For those in the UK who are looking to add a summer house to the garden area of their property, there can sometimes be a concern about whether or not planning permission will be required. In several situations, it’s permissible to add one without planning permission, but you need a full understanding of how the regulations work. There are also several rules you need to keep in mind when choosing the exact location in your garden. Planning permission is probably required if any of the following conditions are true.
- Your home is in a specially designated area, like a national park, or conservation area, and you want to add a construction that is larger than 10 cubic meters.
- Your summer house is closer to the road than it is to your home if your garden building will be more than 20 meters away from the road, then this doesn’t apply.
- Your home is a listed building that is especially notable for historical or architectural reasons, and the summer house you want to add is more than 10 cubic meters in size. If you’re not sure if you live in a listed building, you can contact your local authority for an answer.
- You want to use your summer house as a business location. This also applies if you plan to utilize it in conjunction with a business, as a storage building or in some other capacity.
- It is more than 3 meters high—for buildings with ridged roofs, 4 meters is permitted.
- It is large enough to take up more than 50% of the area around your property.
- Your house has lost its permitted development rights for some reason.
- Your property can be classified as a flat, or as a maisonette.
- You plan to place your garden building within 5 meters of your main house.
- Your summer house is more than 50 cubic meters in size.
- It is greater than 10% of the volume of your main home—this generally only applies up to a maximum size for your main house of 115 cubic meters.
- There has been a previous extension added to your house.
- You already have some sort of shed or other outbuilding within 5 meters of your home.
These are all general rules that you should consider before hastily adding a summer house to your garden in one day. There can be some significant variations to the planning regulations in different areas, so if you have any uncertainties, you should contact your local council and/or planning office for clarification.