Change of Use Planning Permission: Use Classes and Applying

In England, you need change of use planning permission whenever you want to switch a building or piece of land from one use class to a different one, unless the change is covered by a permitted development right. Moves within the same class do not count as development and need no application at all. A standard application costs £588 as of April 2025, and councils are expected to decide most cases within eight weeks.

Whether You Need Permission Depends on Use Classes

Every building and plot in England sits in a category set by the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987, which was significantly reorganised in September 2020.¹ The classes that matter most in practice are:

Class E (Commercial, Business, and Service): shops, restaurants, cafés, offices, light industrial units, gyms, health centres, and crèches.
Class F1 (Learning and Non-Residential Institutions): schools, libraries, museums, art galleries, places of worship, and public halls.
Class F2 (Local Community): small neighbourhood shops, community halls, outdoor sports areas, and swimming pools.
Class C (Residential): individual houses (C3), small shared houses of up to six unrelated residents (C4), hotels and guest houses (C1), and residential care homes (C2).

Moving between uses inside the same class is not development under planning law.¹ Turn a Class E shop into a Class E physiotherapy clinic and no application is needed. Cross a class boundary and permission comes into play.

Sui Generis Uses Always Need an Application

Some uses are excluded from every class and stand alone as “sui generis.” Any change to or from them requires a full planning application, with no shortcuts. The list includes pubs and drinking establishments, hot food takeaways, nightclubs, casinos, betting shops, cinemas, concert halls, petrol stations, car showrooms, scrap yards, launderettes, and live music venues.¹

Pubs, takeaways, and cinemas each had their own class before the 2020 reforms and could sometimes change use more easily. That is no longer the case. Converting a Class E restaurant into a pub now always needs planning permission, even though both serve food and drink. Check whether your intended use is inside a class or outside it before assuming you can switch freely.

When Permitted Development Lets You Skip a Full Application

Even if a change crosses class boundaries, a full application is not always necessary. The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 grants automatic rights for certain lower-impact transitions, subject to conditions and a prior approval process with the council.²

Class MA: Commercial to Residential

The most widely used route is Class MA, which lets Class E buildings (shops, offices, cafés, light industrial) become homes in Class C3. The building must have been in a qualifying commercial use for at least two continuous years before you apply. Since March 2024, the previous three-month vacancy requirement and the 1,500 square metre floor space cap have both been removed, opening up the route to more properties.

You still need prior approval before starting. Prior approval is narrower than planning permission: the council can only assess specific technical issues such as flooding, transport, contamination, noise from neighbouring commercial uses, and whether the proposed homes would have adequate natural light and living space. If your proposal passes on those grounds, the council cannot refuse it on broader planning policy. Once granted, you have three years to complete the conversion.

How Prior Approval Works

You submit a prior approval application describing the change and addressing the matters the council is allowed to consider. The Class MA fee is £250 per proposed dwelling.³ The council has 56 days to respond, and if it does not issue a decision inside that window prior approval is deemed granted. Do not start work on the assumption of consent until the 56 days have actually passed; jumping the gun makes the whole project unauthorised.

Article 4 Directions Can Switch Permitted Development Off

Councils can strip permitted development rights from specific areas using an Article 4 direction, which means a full application is needed for changes that would otherwise be automatic.⁴ These directions are common in conservation areas and in town centres where councils want to prevent commercial space being lost to homes. Your council’s planning department or online planning maps will confirm whether an Article 4 direction covers your site. Check before committing to a project.

How to Apply for a Full Change of Use Planning Permission

Where permitted development does not apply, you file a full planning application with the local authority. The papers need to give the planning officer a clear, complete picture of what you intend and how it fits its surroundings.

What You Submit

A location plan at 1:1250 scale for urban sites or 1:2500 for rural sites, with the application site outlined in red and enough surrounding roads and buildings shown to pinpoint the property.⁵
A block plan, typically at 1:200 or 1:500, showing the building’s position relative to boundaries, streets, and neighbouring structures.⁵
Floor plans showing both the existing layout and the proposed one.
A planning statement explaining why the change makes sense, how it aligns with local policies, and how you will limit impact on neighbours.
The application form, completed through the Planning Portal or on paper, with accurate details of both the current lawful use and the proposed use.

