're not used for sleeping They can be done under permitted development now what I've done on more than one occasion And this is one of those things that sits in that gray area is I've converted garages that are not attached so detached garages Which technically you could consider as an outbuilding but a detached garage I converted that into sleeping quarters into a bedroom and

As long as the use of that space is incidental to the rest of the house, it's basically the same. You've got people living and sharing facilities in the house and the garage is sort of an extension to that. And a detached garage is an extension to that use. It's ancillary, if you like, then that can be permitted as well. Now you are sort of roaming into the more specialist territory of permitted development rights there and not the sort of thing that you would

Andy Graham (17:07.961)

probably want to do without the right advice because in my experience, even the council often don't know their own policies on this sort of stuff. But you can convert detached garages into bedroom spaces, but building outbuildings, garden roof shed studios, again, as long as they fit within certain height and size limits, then you can create those sorts of spaces as well. And finally, number 10, porches. Porches up to about three meters squared, under three meters higher, I think within a couple of meters of the road, all fine to do on the PD. 

Again, check that detail. It might be a little bit different to what I'm quoting you here, but actually that can be quite important. Porches are pretty cheap and pretty easy to do. They can really improve the aesthetic of a property if you do it right. They can provide a bit of functional storage space for shoes, umbrellas, coats, collection of mail, that sort of thing. And sometimes it can actually just help you provide the space behind the front wall.

It can help you make that space a bit more versatile. Sometimes it can allow you to give a bit more to, for example, a bedroom or something like that by allowing you to be a bit more flexible with where certain doors are. So I've done that on a number of occasions as well. So there we go. They are really the 10 most important permitted development rights that I would say you need to be aware of. And you can combine all of this stuff. The great thing is you can do any number of them simultaneously. And as long as you staying within the policy, you can add tons of space and tons of value by doing this sort of thing. 

And like I said earlier on today, because it's a bit complicated means that often a lot of people aren't really seeing these sorts of opportunities with properties. If you've got that eye, if you understand and feel confident with this sort of stuff, you can look at a property and you can very quickly see not just what it is now, but what it could be, the potential that it has if you can add and convert all of these spaces. And that for me, it's one of the best things about property. 

Now, let's not get too carried away just yet, because there are quite a few restrictions or caveats, if you like, to when we can actually take advantage of the permitted development rights. So what I'm going to do now is share sort of the four most important ones that you need to be thinking about. A lot of people, in all honesty, slip up on this stuff. They ignore the nuance. They don't understand or realize that it exists and they get some way down the road of

Andy Graham (19:33.049)

creating schemes, designing certain things, maybe even starting the work. And then they get a knock on the door, planning enforcement. Stuff can get pretty serious pretty quickly if you get this wrong. So the first big caveat to a lot of this stuff is that if you change the external appearance of something, for example, an attached garage that you might want to convert, you're to internally reconfigure it and make it a bedroom. If you change the external appearance of that, for example, you turn a garage door or you want to change the garage door into a wall build up with a window above to bring it in keeping with the rest of the property's frontage, that would typically speaking be seen as a material change to the principal elevation and that would generally mean it requires a full planning application. 

Now, whilst it does mean that you have to go through the effort and hassle of submitting a planning application, typically speaking, it's not the sort of planning application that is scrutinized like all the types of applications often are. Usually it will be a case of making sure that that type of change would be in keeping with the rest of the street. So a good planning consultant will almost always be able to tell you whether or not that is likely to be an issue. And if it's not likely to be an issue, you can quite confidently develop the plan to do this type of configuration.

And you can build that into your project, your scheme, if you like. If it was contentious, if you're posing to do something a little bit out there with that front elevation, that change in the external design, you would need to be much more careful. So for example, if you wanted to make a floor-to-ceiling glass frontage and none of the houses on the street had anything like that, that could be a little bit different. So just be aware that changing the external appearance of something like an attached garage or let's say a basement. 

