Planning Permission for a conservatory

Whether you need planning permission or not for your conservatory depends on several factors. Any house can have a building extension added (such as a conservatory) subject to the following rules:

• The type of property extending from e.g. detached / semi-detached or terraced house (note that flats have no automatic right to have a conservatory or extension added and planning permission advice should be sort before any work is considered).
• A detached / semi detached house can add up to 70 cubic metres or 15% of the un-extended house volume up to a maximum of 115 cubic metres.
• A terraced property can add up to 50 cubic metres or 10% of the un-extended house volume up to a maximum of 115 cubic metres.

Note: Scotland has slightly different regulations.

Has the house already had some form of building work? If so the size of that extension must be subtracted from the total that is available for your type of property.

Do you live in a conservation area or a listed property? If so then you must seek planning permission before undertaking any conservatory extension.

Some properties have had there automatic planning permission rights for extensions already removed - in which case seek advice before building your conservatory.

If the conservatory is more than 4m high in any place then it cannot come within 2m of your boundary (else it may possibly infringe upon the rights of your neighbours).

The conservatory cannot cover more than 50% of the size of the garden before the conservatory was installed.

In any event it is wise, if you unsure, to please contact your local planning authority who will be able to advise you on the right course of action and avoid any potentially expensive mistakes where you have to dismantle the conservatory.