Why Move When You Could Extend Without Planning Permission?

Moving home is always an exciting experience, but it’s also an expensive and stressful one too. And some people move house purely because their existing home is no longer spacious enough to accommodate their needs.

If that’s the main reason you’re currently looking to swap properties, but deep down you’d love to remain where you are, you need to know that the government has made it permanently easier for you to extend your existing home.

The Conservatives temporarily amended the rules for home extensions back in 2013 when they announced that single-storey extensions for terraced and semi-detached homes up to six metres, and single-storey extensions for detached houses up to eight metres long would no longer require planning permission.

They did it to get Britain building and give householders more flexibility to extend their properties, rather than have to go through time-consuming planning applications or move to enjoy added spaciousness.

In the six years since that original announcement, over 110,000 people have taken advantage of the relaxed rules and extended. We suspect this figure will grow quickly now that the government has said these rules will now remain in place permanently.

Removing this red tape also saves any English householder wanting to extend, £206 – the current cost of making a planning application.

The only obligation you will have when extending with an extension within these size limits at the relevant property type will be to inform your local authority of the building work. After being notified, they will inform your neighbours of your plans to give them the opportunity to raise any objections. When any justified objections are received, it will be down to your local council to decide whether the extension can be built.

If this news has made extending your home a far more attractive proposition than moving, speak to TWC as we can construct various forms of home extension.

You can read all about our impressive extensions service here.