Certificate Guidelines
Do I need to get planning permission for extensions or alterations?
If you were going to build an extension or make other changes to your home you may need planning permission. Generally minor changes such as those listed below do not need planning permission but you should always make absolute certain that you don’t need planning permission before you start building by contacting a registered Architect or Building Surveyor from your area. Your Architect or Building Surveyor can also help with the drawings of your new extension/build and your certification for works completed as per Building Control Regulations 2013 in the form of a compliance certs or certificate of opinion. Either cert is needed for future sales or refinancing. First I will go through the different certifications mentioned before I give you the list for items that generally don’t need planning.
Do I need a Certification of Compliance?
A Certificate of Compliance is required for all new build work and for all alterations additions or extension work to an existing property to ensure that all works have been carried out in accordance with planning permission granted and the building regulations since the introduction of the building control amendment regulations 2013, it is now part of a Statutory process which is managed under BCMS system for all new building work over 40 square metres.
A Certificate of Compliance is provided by an architect surveyor to certify that they have supervised your construction project throughout the build by site visits and that it has been built in compliance with Building and planning regulations. Therefore your assigned certifier should be appointed prior to your building works commencing.
Please feel to contact us if you require more information on the required certifications.
What is a Certificate of Opinion?
A Certificate of Opinion is similar to a Certificate of Compliance, but it does not offer you the same assurances that a certificate of compliance will do, the opinion of compliance is carried out after the completion of the project and it’s generally only based on a visual inspection of the Works.
Please feel to contact us if you require more information on the required certifications.
Other Tips and Guidelines
Generally, you will not need planning permission for the following items but it is always best to contact your local planning office, Architect and Building Surveyor.
- Building an extension to the rear of the house which does not increase the original floor area of the house by more than 40 square metres and is not higher than the house. The extension should not reduce the open space at the back of the house to less than 25 square metres which must be reserved exclusively for the use of the occupants of your house. If your house has been extended before, the floor area of the extension you are now proposing and the floor area of any previous extension (including those for which you previously got planning permission) must not exceed 40 square metres. (There are also other height restrictions.)
Converting a garage attached to the rear or side of the house to domestic use provided it has a floor area of less than 40 square metres. - Building a garage at the back or side of a house so long as it does not extend out in front of the building line of the house and does not exceed 4 metres in height (if it has a tiled/slated pitched roof) or three metres (if it has any other roof type). This building will be exempt from planning permission once the floor area of all additional structures (both new and previously added) is limited to 25 square metres. Garages or sheds to the side of the house must match the finish of the house and may not be lived in, used for commercial purposes or for keeping pigs, poultry, pigeons, ponies or horses. The new garage should not reduce the open space at the back or side of the to less than 25 square metres.
- Building a front porch so long as it does not exceed 2 square metres in area and is more than 2 metres from a public road or footpath. If the porch has a tiled or slated pitched roof, it must not exceed 4 metres in height or 3 metres for any other type of roof.
- Capped walls made of brick, stone or block, wooden fences but not security fences can be erected as long as they do not exceed 1.2 metres in height or two metres at the side or rear.
- Gates may be built provided they do not exceed 2 metres in height. Permission is always required to if you wish to widen or create new access to the public road.
- A central heating system chimney, boiler house or oil storage tank (up to 3,500 litres capacity).
- Car parking spaces, garden paths etc
- A TV aerial on the roof so long as it is less than 6 metres higher than the roof.
- A satellite dish (up to 1 metre in diameter, and no higher than the top of the roof) at the back or side of the house (a dish on the front needs planning permission). Only one dish may be erected on a house.
These are guidelines only; It is important to check with local authority prior to works commencement.