Planning Permission to turn garage into a dining room?

[doglover]

I will obviously check with our local Planning Department but wondered if anyone knew if PP is required to turn an integral garage into a home? It would involve removing the existing garage door, bricking up halfway and adding a window. TIA

think it depends but you would need building regulations.

Ok thanks. Sorry to be dense but how are they different?!

You can have br without pp but not the other way round. Planning looks at the scope of the project (ie if adding space to property, overlooks neighbours etc), buildings regs checks the work conforms to safety and quality standards.

Normally you wouldn't need Planning Permission for a garage conversion as it will fall under permitted development. Obviously, you should always check with your local Planning department for confirmation.

It is also a good idea to submit a set of plans to get Certificate of Lawfulness from the council, it means that the council has accept your conversion is a lawful development, all very useful when you sell your house later.

Building Regulations approval is mandatory for any building work, for simple conversion, a good builder will be able to coordinate that for you, if you are knocking structural wall down, make sure you have a Structural Engineer to provide calculation for the Building Control officer.

Good Luck.

You might need PP for the fact you're changing the door to a window.

You def need Building Regs as you have to bring the room up to habitable standard and meet the regs for structural alterations.

You may need a new foundation at the front or a suitable alternative, you will have to upgrade the walls and insulate the floor, walls & roof. You will need the required ventilation & electrical work to be done or checked by a registered electrician.

Love MN!!

"You can have br without pp but not the other way round"

Not quite true, there a certain structures that are exempt from building regs that may require planning. So you can need planning but no building regs, no planning and no building regs, building regs and not planning or building regs and planning!

Gulp! I'll phone the Planning Office if / when we finally move!!

Gulp! I'll phone the Planning Office if / when we finally move!!

Most houses have permitted development rights which cover garage conversions so you only need building regs approval. However, on our estate they removed the permitted rights for garage conversions when the houses were built so we needed to get planning permission. It was no big deal and a formality we were told as long as we still had space to park 2 cars off road which we did. Never used the garage for this as the cars wouldn't fit in anyway.

Our architect did all the form filling for building regs and planning so we did nothing so no stress at all.

Having just finished the conversion, so glad we did it as it looks great and is so much useful than. Garage full of junk.

You also won't have permitted development in a conservation area or if it's a listed building.
Phone planning at your council for guidance.
You will require building regulations as it is likely you will need to upgrade the insulation (floor/walls) as garages aren't usually built to the same standards as houses.

It's a 1970s bungalow on an estate - most of the other properties have done an similar thing so I don't envisage any major issues.

Can I just ask roughly how much you've been quoted for the conversion - or anyone else who's recently had a garage conversion done?

A few years ago, I was quoted about £4K/£5K but have been exploring a conversion more recently and the figures I'm now getting quoted are about £14K! This is massively different. So I'm just wondering what an average quote might be for converting a garage already attached to the house and accessible from the house?

We had our garage converted last December and paid roughly £8k. This included lighting, additional plug sockets, a radiator and decorating. Think building regs was about £300 on top of this.

We paid £6k (am in Scotland). Integral garage but no access to the house so had new door created in hall. This included architects fees but not building regs which was £145 on top. Also, was new radiator and wiring, etc. We got a few quotes and they were all around this sort of figure as well.

Thanks very much. Umiaisha, whereabouts are you based? We are southern UK, so I expected it'd be more than in Scotland but £14K+ seems a lot of money and didn't include any architect fees and was so much more than what was suggested only a few years ago.

I don't need planning but will need building regs which I've been quoted at £240 + VAT by someone who isn't an architect but who is an architectural and planning consultant. They also don't include structural engineer fees. Will I definitely need those as well and will I potentially need a proper architect rather than an architectural and planning consultant? The latter have quoted me £500 for basic plans.

Thanks.

Building Regs - there are 2 costs here. The cost of the plans/details and the cost to the building Inspector (council) make sure you allow for both.

Personally, I would do a garage conversion on a Builsing Notice, so no drawings required.

Blogonthetyne - I am in London