If you want to add a light well or a window to a basement, that would typically speaking require planning permission. It doesn't mean that you wouldn't get it. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily unlikely that you would get it, but it means that you just don't have the right to do it without seeking that permission first. And it's incredibly important that you do that. Not only could you get in trouble with the council, but actually if you do something like that,

Andy Graham (21:56.105)

and you come to get lending on it or refinance it, it's very likely that the valuer and then the bank will ask for that planning permission because what you've done falls under full planning. And if you haven't got it, they won't lend on it. And then you are in a very sticky place where you've got to retrospectively go back to planning to get a certificate of lawfulness. And that's not really the way to do it. Get it first before you undertake something like that. 

The second big caveat is conservation areas. And then as an extension of that, national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty. When you're within one of those designated areas, your PD rights are almost always automatically restricted and limited, usually just removed in many cases. That can mean dormers are out. It can mean changing materials on your property. That's out. It can mean that outbuildings and things like that.

You're not able to add them. It can actually be really, really restrictive. Sometimes you can't change the windows on your house without first seeking permission. Sometimes you can't chop a tree back or cut something back. Even if it's not TPO'd, even if it's not a tree protection order on the tree, sometimes you can't do those sorts of things. So there can be quite a few limitations and restrictions to that sort of thing. 

Conservation areas. I mean, I'd be really surprised if any of you guys listening are doing HMOs in national parks and areas of outstanding national beauty. Although I bet some of you are, and if you are, I would actually love to see it, hear more about that. But generally speaking, conservation areas are the ones that are going to pop up. And I'm sure many of you listening today are aware of areas that you perhaps invest in that are designated conservation areas. I've bought and done many things and different types of projects in conservation areas. So again, it doesn't mean that you're not going to get permission to make these sorts of changes, maybe add a rear dormer, but it does add a layer of complexity. It does add additional risk and scrutiny to your project. And I'll be honest, sometimes depending on the local council and exactly why there is a conservation order, it can be more difficult sometimes than it is in other circumstances. So it's just something that you need to be aware of. The good news is once you've done this in the conservation area,

Andy Graham (24:16.203)

Once you get a feel for what's allowed and what's not and what they want and what they don't, it becomes easier and easier to do it on repeat. So it can always feel a little bit daunting approaching this sort of thing for the first time, but it does get a bit easier. The third big caveat then, the biggie, the one that we all know about, is an Article 4 direction. 

Now, an Article 4 direction is quite literally permission that is granted by the Secretary of State for a local council to remove certain permitted development rights for a particular reason. And the council will usually have to justify that reason so that the Secretary of State can approve it. Now, the one that we're always concerned about as property investors, as HMO investors, is the removal of the permitted development right to convert a dwelling house, C3 to HMO C4. Where that is the case, you cannot just make a HMO out of a house without going through the process of getting full planning. And we're seeing this more and more across the country. It's not new, it's existed in many cities up and down the country for many, many years. 

So well over 20 years old now. But what we're seeing is that certainly as the anti-student sentiment has grown, but actually more so as the general anti-landlord and anti-HMO sentiment has grown, usually fueled by local communities who perhaps don't necessarily understand what a lot of people like us in the investment sector are actually doing and the type of quality of accommodation that they're producing, the types of tenants that they house, they do get a little bit irate about it. They put a lot of pressure on the council and the council steps in and says, right, okay, we're going to limit the number of houses being converted into HMOs. Now there are actually pros and cons to this and today's not the episode to talk about that.

However, what you need to know and understand is that Article 4 directions do completely remove that permitted development right. It doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get a conversion permitted, but it does mean that you're going to have to go through the rigmarole of getting full planning. Now, depending on where you're proposing to convert a house into a HMO will determine how easy or difficult it may be. And even on a micro level, right down to the property,

Andy Graham (26:42.603)

on the street, that can determine whether or not it will be approved. And without going into too much detail, things like the number of HMOs within a certain proximity of the house that you're proposing to convert into HMO, that's typically one of the really key driving sort of criteria to make that decision on from the council's perspective. Usually if there are over 10 or 20% of HMOs within a certain proximity of the property you're applying to change, they will often say no. 

Equally, sometimes when it's an incredibly dense area of HMOs, for example, on the sorts of streets where students live and almost every other house is HMO, sometimes where the density is incredibly high, there is an upper threshold levied as well. So that if it's over 70 or 80%, sometimes the council will just say, okay, one more isn't going to really materially change things here. So that we're going to allow. Anything else that falls in the middle can often be, in my experience at least, very, very difficult, if not impossible, to get the council to approve. 

