planningtoolkit

Do I need planning permission for a garden room?

Usually not. A garden room, shed, summer house or garden office is permitted development if it's single storey, not in front of the house, no taller than 2.5 m within 2 m of a boundary (up to 4 m further away with a dual-pitched roof, 3 m otherwise), covers no more than half the garden, and isn't lived in. Put in your design to test each outbuilding rule, for houses in England.

Example

1. Where is the house? (optional)

Conservation areas, National Parks and listed buildings change these rules. We check what's published for your postcode.

Your postcode stays in your browser. We only fetch the data for its first half (for example "SW1A").

2. Your garden room or outbuilding

Garden area: roughly all the land around the house, including land under extensions and outbuildings, but not the house as first built. The garden room must be within the house's garden (its curtilage), not a separate plot or paddock. Feet work too, for example 8ft.

This is an example design: change the figures to yours.

This design needs planning permission

Lower it to 2.5 m, or move it more than 2 m from every boundary (then the limit is 4 m).

Your options: change the design, or apply to your council for planning permission. This is guidance, not legal advice. For certainty, apply to your council for a Lawful Development Certificate.

within 2 mmax 2.5 mmax 4 m (dual-pitched)Boundaryeaves max 2.5 m2.8 m2.3 m1.2 m
within 2 mmax 2.5 mmax 4 mBoundaryeaves max 2.5 m2.8 m2.3 m1.2 m
Side view, drawn to scale from your figures. Dashed orange lines are the legal limits; the bold one applies here. Anything hatched red is over it.
max 50% of the gardenalready built 8 m²this one 12 m² · total 16.7%
max 50% of the gardenalready built 8 m²this one 12 m² · total 16.7%
How much of the garden is built on: buildings other than the original house, against the limit.

How your design measures up

  • Fits
    Not in front of the house
    Behind the house is allowed.
    Source:
  • Fits
    Single storey only
    One floor, no upstairs or mezzanine.
    Source:
  • Too much
    Height within 2 m of a boundary: max 2.5 m
    Yours: 2.8 m. Limit: 2.5 m. 0.3 m over.
    Source:
  • Fits
    Eaves height: max 2.5 m
    Yours: 2.3 m. Limit: 2.5 m.
    Source:
  • Fits
    Covers no more than 50% of the garden
    This building 12 m² plus 8 m² already built = 16.7% of 120 m².
    Source:
  • Fits
    Used for something "incidental" to the house
    A home office, gym, studio, hobby room or storage for the household counts. Running a business that brings in customers or staff may not.
    Source:
  • Fits
    No veranda, balcony or raised platform
    None planned.
    Source:
  • No effect
    More than 20 m from the house
    You said it's within 20 m of the house, so the extra limit for protected landscapes doesn't apply.
    Source:
  • Fits
    Not in the grounds of a listed building
    You said the house isn't listed.
    Source:
  • Fits
    The house wasn't created under permitted development
    You said it wasn't converted or built under permitted development.
    Source: ,
  • Check
    No Article 4 direction removes these rights
    Enter your postcode above and we'll check what your council has published.
    Source:
  • Check
    No planning condition removes these rights
    Was your house built in the last 30 years, or on an estate? A planning condition may have removed these rights. Check the council's planning register.
    Source:
  • Check
    Protected land
    We can't confirm whether you're in a conservation area, National Park, the Broads, a National Landscape or a World Heritage Site. Enter your postcode, or answer the question, to check the rules that change there.
    Source:

Building regulations

Usually exempt

Up to 15 m² with no sleeping accommodation is exempt. Yours is about 12 m².

Even when exempt: if the electricity comes from the house, the electrical safety rules (Part P) still apply, and if the water comes from a supply shared with the house, the cold water supply and hot water safety rules (G1 and parts of G3) still apply. Source:

, ; , .

Floor area is measured inside the walls; we use your outside width × depth, so the real figure is a little smaller. Planning permission and building regulations are separate: passing one doesn't mean you've passed the other.

