Planning Permission
Rules governing outbuildings apply to garden buildings including swimming pools, home office buildings, and many other kinds of structure for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling house.

Under new regulations that came into effect on 1 October 2008 outbuildings are considered to be permitted development, not needing planning permission, subject to the following limits and conditions:

• No outbuilding on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation.
• Outbuildings and garages to be single storey with maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of four metres with a dual pitched roof or three metres for any other roof.
• Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse.
• No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
• No more than half the area of land around the "original house" would be covered by additions or other buildings.
• On designated land such as in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and conservation areas buildings, enclosures, containers and pools at the side of properties will require planning permission.
• Within the curtilage of listed buildings any outbuilding will require planning permission.

Building Regulations
Separate from planning permission larger outbuildings including, swimming pools and home office buildings, may need to comply with building regulations and be issued with a Building Regulation Certificate on completion.

If the floor area of the building is less than 15 square metres building regulations will not normally apply.

If the floor area of the building is between 15 square metres and 30 square metres, building regulations approval will not normally be required providing that the building is either at least one metre from any boundary or it is constructed of substantially non-combustible materials.

In both cases, building regulations do not apply ONLY if the building does not contain any sleeping accommodation.

The information on this page is for guidance purposes only.