All You Need To Know About Officialdom When Converting a Garage…

Officialdom and Garage Conversions

“The minefield”

I’ve just read my way through about 5 websites regarding planning permission and building regulations and the general gist, whether your garage is integral or detached, is as follows.

Building Regulations. Involvement

It is very likely indeed that a building regulations officer (either from the council or a private one) will have to be involved.

Whether you like it or not you will be required to change the garages “energy status” (spending a fortune on insulation), to comply with its intended new use as a habitable area.

You may also be undertaking structural alterations such as putting in an internal door, or walls, or a new foundation, or replacing the garage door with a wall and window, or fitting a WC.

All this is “controllable work”.

Planning Permission

If you don’t change the exterior of the garage or driveway, i.e you leave the old “up and over” door in situ and “mask it off” internally, and don’t increase the size of the garage, you probably won’t need planning permission, unless you live in a listed building!

However, if you put in a new window/door or change the gardens drainage (rainwater run off) or remove a potential car parking space, it’s virtually certain you will need to apply for planning.

Also, if you live on a “one off” estate, the developer may have created a restrictive clause preventing you from changing the external appearance of the property.

Strangely though, these can be circumvented by greasing a palm or two, which calls into question the reason for creating the clause in the first place!

The planning process seems so haphazard and differs between authorities to such an extent that it’s impossible to give an opinion on your conversion from this keypad!

But beware, if you stick your head in the sand and go ahead anyway, they will find out and they might very well order you to undo the whole job!

Now then…….go and have a look at the technical stuff you will have to pay for, as part of your little project!