The other challenge with this is it is quite contentious, especially with local residents. It's not uncommon to see applications attract hundreds of objections from community members. And that's really not an ideal place to be in. And again, it doesn't mean that you won't get a planning application approved ultimately, but it can make for quite a bumpy ride. 

It can cost quite a bit to get there. It can take a certain amount of time. It could be ultimately approved and sort of recommended by planning because technically it ticks all the boxes, but sometimes you then go to committee and the lay committee say they don't want it and then it gets referred on to an appeal and that can take the best part of a year. So you need to be aware that this is not the sort of thing that you want to be too bullish with, you need to really and very carefully weigh up the pros and the cons and the likelihood. And often if you are applying for the change of use in an article four direction, well, my advice at least would be to get a really good and very experienced planning consultant on board to walk you through this process. It really is an area of specialty. And if you want to make sure that you stand the best chance of getting something through,

Andy Graham (28:53.142)

You need to make sure that technically, you are absolutely sound on your application. Unfortunately, it doesn't really matter how nice your accommodation is or the types of tenants you have. It really boils down to the technicalities, the amenities, the density thresholds, you know, all of that jazz. It's really critical to get that stuff right. So that's the third biggie, the big caveat and restrictions to permitted development rights, Article Four directions. And by the way, an Article Four direction excludes or suppresses the ability to convert a house to HMO is only one example of an Article 4 direction. There can be many different types of Article 4 directions that restrict other things as well, but this is generally the one that we're concerned with. 

Finally, number four, one of the other big caveats to a permitted development right could be planning conditions that have already been asserted on a property. So for example, if you buy a property that has got a garage, that was added after the property was built, it's quite possible that that then excludes that particular property and that garage from being converted under permitted development. Sometimes certain developments, new developments, they have conditions attached, their original planning approval is stripped away, permitted development rights all together. Often you'll see that with garages and conversions or sort of rear extensions because a local authority might want to limit overdevelopment on something like a housing estate and they don't want to set a precedent of removing lots of parking and then, I mean, know nobody really parks in garages anymore, but the council still think people do. 

And so anyway, they don't want people parking on the roads and so on and so forth. So you need to be aware that there can be planning conditions already applied to a property that would prevent you from being able to take advantage of a permitted development right. So that's something really, really important to understand. So there we are. They are the four big caveats, the four big restrictions really to permitted development rights that you do really and absolutely need to understand. Look, I think conservation areas, national parks, of national, outstanding natural beauty, Article four directions and planning conditions, I think that they're a bit more obvious, but the changes to the external appearance, I think that a lot of people don't quite understand how sensitive the planning guidelines are around that. You want to add a window in, you want to add a different door in, a mover door.

Andy Graham (31:11.53)

It can really scupper things. So make sure you do check this stuff out. Now let's simplify things again. Let's talk about when we do need planning permission, full planning permission. And there's absolutely no question about that. I'm going to share six different examples here. These are the ones that most commonly I find our community members are typically talking about, thinking about doing to a property. So the first one is making a large HMO. A large HMO technically is defined as seven or more occupants. And that's when the planning class changes from C4, which is a small HMO, six or under, to sui generis, seven or more occupants. That always needs full planning. Now sui generis is a bit of a weird planning class. It sort of is capture many things, so it doesn't just relate to HMOs. But generally speaking, if you want seven or more occupants or seven or more bedrooms, at least you are going to need sui and that needs full planning. So you're to have to go through the full planning process if you want to convert a house to that. Just a quick side note on this. I've talked about this on the podcast before. If you want to convert an existing HMO, so let's say C4 into a sui generis, so you want to add one extra bedroom, that is generally speaking considered a non-material change of use. You are quite literally just adding one bedroom or one person to an already existing HMO. 

