A change of use planning application asks the authority to permit a building or land to be used for something other than its lawful use, where the change is material and neither the use classes order nor a permitted development right allows it without an application: a shop to a dwelling, a house to a house in multiple occupation above the class C4 threshold, a field to a caravan site. A change of use application carries no building work in itself, and yet it is the application most often submitted when it was not needed, or not submitted when it was, because the answer turns on which class the old use and the new use fall in. This page sets out when a change of use needs an application, when it does not, what the application carries, and what the file keeps.
The three questions before the form
Is the change material, which is a matter of fact and degree rather than of the class; do the old use and the new use fall within the same use class, in which case no application is needed at all; and is there a permitted development right, a class MA, a prior approval route, that allows the change subject to prior approval rather than a full application. Only when the answer to all three is no is a change of use planning application the route. The guides on the use classes and on class E on this site set out the classes; the guidance cited below is where the material change is defined.
What the application carries
The existing lawful use and the evidence for it, which is the one thing a change of use application most often lacks; the proposed use, described in the terms of the classes or as sui generis; the plans, which for a change of use may be a site plan and floor plans rather than elevations; and the surveys the validation checklist asks for, transport for a use that generates trips, noise for one that makes it, flood for a more vulnerable use. The fee is the fee for a change of use, and the cost of planning application sheet on this site costs it against the units or the floor area proposed.
What the file keeps
The lawful use and its evidence, the class the old and new uses fall in, the application and its decision with any conditions restricting the use, the hours or the occupancy, and the date the new use began, which starts the next question's clock. Consentvia Pro keeps the change of use application against the site with those facts, so the next change on the same premises, and the retrospective or lawfulness question that may follow, starts from the record.
Questions people ask about change of use planning application
Do I need a change of use planning application to open a cafe in a shop?
In England both fall within class E since the 2020 changes, so the change is within a class and needs no application; a hot food takeaway is sui generis and does. The use classes guide on this site sets out the classes and the guidance cited below is the authority.
Is a change of use application cheaper than a full application?
It carries its own fee and usually fewer drawings, but the surveys the new use needs can be the same. The cost sheet on this site costs it line by line.
What if the existing use was itself unlawful?
The application is decided against the lawful use, not the actual one, so an unlawful existing use has to be regularised or certified first. The guides on retrospective applications and on lawful development certificates cover the two routes.
Sources
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, When is permission required: development, change of use and the use classes
- legislation.gov.uk, The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 as amended: the classes and what each covers
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Fees for planning applications: how the fee for each type is worked