Permitted development rights allow a range of works — many extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings — without a planning application, within strict size and position limits. The rights are narrower than most people assume and can be removed entirely in some areas.
buying
What permitted development lets you do without planning permission
Permitted development rights allow a range of works — many extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings — without a planning application, within strict size and position limits.
- 1 min read
- Updated 21 September 2026
Part 1 of 4
How to do it
- Check first whether the rights exist at all for this property. They are restricted or removed in conservation areas, on listed buildings, on many new-build estates by condition, and anywhere an Article 4 direction applies.
- Check whether the property is a flat or maisonette. Householder permitted development rights generally do not apply to flats at all.
- Measure against the actual limits — height, depth, proportion of garden covered, position relative to the highway. They are precise, and exceeding one of them by a small margin removes the right entirely.
- Consider a lawful development certificate. It is an application to confirm the work is permitted development, and it is the document that proves it to a future buyer's solicitor.
- Remember building regulations are separate. Work can be permitted development and still need building regulation approval.
The expensive mistake is assuming rights exist because a neighbour built something similar. Their property may not share your constraints, or their work may simply never have been challenged — which is not the same as being lawful.
Part 2 of 4
Check it yourself, free
Planning applications near any postcode — no account, no email wall.