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Home » Do I need planning permission for a garden room?

Residential Property
Garden Office
Jul 28th, 2022

At BLB Solicitors, our goal is simple – to deliver you clear, practical legal advice and cost-effective solutions. We hope you enjoy exploring our Blog. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please do contact us.

Do I need planning permission for a garden room?

Contact our team on 01225 755656. Alternatively, you can complete the Contact Form at the foot of this page.

If home or hybrid working has become your ‘new normal’, there’s a good chance you’re looking to escape the spare bedroom, kitchen table, or sofa in favour of a quiet workspace in the garden. Maintaining a clear distinction between your home and work life is good for your sanity, but it will also improve your productivity, allowing you to achieve your goals in less time. And as a bonus, you’ll be able to clear your home of all that work-related clutter.

It’s not surprising then that demand for ‘shoffices’ – sheds doubling as offices – is at an all-time high. But describing many of these sometimes-stunning structures as sheds can seem a travesty. While a few are little more than potting sheds with large windows, a quick search online reveals that shoffice designers really know how to let those creative juices flow. At the top end, you’ll see flashes of Huf Haus, Frank Gehry and Renzo Piano, although Centre Parcs lodge seems more in evidence at the more affordable end.

Do I need planning permission for a shoffice?

So, assuming you have the space and the budget for your Guggenheim Bilbao in miniature, where do you stand in terms of planning permission?

The good news is that most garden rooms do not require either planning permission or building regulations approval. But some do and you should always take advice. Ultimately, whether you require planning permission for your shoffice will depend on several factors, including:

  • its size;
  • where you plan to put it;
  • its intended use; and
  • where you live.

Permitted development

Most garden rooms are classed as outbuildings, which means you’re allowed to build one if you have permitted development rights and certain rules are complied with. You will not have permitted development rights if your home is:

  • a flat, maisonette or house in multiple occupation;
  • in a conservation area;
  • a listed building;
  • a property that has had the permitted development rights removed, perhaps because of the original or subsequent planning permission.

Garden room planning rules

Subject to having permitted development rights, you can build your shoffice subject to certain rules:

  • It must not be built in front of your home. If the property has been extended, then the front refers to how it appeared on 1st July 1948.
  • The total area of all extensions, outbuildings and sheds – including your proposed shoffice – should not cover more than 50% of the total land around the original house, ie as it was first built or stood on 1 July 1948 if it was built before that date.
  • It must be a single-storey structure, with a maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres. Its maximum overall height must not exceed 4 metres for a dual-pitched roof or 3 metres in any other case.
  • If it’s located within 2 metres of the property boundary, the whole building cannot exceed 2.5 metres in height.
  • It must not have a veranda, balcony or raised platform.
  • It must not be capable of being self-contained living accommodation.

More stringent rules apply if you live in a World Heritage Site, a National Park or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Working from home more generally

Working from home raises some possibly unexpected consequences. In particular, we would recommend reading our earlier article focusing on the implications of home working for your mortgage and home insurance.

You will also need to give serious consideration to GDPR and confidentiality issues. Remember, even something as routine as a video conference requires planning to ensure it’s GDPR compliant.

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