Planning Permission for Change of Use

01

What Is a "Change of Use"?

What is a material change of use?
A material change of use is a change in the primary purpose of a building or land that is significant enough to have planning implications. Whether a change is 'material' is a matter of fact and degree — assessed by considering the impact on traffic, noise, amenity, character, and the planning merits. Not every change in use is material.

In planning law, "development" includes not just building works but also any material change in the use of land or buildings. If you change the primary use of a building from one purpose to another, you may need planning permission — even if you don't alter the building physically.

The key word is "material." Not every change in use is material. A material change is one that's significant enough to have planning implications — affecting things like traffic, noise, hours of operation, or the character of the area.

02

The Use Classes Order (2020)

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 overhauled the use classes system in England from 1 September 2020. The current classes are:

Class E — Commercial, Business and Service

This is the big one. Class E merged several former use classes into a single flexible class:

• E(a) — Shops (formerly A1)
• E(b) — Restaurants and cafés (formerly A3)
• E(c) — Financial and professional services (formerly A2)
• E(d) — Indoor sport, recreation or fitness (formerly D2 part)
• E(e) — Medical or health services (formerly D1 part)
• E(f) — Crèche, day nursery, day centre (formerly D1 part)
• E(g) — Offices, research and development, light industrial (formerly B1)

The crucial point: Changes within Class E do not need planning permission. A shop can become a gym, an office can become a café, a bank can become a medical centre — all without any planning application.

Class F.1 — Learning and Non-Residential Institutions

• Schools, museums, libraries, galleries, public halls, churches

Class F.2 — Local Community

• Small shops under 280m² (more than 1km from another similar shop)
• Community halls, outdoor sport, swimming pools, skating rinks

Sui Generis (In a Class of Its Own)

Uses that don't fit any class. Most can't change without permission, although Part 3 of the GPDO gives a few of them specific routes (see below):

• Pubs and drinking establishments (formerly A4)
• Hot food takeaways (formerly A5)
• Cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls
• Petrol stations
• Large HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) with more than six residents; three to six is Class C4
• Hostels, nightclubs, casinos, laundrettes, taxi businesses
• Scrapyards, amusement centres

03

Permitted Changes (No Planning Application Needed)

Some changes between use classes are permitted development under Part 3 of the GPDO. Major permitted changes include:

Class MA — Commercial to Residential

Offices, shops, restaurants, and other Class E uses can convert to residential (Class C3) through prior approval. Conditions:

• Building must have been in Class E use (or the equivalent pre-September 2020 classes) for a continuous period of at least 2 years before the application (MA.1(1)(b))
• No vacancy test and no floor-space cap. You may still read that the building must have been vacant or be under 1,500m². Both limits were removed on 5 March 2024 by SI 2024/141
• Not available if the site is or includes an SSSI, a listed building or its curtilage, a scheduled monument, a safety hazard area or a military explosives storage area, or anywhere in a National Landscape (AONB), National Park, the Broads or a World Heritage Site (MA.1(1)(d)–(e))
• Prior approval required (not full planning permission) — the council assesses transport, contamination, flooding, noise from commercial premises, natural light, fire safety (taller buildings with two or more homes), the loss of a registered nursery or health centre, the impact of nearby industrial uses and, in a conservation area, a ground-floor change of use (MA.2(2))
• Fee: £260 per dwelling (from 1 April 2026; fees rise each April) (MHCLG fee schedule)

This has been hugely significant — thousands of offices and shops have converted to flats under this route since it was introduced.

Class O — Office to Residential (Replaced by MA)

The original office-to-residential PD right (Class O) is closed: prior approval applications had to be made by 31 July 2021 (O.2(2)(b)). Office conversions now go through Class MA.

Other Permitted Changes

• Agricultural buildings to residential (Class Q) — up to 10 homes, 1,000m² of residential floor space in total and 150m² per home, with prior approval (rules substituted on 21 May 2024 by SI 2024/579)
• Hot food takeaway, betting office, payday loan shop or casino to any Class E use (Class A) — you notify the council of the date of the change first
• Launderette, betting office, payday loan shop or hot food takeaway to a home, up to 150m², with prior approval (Class M), only if the building was in that use on 20 March 2013 (or when last in use before then), and not on article 2(3) land (which includes conservation areas), in an SSSI, or in a listed building or scheduled monument (M.1)
• Amusement arcade or casino to a home, up to 150m², with prior approval (Class N), only if it was in that use on 19 March 2014 (or when last in use before then), and not in a National Park, National Landscape, the Broads or a World Heritage Site, or a listed building or its curtilage (N.1)
• Class E, betting office or payday loan shop to a mixed use with up to 2 flats, with prior approval (Class G)
• Agricultural to flexible commercial use (Class R)
• Shops to financial/professional services and vice versa (within Class E, no application needed)

04

When You Always Need Planning Permission

• Most changes to or from sui generis uses (pubs, nightclubs, etc.), other than the few Part 3 routes listed above
• Changes involving listed buildings (listed building consent also needed)
• Changes where conditions on previous permissions restrict the use
• Changes that involve physical alterations beyond the scope of PD
• Residential to commercial — there's no general PD right for this direction
• Changes to or from HMOs above certain thresholds

05

Material Change of Use: The Grey Area

Some changes are clearly material (shop to nightclub). Others are debatable:

• Working from home — using part of a house as an office is usually not a material change if the house remains primarily a dwelling. If the business dominates (customers visiting, deliveries, employees), it becomes material
• Airbnb and short-term lets — occasional letting is unlikely to be material. Frequent, year-round short-term letting of a whole property may constitute a material change to a sui generis use
• Garden land to parking — using your garden for parking your own car isn't a change of use. Using it as a commercial car park is
• Agricultural to equestrian — keeping horses for leisure on farmland may or may not be a material change, depending on scale and character

06

The Application Process

A change of use application follows the standard planning application process:

1. Submit a full planning application (or prior approval for permitted changes)
2. The council considers the planning merits
3. Decision within 8 weeks (13 weeks for major applications)
4. Fees vary: £610 per dwelling for a change of use to fewer than 10 homes, and £610 for most other changes of use (from 1 April 2026; fees rise each April) (MHCLG fee schedule)

What the Council Considers

• Impact on the area's character — is the new use compatible with surrounding uses?
• Traffic and parking — will the new use generate more or different traffic?
• Noise and disturbance — particularly for changes to restaurants, bars, or entertainment
• Loss of existing use — councils may resist losing shops, employment space, or community facilities
• Hours of operation — conditions often restrict opening hours
• Amenity — effect on neighbours' living conditions

07

Section 106 Agreements

Larger change-of-use developments (particularly to residential) may trigger Section 106 requirements for:

• Affordable housing contributions
• Infrastructure contributions
• Community facility provision
• Open space contributions

08

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

The 2020 Use Classes Order changes apply only to England. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland retain their own use classes systems:

• Scotland uses a different classification system under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) (Scotland) Order 1997
• Wales retains the pre-2020 use classes (A1, A2, A3, B1, etc.)
• Northern Ireland has its own Use Classes Order