So it's not considered to materially change the use or the stress on the house or the local community. If however, you're going from a house, a normal dwelling house, C3, straight to sui generis, that full planning application, that can often be perceived quite differently. So where possible, my advice is always, and this is from experience, to first of all, take advantage of a permit development right if it exists. So go from C3 to C4, get a property set up and running as a six bed and then you can create that space, that loft, that garage conversion if you like during that refurb process, but don't inhabit it as a seven. Once you've got it up and running as a six bed, then apply for that six to seven through full planning. Usually there's a lot more leniency and technically it's much easier to overcome certain challenges, but it is also much easier for a planning authority or a local authority to reject just going straight from C3.

Andy Graham (33:36.45)

to sui generis because it is quite a significant and much more material change of use. So that was a little side note for you. Number two then, another sort of absolute full planning requirement is if you want to raise the roof or lift the ridge height of a property. Often when you look at attic conversion, loft conversions, sometimes there can be a restriction on that floor height. It's not ideal to drop the floor. It's quite involved dropping the floor under the entire attic.

It's quite messy work as well and it can get quite expensive. Sometimes the alternative that you might look at is lifting the roof up. It can actually be cheaper in some circumstances. Really what you're doing is taking the roof off, raising the property up another couple of courses or however many you need and then putting the roof back on. That does need full planning. I've done it before. It's actually not that difficult to do, but does need full planning. Sometimes it's the only way to get what you need. But once you're lifting the ridge height of something, you enter all sorts of things, including rights of light. And if you might impact or change the light that your neighbour currently benefits from by lifting the ridge height, then that's something that is going to get you into a bit of bother. And it could certainly be why, certainly be grounds for a refusal. Two-story side extensions. So going up full height at the side of a property. Single-story side extensions, as we've established, I find, can be done under PD, but going up two stories, that isn't, you need full planning permission to do this. 

Now, I would say that these sorts of extensions are probably not going to be your go-to. They're quite expensive because you need full planning. It can be much more involved. If you're not buying something on a huge plot, you're likely to be pretty close to your neighbors. If you want to build up to the boundary, you're definitely going to start getting into the territory of rights of light. That's going to upset your neighbors. It's definitely going to be something of the sort of thing that planning officer has to look very, very closely of. They might want light studies and impact assessments and all sorts of things. So I wouldn't jump to this if you can do lofts and rear extensions and side extensions as an alternative. I would always suggest doing this. It's not to say that two story side extensions can't be an incredibly useful way of adding value and space, but they are just much more difficult in my experience. And in terms of just bang for your buck.

Andy Graham (35:54.114)

I don't think you get as much out of side extension, full height side extension as you do ground floor stuff. Number four then, wrap around extensions. So side extensions can be done under PD, rear extensions can be done under PD, but quite frustratingly, connecting the two then falls under full planning. I'm not even sure what the logic behind this is, but that is the case anyway. 

Again, you've got to stay within certain size and height restrictions and proportion of the curtilage and things like that. Unfortunately, you can't currently do it. I've got a bit of hopefully good news at the end of today's episode and have mentioned this on the podcast before, which I'll come back to. But at the minute, you want to do a wraparound extension. Well, you are going to need full planning. I think this stuff is less contentious anyway. There's very few occasions where you're not likely to get that approved in my experience. One thing you do need to be mindful of, though, is just from a structural perspective, doing a side extension, doing a rear extension. 

Yes, the structure is different involved, but when you do a full wraparound extension, if you want to take that corner of a property out that you're building around, structurally, you've got to be very, very careful. So it can be much more involved. But wraparound extensions, unfortunately, it's not PD, it's full planning. And while it can be an incredible space to create, you really have to think about whether or not it's going to be worth your while going through the full planning process to do that.

Number five, altering windows on the front elevation. So if you want to just punch new windows in because you want to reformat the internal floor plan. So let's say you've got a really big room with one big window, but you want to turn that room into two bedrooms because the space allows it, but you need to add a new window. That unfortunately is going to need full planning permissions. Not really any circumstance where that's going to be anything different.

There's not much more to say on that one, unfortunately. It really just is what it is, but be aware that altering windows on the front elevation, that is going to need full planning. actually, because of the rhythm that we typically build housing or have built housing here in the UK, if you disrupt that rhythm to how the windows are on the next house, on the next house, on the next house, if yours is different and interrupts that pattern, that's almost always going to get refused. So this is not really something that you want to be doing.

