Do you have a building which was or is used for an industrial use? Perhaps a commercial or small business workshop. Did you know under government planning regulations you could change these buildings to residential? But time is running out as these allowances will end in September 2020 and are unlikely to be renewed.
An often overlooked approach in achieving new dwellings is by utilising the allowances under Class PA of the General Permitted Development Regulations. These regulations allow for a building used for light industrial prior to and in 2014 to change to become a residential dwelling. This means you can either convert suitable buildings or place a new building on the same site.
AssetSphere has been able to use this approach to overcome clients’ difficulties in achieving planning consents on sites . Often clients have been struggling for many years to achieve residential permissions. Clients have found the planning process to be a long, laborious and costly process. However, we have been able to achieve consent through utilising permitted development allowances, often cutting costs and time considerably. One client had tried for 5 years to gain consent with numerous refusals, we utilised the allowances to get consent within 8 weeks.
In addition to Class PA there are a range of other permitted development rights which can be used to achieve change of use on buildings from offices to residential or agricultural barns to residential, shops, hotels and other alternative uses.