3. Has a planning condition removed your outbuilding rights?

Many new-build estates remove the right to put up garden buildings, so check this before you order a garden room. Was your house built in the last 30 years, or on an estate? Planning conditions may have removed these rights. When a council grants planning permission for new houses, it can attach a condition that removes some or all permitted development rights, for example extensions, outbuildings or fences. This is common on newer estates. If there is such a condition, the rights in this checker do not apply and you need planning permission. Open data does not record these conditions, so this tool cannot check them for you. The 30 years is a prompt, not a legal cut-off. A condition on a permission of any age still applies.

How to check
  1. Find your council's online planning register (search for the council name and "planning applications search").
  2. Search by your address, your road name or the estate name for the permission that allowed the house to be built. On an estate this is usually the developer's application, which may list many plots.
  3. Open the decision notice and read the conditions. Look for any condition that mentions the General Permitted Development Order, "permitted development", or Part 1 (Class E: outbuildings) of Schedule 2, or that says no outbuildings or other buildings in the garden may be put up without permission. A condition that only removes other rights (for example extensions or fences) doesn't affect this project.
  4. Also check any later permission for your house, such as an earlier extension. Its conditions can remove rights too.
  5. If the permission is old and not online, ask the council's planning department, or look at the local authority search in your purchase documents.
  6. If you are still unsure, ask the council or apply for a Lawful Development Certificate.
What did you find?

Garden rooms, sheds and outbuildings: your questions

Do I need planning permission for a garden room?

Usually not: most garden rooms, sheds, summer houses and garden offices are permitted development if they stay within the height, position and garden-coverage limits.

It must be single storey, not in front of the house, no taller than 2.5 m within 2 m of a boundary (further away, 4 m with a dual-pitched roof or 3 m with any other roof), with eaves no higher than 2.5 m, and with other buildings covering no more than half the garden. It must be used as part of the home, not lived in. Different rules apply on protected land, and for listed buildings and flats.

What is the 2.5 m rule, and how close to the boundary can I build?

You can build right up to the boundary, but any building within 2 m of it can be no more than 2.5 m high overall, whatever its roof shape.

Move every part more than 2 m away and the limit becomes 4 m for a dual-pitched roof or 3 m for any other roof. Building regulations are separate: a building between 15 m² and 30 m² stays exempt only if it's at least 1 m from the boundary or built substantially of non-combustible material.

What size can a garden room be without planning permission?

There's no maximum floor area: a garden room can be any size as long as it stays within the height limits and, with other outbuildings and extensions, covers no more than 50% of the garden (not counting the original house).

In a National Park, a National Landscape, the Broads or a World Heritage Site, buildings more than 20 m from the house are limited to 10 m² in total. For building regulations, up to 15 m² is exempt, or up to 30 m² if it's at least 1 m from the boundary or mostly non-combustible.

How high can a garden room or shed be, and what is the eaves limit?

Up to 4 m with a dual-pitched roof, 3 m with any other roof, or 2.5 m if any part is within 2 m of a boundary, and the eaves can be no higher than 2.5 m wherever it stands.

The eaves are where the wall meets the roof, so a tall dual-pitched roof must still have low walls. On sloping ground, heights are measured from "the highest part of the surface of the ground adjacent to it", and the official guidance says decking laid on the ground doesn't count as ground.

Can I sleep in a garden room or use it as a granny annexe?

An annexe someone lives in needs planning permission: the outbuilding rights don't cover anything that relates to a dwelling. A bedroom probably does too: the official guidance says incidental use doesn't cover "primary living accommodation such as a bedroom", and councils normally follow it.

Either way you'll need building regulations approval for sleeping accommodation.

Can a garden room have a toilet without planning permission?

Possibly, but it's a judgement for the council. The official guidance says incidental use doesn't cover "primary living accommodation such as a bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen".

A toilet that serves a home office or gym is more likely to be accepted than a shower room or kitchen that would let someone live there. A Lawful Development Certificate settles it before you build.

The law behind the outbuilding rules

How we check our rules

Planning something else?