Gina

[firsthomebuyerfirstreno]

Hi! I’m currently restoring a 1930s house and we’re also planning a rear garden extension. I’m managing most of the interiors myself with DIY and smaller trade jobs, but the extension itself will need builders.

One thing I’m trying to understand is whether a covered outdoor living space/veranda attached to the rear extension is usually allowed under permitted development, or whether it normally requires planning permission?

I hardly ever see houses here with covered outdoor living areas attached to the house so I’m wondering what people’s experiences have been, especially with 1930s homes.

Would love to hear if anyone has done something similar or navigated planning for it 😊

This site has the info you need: https://pergolasolutions.co.uk/understanding-planning-permission-for-pergolas-and-garden-rooms-in-the-uk/

However, if you already have an extension being built then with the veranda you’re probably going to exceed permitted development. IIRC is three metres for attached houses and four metres for detached houses. I think you’d be hard pushed to get an extension and a veranda within those limits?

@firsthomebuyerfirstreno there was something very similar to your second pic at our last house when we bought it in 2018 - a slightly raised, roofed 3m x 3m seating area that faced onto a walled courtyard garden that in turn opened onto the main garden. It was a lovely place to sit with a book on a wet day, of which we had plenty as it was in Wales!

We actually lowered the ground level (which was raised decking), by removing the timber framework etc and laying flagstones.

On the opposite side of the - detached - house there was an extension to the side elevation. Both that and the roofed 'pergola' were built 20+ years before we purchased the property and there appeared to be no planning permission for either, although when we bought it, the house had been repossessed so there was no TA6/accompanying documentation (but there was nothing online either).

We sold the house in 2024 and no queries were raised about either of the buildings, but I realise now that even if the extension had been built under PD, planning would have probably been required for the roofed 'pergola'. It was, however, completely out of sight of any neighbours and not visible from the street so I guess the person who built it in c1999 just took a punt (not suggesting you should do this, btw!).

Our property was 400 years old, not listed and in a rural location.

That actually sounds lovely especially the sheltered courtyard idea in Welsh weather! And yes, I think a lot of these kinds of covered outdoor spaces probably existed informally long before they became more mainstream in contemporary extension design.

Interesting point as well about visibility. From what I’m learning, it does seem that being tucked away from the street/neighbours can make a big practical difference in how these things are viewed over time, although I’d definitely want to do ours properly through the correct route.

Your setup sounds like it had a really nice indoor–outdoor feel, which is exactly what I’m trying to achieve.

Thanks, that’s helpful. Yes, that’s exactly the part I’ve been trying to understand whether the covered outdoor section ends up being treated as part of the extension footprint/massing once it’s attached with a solid roof. I suspect ours may well need to go through Full Planning rather than relying on PD, especially as the idea is for it to feel architecturally integrated rather than a standalone pergola.

@firsthomebuyerfirstreno I have to be honest, I assumed a pergola wouldn’t need any kind of permission - so I was really surprised to read the guidance!

By the sounds of things you’ll have to go for full planning permission - are you worried about getting it agreed? Or is it just the delay?

I bet the end result will be lovely though.

To be honest, until I started looking into it properly I assumed the same! My original plan was actually just to submit very similar drawings to my neighbours, who did a rear extension a few years ago, as I’m aiming for something along the same lines.

It’s only because I’d really love some kind of covered outdoor patio/veranda area attached to it that things suddenly seem to get more complicated and probably beyond a basic extension drawing package. Sounds like I may need to get a proper architect involved if I go down that route!

Here's a few pics of our 'pergola/covered seating area' including how it sat in relation to the courtyard part of our old garden @firsthomebuyerfirstreno . Our (existing) extension was on the opposite side of the house.