Converting an integrated garage into a room

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Hi all, we want to turn our garage into a multipurpose creative space, keeping concrete floor but introducing maximum light - currently there's a metal electric garage door with no windows. What are the considerations? Our home surveyor said something about having to insulate if we change it away from a garage (which it hasn't been for decades) by planning law. Can we get around this? Putting in windows or doors of some sort will be a 5 year interim thing anyway before we hopefully find some money to extend the room. Thank you

Insulation will be under Building Regs, not planning. IF you are converting to living space, Building Regs will apply.

Planning permission may be required if there were any conditions on the original PP for the garage restricting it to that use only.

For it to be a habitable space, it needs to meet building regs. You can replace the doors with a window and usually this doesn’t require planning permission.

@PresentingPercy

For it to be a habitable space, it needs to meet building regs. You can replace the doors with a window and usually this doesn’t require planning permission.

The change of use might though (technically relaxation of a condition).

We needed planning permission only because we live in a conservation area.
We complied with full building regs and use it as an extra living room, in my opinion worth doing as it's nice and warm, if we sold we'd more than get our money back as it's a proper room.

If it needs toilet and bathroom, planning permission is required

@chukwe

If it needs toilet and bathroom, planning permission is required

Not necessarily - if it's being converted as part of the main living accommodation, that won't necessarily trigger the requirement for PP.

That may be covered by Building Regs, but the conversion into habitable space already requires that.

I converted my internal garage and added a toilet and shower room. All done under building regulations.
It all connects to the main house via a door to the utility room.

The insulation (whilst a pain to add) will be vital if the room is to be a nice space to use anyway. I went to view a house with a converted garage and clearly some corners had been cut; walking into that part from the rest of the house was like walking into a fridge. It reminded me of what people say walking into a haunted room is like! It completely put me off the entire house to be honest, even though it was a beautiful house in a lovely location.

My neighbours converted their woodshed into habitable space. Then used it as floor space to get an extension - AONB and Green Belt so very restricted in terms of extension size. It is all very loose around here. Several other garages "converted" too. I guess it only becomes a problem if it is sold and it get flagged up. However, who actually has the time to trace all of this in a pla ning department? I guess if householders get dobbed in, then the planners might have a look. Otherwise they accepted the "woodshed" as an established part of the house without any question. Just like giving PP to all the "barns:" and "stables" that then get converted to living accommodation!

What you should do, and what you can get away with, are two different things! Even in the green belt and AONB.

@PresentingPercy I've notice you mentioning things that have happened in your local area on other threads. I think you must live in a very lax area. What you describe really isn't common-place. Most Planning departments are much stricter. Things do get followed up. Building Reg applications are often examined by the planning department to make sure there are no breaches. Possible breaches reported by the public are investigated, and appropriate enforcement action taken if necessary. If things do fall through the net, then yes, they will get picked up when it comes to sell the property which can cause major problems and delay the whole process, as well as costing money.

@PresentingPercy

For it to be a habitable space, it needs to meet building regs. You can replace the doors with a window and usually this doesn’t require planning permission.

It falls under 'permitted development ' and doesn't need planning permission. You will need to apply for this in writing, I can't recall what it's called now. It means planning have acknowledged you don't need planning and give permission for you to proceed. Then when you come to sell there is no confusion for your buyers.

You do need building control to sign it off. This is for safety. Without out your building control certificate you'll have problems selling your house.

It's not hard, we have recently converted our internal garage into a living space, but it's detailed. Things have to be done exactly and in a particular way to be signed off. The inspector visited many times at various stages to check compliance.

We found we needed to put a new insulated roof on and vent it. Fully insulate the new internal stud walls and damp proof breathable membranes. We have ended up with a lovely space that was less than half builders were quoting.

It's well worth doing. But even as a self conversion it wasn't cheap.

Where will your car? Is there enough parking space if you don’t have the garage?

you park*

@purplebagladylovesgin it’s called a Certificate of Lawful Development and yes it’s a good idea if what you are planning falls under the permitted development rules. However, there are areas where these permitted development rights have been removed (my modern estate as one example) and other examples where garage space is protected as a condition of the original planning approval for the house.
OP ring your local council to ask if your house has had any permitted development rights removed and if your house is fairly modern you can check any planning conditions on the planning portal for your local council

@purplebagladylovesgin

It isn't always allowed under permitted development rules.

@Seeline
I just think the homeowners get help to get around the rules. Others are devious. Most of us know our planning authority was short staffed and, as building control was contracted out, there was little communication between the two. This also assumes building control know anything of course!

I actually think councils only know anything if people apply through the correct channels. Or neighbours dob them in. We had a case where building control agreed to the designs re raising the roof of a stable block but no one thought why? For a flat of course. The stable block had never seen a horse. Eventually a new neighbour got the council to look into it. Planning permission was sought and granted. So, in effect, a new dwelling. Ditto numerous barns. I don’t believe this area is unique. It’s got very poor planning departments (our house is split between two) but people get round the rules in a myriad of ways.

No one here has bothered with pp to use a garage as habitable space. People have demolished garages and rebuilt and these have got pp but getting agricultural buildings and changing use is rife.

What really got to me was the woodshed conversion to living room without any building regs and then using that to get a bigger extension. Extensions are now limited to 30% of original dwelling. The planning department had no idea and why would they? How can it be monitored?

Happy to tell you which authority. Lots of us think it’s an utter disgrace!

As I said, that may be your experience of your Council. It is not safe to assume that all behave in that way - I have dealt with many over the years, and most are more rigorous. People should always be told of the correct procedures. It is up to them if they then want to take a risk of not following the rules.

Except they don’t contact the council! I think you might be surprised what people do in the real world of property. How do you know if someone has converted a garage or woodshed if you are not consulted? How does planning know? They don’t. Unless there are nosy neighbours, planning simply wouldn’t know! So they are not necessarily devoid of policies but they get circumvented. One of the reasons is the draconian policies. It leads to devious behaviour.

I agree it’s not worth it. We have all approvals here but it has amazed me what others do. Very openly. Buying fields and extending gardens into them is another one. But op, get the approvals you need.

I live in an area similar to @PresentingPercy

The council usually only discover if neighbours fall out and someone calls them 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've been involved in planning for over 30 years. There's not much that can surprise me.

Out of interest how much does it cost to convert a garage? We are thinking about possibly doing it. its a fairly standard garage with up and over door, basic walls etc - before we atually make efforts to contact builders I wondered about what kind of cost we would be facing

Thank you so much all. Tbh its a South facing room so feels okay in temperature during the day. For now we only intend to use as a multipurpose creative space during the day across the warmer months - painting, playing music, DIY. We hope to be able to extend one day so doing it properly now just doesn't make sense financially. Presumably we can add retro style garage doors with windows with no problem since we're not really using it any different to how it has been used the last 20 years ie a utility, food cupboard and storage room.