Garage conversion

[cosmobrown]

If you have changed your internal garage into a "room", did you need planning permission?

[samsam123]

think it would need Building Regs - why not ring up your local planning authority and ask

[doris2015]

I want to know about it.
How much to make internal garage into a "room"?

My garage is just a wall to my garage . It needs to make a new door to access it. I think I also need to install radiator.

Thanks!

[TheUnwillingNarcheska]

Definitely need building regs may need planning for "change of use" and they will assess the parking situation even though you probably don't park your car in the garage.

You need to consider access, we put a door through from the hall.

Depending on the house, you may be able to retain storage at the front and keep the garage door or replace the garage door with a window. If you do the latter don't just infill the gap with a massive window. To blend it in match it in size with your existing windows. That is what we did.

Don't underestimate how much junk you will have to store somewhere else if you convert the whole garage. I did the front of mine and retained a 6ft deep space at the back to store everything. Or alternatively think about filling an entire wall with storage cupboards. We have a shed for lawn mower etc.

Over-do insulation, don't just do it to building regs standard go above that. I did a double garage 5 years ago, 2 radiators, two new windows and a hell of a lot of flooring. Had a wall built across the entire double garage for the storage bit and a fire door to access the storage bit from the house. Moved alarm cables, sockets, moved a soil pipe, relocated a loft hatch, etc Everything in was about £11k but it did include a few extra bits.

If your garage is completely integral then it will be double skinned (inside and outside wall of bricks meaning it has a cavity wall) if it is to the side or semi integral then you will have to seriously insulate the exterior wall.

[Seeline]

Planning permission may be required if the house itself is relatively new, or the garage was an extension to the original house, as a condition may have been imposed on either of the previous permissions restricting the use of the area to garage only. Permission will then be required to relax the condition.
Permission may also be required for any external alterations if you are within a Conservation Area.

[suzyrut]

Just in the middle of our garage conversion (into a kitchen knocking through to the original kitchen diner) we did need planning permission because it was relatively new. We also needed building regs because we were moving a load bearing wall. I would think it would depend on whether your pemitted development rights have been removed or there is a specific covenant (as we had) on not changing the use and what kind of conversion you are thinking of/how the garage is connected.

Good luck, ours is starting to take shape and I can see how it's going to be worth it in the end.

[cosmobrown]

Thanks.
A few more details…..
I was asking on here as the council is charging £40 for an "ask if you need planning permission" form. I thought if I could get an overwhelming response either way, then I'd save the money!!!!!

The garage is in an existing extension, and plastered, with electric sockets and lights already installed. (just moved house and found it like this).

Local builder has now confirmed we will just need B.regs. He has quoted £2k to finish the conversion off. - build a wall/window to front, do the floor and bash through into house.

Storage is ok - we also inherited the worlds largest shed in the garden!!!!

Thanks everyone.

[Seeline]

Do not trust the local builder! Has he checked whether the garage needed planning permission, and looked at the document granting that permission to see if there are any relevant conditions there? Or checked the original permission for the house? You should be able to see those at the Council offices - or if they are recent you may be able to access them via the Council web site.

[PurpleWithRed]

Yes but only because it was specified in the original planning consent when the house was built.

£2k sounds quite cheap.

[cosmobrown]

2k does not cover plastering, electrics, lights, side window which are all done already.

Yes, actually I think I'll shell out the £40 to make sure. Dubious now about the huge shed I'm the garden.... Would lack of planning for that have shown up in our searches or survey do you think?

[Seeline]

You can have quite large structures in the garden without requiring permission as long as you are not in a conservation area, or other special areas ( national parks etc), and there are no specific restrictions on the property (unlikely unless it is relatively new).
The search would have shown if pp had been given, and would also have shown if the Council had taken any enforcement action against it, but wouldn't show whether pp was required and not applied for.
There is a basic guide to planning permission here

[worldgonecrazy]

We did this last year. We needed building regs - you can do this cheaper if you get an approved Architect to do it rather than the council inspector. I have no idea how this works - my builder and friendly architect did it. Our costs were roughly (from memory!)

Architect (local so he knew the Council people) - ??400 and worth every penny as it meant everything got passed quickly and the couple of things that were border line were allowed to pass.
Building regs - ??200 ish.
Builder - ??5,000. This was for everything else. We had to insulate the floor to a depth of 6 inches, and the walls also had to be insulated. We weren't able to keep the existing walls as they were because the building regs for a garage and for a "proper" room are very different, so we lost about 10 inches from the external wall due to insulation and replastering. We also added two windows and a side door. I've had to guess this figure as the builder also did some other work involving removing a supporting wall and making good another room.

We didn't have to move our gas/electricity meters, if you have to do that it can add another ??1K to the costs.