Permitted development office to residential made permanent
13.10.15
The Housing and Planning Office have announced today that the temporary rule to allow underused offices to be turned into homes (permitted development office to residential) will be made permanent.
Temporary permitted development rights were first introduced in 2013 and allowed offices to be converted to new homes without having to apply for planning permission. This has allowed almost 4,000 conversions between April 2014 and June this year. These rights were set to expire on 30 May 2016 which caused great uncertainty within the industry. Today the Housing and Planning Minister, Brandon Lewis, announced that these permitted development rights will now be made permanent.
The announcement follows a government consultation last summer seeking to expand permitted office to residential development rights to increase the rate of building new homes. Concerns were raised over the potential loss of commercial space. However, it is now understood that some areas remain exempt from the new rights including the City of London and London’s Central Activities Zone.