Andy Graham (38:15.362)

You need very good architect and very good planning if you are going to do that sort of thing. And finally, converting a house into flats. There are some circumstances now where you can convert a house into a couple of flats, but generally speaking, you can convert a house into a number of flats. You are just going to need full planning because of the number of changes that are going to be required to do it. I only say this because I see a number of people looking at or four HMO properties, maybe not finding the economics are quite good enough, recognize that it could make two flats and a number of flats and the economics would be good, but actually not realizing that then that would be kind of a whole different ball game altogether when it comes to planning permission. And also it's a lot more evolved from a building regulations perspective. So probably not one that you want to just wander blindly into, but those are the six biggies. 

So creating large HMOs, sui generis, always needs full planning, raising the roof and lifting the ridge. That's going to need full planning. Two-story side extensions are going to need full planning. Wrap-around extensions currently needs full planning. Altering the windows and front elevation going to need full planning and converting a house into flats. In most circumstances is going to need full planning, but there are one or two circumstances where you can convert something into a couple of flats. 

So there we are. Those are the very black and white scenarios where you're definitely going to need full planning permission. Now I said when we kicked off today, there were a few other things that you still need to think about irrespective of planning. The first big, and I've mentioned this a few times today, is building regulations. It really is a big one guys. Almost all of the stuff that we talked about today will need building regulations and sign-offs. So from garage conversions to lofts and adding stairs, insulation, drainage, structural work, it all needs a building control sign-off. Just adding bathrooms does as well. Not many people know this. The more work you're doing, the more involved building control can be or may need to be. It is a tick box exercise, but it's important to make sure that you understand what is going to be required from a building control perspective before you start any works. There's often different ways of achieving compliance, but that can come at different costs. And sometimes without knowing, you might actually end up losing a lot of a space that you thought you had. So for example, converting a garage,

Andy Graham (40:29.224)

You have to insulate the floor. You have to insulate the walls. And sometimes that can really change the size of a space and you need to understand that before you do it. There are different ways of achieving that compliance, like I said, but sometimes it can cost more to do it in a different way. The HMO licensing. Licensing is a tick box exercise, totally separate to planning. So please don't confuse anything about licensing with anything we've talked about today. 

However, if you're carving up spaces, you know, making changes, you do need to understand that there are still minimum requirements to get a HMO license. So don't go through the hassle of getting planning on something and doing loads of changes to then find that you are not going to be able to get a HMO license. A really simple example is you might not provide enough communal space in a property relative to the size of the bedrooms that you've created.

Perhaps you don't create enough work or enough work top space in a HMO. Perhaps you don't have enough sinks and bathrooms ratio to the number of bedrooms. Little things like that can be really, really quite problematic. So just make sure that you've looked at this stuff before you undertake any works. Another biggie, this is something that a lot of people do miss, are covenants and legal restrictions that can be placed on the deeds of a title. Covenants stay with the property, not with the owner. So if, for example, when a property was built, there was a covenant restricting the conversion of an integrated garage to a habitable space. That covenant remains with whomever put it there in the first place, typically the developer. 

Now over time, what will often happen is work will be done and then nobody will raise an issue with it. And if you come to buy that property, you'll probably get an indemnity policy against it. If you're the first person that's proposing to make this change and you're aware of a covenant, ideally, you would go and seek the approval of whomever put the covenant there in the first place, assuming they're still in business. If you didn't, you might be able to get an indemnity policy against it, but it's a bit riskier, I would say. I've bought all sorts of stuff with all sorts of covenants in place. I've seen many, many properties from community members that have come with covenants restricting the use of the property. And in some way, the wording restricts the ability to use it as a house share.

Andy Graham (42:50.082)

This is something that you really need to speak to your solicitors about in almost all the changes in my experience, at least it can be overcome, but just be aware that this sort of thing exists. And if you ignore it and think no one will raise a question, if you buy a property and they make some changes to it, turn it into a HMO and there's a covenant that is then questionable, when you come to refinance it or sell it or do something in the future, this could very well come back to bite you. So please don't bury your head in the sand with this stuff. Deal with this head on if you are buying a property and you're aware of it.

