Planning and regulations
Guides on planning and regulations for UK homeowners — what to expect, what it should cost, and how to pay for the work safely.
Guides in this section
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings: What Changes
How conservation area status and listing restrict what you can do, what listed building consent covers, and why unauthorised work is a criminal offence.
Do I Need a Party Wall Agreement?
When the Party Wall Act applies, the 3-metre and 6-metre excavation rules, notice periods, and why starting late delays the whole project by weeks.
Do I Need Planning Permission for a Driveway?
The 5 square metre rule for impermeable surfacing, how permeable materials avoid needing permission, what a dropped kerb requires, and drainage options.
Do I Need Planning Permission for a Fence?
The 2-metre and 1-metre height limits for fences, why trellis counts toward the height, what changes in conservation areas, and when you need permission.
Do I Need Planning Permission for a Loft Conversion?
Loft conversions are often permitted development within volume limits, but Building Regulations decide whether the room legally counts as a bedroom.
Do I Need Planning Permission for an Extension?
The permitted development limits for a single-storey rear extension in England, what the prior approval route allows, and the conditions most often breached.
Planning Permission vs Building Regulations
They are two separate systems and most building work needs the second even when it doesn't need the first. Here's the difference and why it matters at sale.
What Building Work Needs Building Control Approval?
Which projects need Building Regulations approval, which can be self-certified by registered installers, and what you should receive at the end.
What Electrical Work Needs Certifying?
Part P explained — which electrical work is notifiable, which isn't, who can self-certify, and what certificate you should receive and then keep.
What Happens If Work Was Done Without Permission?
Discovering unauthorised or uncertified work — what regularisation involves, when indemnity insurance is appropriate, and what it means at sale.
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