A garden room is an outbuilding that offers additional living space or workspace in a scenic outdoor setting. Easy to install and low maintenance, garden rooms are a fantastic alternative to traditional extensions for modern homeowners who are looking to add functional space to their property.
One of the big benefits of garden rooms is that they often don’t require any planning permission. However, you should always check that your garden room is permitted within your homeowner development rights before going ahead with the installation.
In this article, we’ll outline the planning permission conditions relevant to garden rooms to help you understand whether you’ll need to submit a planning application for your garden room.
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Do you need to apply for planning permission for a garden room?
Most garden rooms don’t need planning permission because they fall within permitted development rights as an ‘outbuilding’. Ancillary buildings—those which support the main house—such as sheds, garages, greenhouses and garden rooms, tend to come under the umbrella of ‘outbuilding’ and can be erected without any planning permission, provided that they adhere to certain limits and conditions that we will outline below.
Our Garden Retreats are designed to cover the needs of 95% of customers in the UK and many people do not require planning permission to install our pods, but it’s recommended you check with a planning officer from your local authority first.
Permitted development rights only apply to houses. Flats and maisonettes do not have planning permission to build garden buildings or other outbuildings.
Planning permission conditions for garden rooms
To be considered a permitted development, any outdoor building must adhere to certain criteria and limits. It must not be more than a single storey, must have a maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres, and must not exceed four metres high overall when it has a dual pitched roof or three metres high with any other type of roof.
The garden room must not be built in front of your home’s principal elevation, which means it cannot be located in front of your house. If your house has been extended, the principal elevation refers to how the original house stood on 1st July 1948. The total area of all outbuildings on your property must not account for more than 50% of the total land around your house, so you must check that your planned garden room will not exceed this limit.
Should you plan to have plumbing installed in your garden room, you may require planning permission. This is because buildings used for activities that would usually be performed in the main home, such as cooking or showering, tend not to fall under permitted development. Bear in mind that plumbing your garden room could be a complex and costly procedure as you will need a connection to your mains water and an existing drain.
When might I need planning permission for a garden room?
Any listed building must always seek planning permission for any garden room. Homes in designated land, including a conservation area, National Park, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), World Heritage Site and the Broads, may require planning permission depending on the size and location of the garden room.
For a property on this category of land, a garden room located more than 20 metres from your house must not be any larger than 10 square metres. You’ll also need planning permission if the garden room, or any part of it, is set to sit between the side of your house and your property boundary.
Article 4 directions, which are restrictions made by local planning authorities upon particular sites or areas, might mean that your permitted development rights no longer apply. In these instances, planning permission may be required.
Garden room use and planning permission
If your garden room is set to be used as sleeping accommodation or self-contained living accommodation with a bedroom and bathroom, either as permanent living quarters for someone or to be rented out for temporary stays, planning permission will be required. Building Regulations will also need to be adhered to (more on this below).
On the other hand, if you are planning on using your garden room as business premises, you may also require planning permission. This is generally applicable if clients will be meeting or working with you in this space because this could impact the local neighbourhood. If the garden office will be used solely by you as a home office adjacent to your main dwelling, this is classed as ‘incidental’ use and planning permission is not required.
Should you initially use the garden office by yourself and at a later date decide to begin inviting clients to it, you will need to apply for planning consent from your local council retrospectively. If your local authority does not grant the planning permission, you will not be able to have clients use the space.
What do the Building Regulations say about garden rooms?
Garden rooms usually do not require Building Regulations approval provided that:
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The total floor area of the structure is less than 15 square metres
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The building itself is located at least one metre away from the property boundary
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The building does not contain any sleeping accommodation
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The structure is substantially constructed from non-combustible materials
If the garden room does not fall within these criteria, Building Regulations must be adhered to. Building Regulations stipulate that the room must have adequate foundations to transmit its load. The nature of the foundations depends on the size and weight of the building and the ground on which it will be located. Where walls are constructed below ground level, they must be constructed from frost- and sulphate-resistant materials.
If you have additional questions or concerns about planning permission and Building Regulations for your garden room, get in touch with a member of our expert team today.