Make sure you fully address the plans that you have for the property and any covenants that could potentially clash with that. Finally, the other big thing that you need to be aware of is your lenders. Some lenders will be quite limiting in the work that they are going to allow you to do on a property whilst they have security against it. Some will want to see certificate of lawful use. For example, if you've turned something to a HMO, even if you don't technically need a certificate to do it.

Sometimes lenders can be a bit picky. Again, if you've got a good broker, a good team on your side, usually you can communicate the message back and get lenders to sort of get back in their box. I've had to do this on so many occasions because I've got a lot of HMOs that have been HMOs for years and then an Article 4 direction has since come in. And now when I go to refinance it, lenders think I need a certificate of planning and I have to point out, no, I don't. Article came in on this date. I've been running it as a HMO since this date. Here's the tenancy agreements.

But it can be a bit of back and forth. It can actually be easy just to go and get a certificate of lawful use, but on principle, I almost don't want to do it because I don't have to do it. So there we are. Those are the things that I think you guys really need to think about alongside or irrespective of the type of planning that you might be sort of up against, whether it's permitted, whether it's full planning. Those are the things building regs, HMO licensing, covenants and legal restrictions, and any attitude that your lender might have towards anything.

There we go guys, hopefully that has really cut through a lot of the confusion that does exist when it comes to planning permission. One thing just to be aware of is that there has been a bill, sort of the permitted development rights extension bill, and it's been drawn up and it's currently being debated in the House of Lords. If it passes, there's a few things that would be really kind of quite beneficial to us. One is wraparound extensions, that's been proposed as allowing that to be a permitted development right. Increases to the roof highs.

Andy Graham (45:13.822)

Even adding floors to bungalows and all of this stuff could potentially fall under PD. It's not law yet, but it is something to watch. I think it's very, very likely that this stuff will actually be approved because of the big push on creating more space, creating more homes now. Labour seem to be really trying to drive this sort of thing around planning. And this is a real easy win. But for now, everything that we've covered in today reflects the rules as they currently stand. Now, I'm not an expert.

That's my caveat today. Please, please, please engage specialists when you're doing this. Our architects at the HMO roadmap, Andrew and Mary, they are fantastic when it comes to this sort of stuff and helping you design the right schemes around this stuff. I have a planning consultant that I can recommend and I certainly do for my mentees when they need help with complicated or potentially contentious change of use scenarios. And look my key takeaway today, just don't assume. Planning is messy, but it's not impossible. Getting the right information upfront is miles easier than trying to fix a problem later on down the line with this stuff. 

I hope today's episode has helped you. hope that it's given you the confidence that you need to tackle your projects and add space and add value. Like I said earlier, this stuff is so important and it's a fantastic way, probably the single greatest way of accelerating the progress and results in your residential property development business and investment business.

It's really important not to be scared of this stuff. It's actually really important to be taking advantage of this stuff. And once you've done it and you've got a bit of a template and you've done it in the same location and you know what's allowed and what's not and how your local authority behave, it just gets easier and easier and easier. If you've got any more questions about anything that I've discussed today, come over to the HMO Community. That's our free group over on Facebook. Well over 10,000 members now. And it's the exact place you want to be to ask questions about this sort of stuff, because there's so many people investing in so many places across the country with so much experience. We're all there and on hand to offer our help and guidance and support. 

Of course, if you're serious about levelling things up, head over to theHMOroadmap.co.uk for less than the price of a cup of coffee. Every single day you can take advantage of everything we have got inside the HMO roadmap. It will completely blow your mind. It will save you tens of thousands of pounds. It will save you countless hours. It'll simplify the complicated

Andy Graham (47:36.506)

And it'll help speed everything up. If it existed when I was just getting started, I've said it so many times before, but I've, I'd have achieved 10 times the amount in a 10th of the time. An absolute no brainer for anybody who really does want to build a successful HMO property business. So go and check that out. That's theHMOroadmap.co.uk. That's it guys. Thank you again for tuning in and don't forget that I'll be right back here in the very same place next week. So please join me then for another installment of the HMO podcast.