Any physical works that come with the change (a new shopfront, ventilation equipment, additional entrances) need to appear on the plans. Incomplete or inaccurate submissions get bounced during validation, which adds weeks before the decision clock even starts.

What It Costs

For a material change of use that does not create new dwellings, the fee is £588 as of April 2025. Where the change is to residential, the fee is £588 per dwelling for schemes under 10 units and £635 per dwelling for schemes of 10 to 50 units.³ No fee applies if you are applying because a within-class change right was removed by a condition on a previous planning permission.⁶

Timeline and Decision

Most change of use applications are decided within eight weeks; unusually large or complex ones get 13 weeks.⁷ During that time the council notifies neighbours and consults relevant public bodies, and an officer will usually visit the site. The decision either grants permission (often with conditions) or refuses it. Conditions commonly cover hours of operation, noise insulation, delivery times, or parking. They are legally binding, and breaching them is an offence in its own right.

If Your Application Is Refused

Refusal is not the end. You can appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, which is independent of the council. You can also appeal against unreasonable conditions or against a council’s failure to decide within the statutory time limit.⁸ Deadlines vary by application type, so check the refusal notice carefully. The inspector reviews the case on its merits and their decision binds the council.

Before appealing, read the reasons for refusal. If they come down to missing information or a design issue you can fix, a revised application is often faster and cheaper. Appeals can take several months to resolve.

The Risk of Changing Use Without Permission

Operating a building under a different use without permission is a breach of planning control under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The most common response is an enforcement notice identifying the breach and setting a deadline to stop the unauthorised use and, where necessary, restore the property. Ignoring an enforcement notice is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine, and courts are directed to consider how much financial benefit you gained from the breach when setting the amount.⁹

If a council needs to stop something immediately, it can issue a temporary stop notice (effective for up to 28 days) or a full stop notice alongside an enforcement notice. In serious cases it can seek a High Court injunction; breaching an injunction is contempt of court and can carry a prison sentence.⁹ Councils can also serve a breach of condition notice where permission exists but its conditions are being ignored.

How Long Councils Have to Act

The time limits changed on 25 April 2024 under the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Act 2023. Before that date, councils had four years to take action against an unauthorised change of use to a single dwelling and ten years for everything else. The four-year shortcut no longer exists for breaches occurring on or after 25 April 2024, and a single ten-year limit now applies to all breaches of planning control in England.¹⁰¹¹ Changes of use to a single dwelling that took place before 25 April 2024 are still covered by the old four-year rule; if those four years have already run without action, the use has become immune.⁹

Certificates of Lawful Use

Where an unauthorised change of use has been in continuous operation long enough to be immune from enforcement, you can apply for a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD). It is not planning permission. It is a formal confirmation that the use is lawful because the council can no longer take action.¹²

You need enough evidence to show, on the balance of probabilities, that the use has run continuously for the required period. Utility bills, business records, council tax records, sworn statements from neighbours, and photographs are typical. The council can only consider whether the facts support immunity, not planning policy. Submitting false or misleading information to obtain a certificate is a criminal offence that can carry up to two years’ imprisonment.¹² A CLEUD is particularly useful when selling: without one, a buyer’s solicitor will flag the lack of formal authorisation, and mortgage lenders may refuse to lend.

Building Regulations Are a Separate Question

Planning permission and building regulations are separate regimes, and having one does not excuse you from the other. A change of use often triggers building regulations requirements even when no physical alterations are planned. Converting a commercial building into flats, for example, will almost certainly require upgraded fire safety measures, sound insulation between units, improved means of escape, and potentially structural assessment. Apply for building regulations approval through the council’s building control team, or appoint an approved inspector, before starting work. Remedial work after the fact costs considerably more than doing it right from the start.

1
Planning Portal. Use Classes – Change of Use
2
Legislation.gov.uk. The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 – Schedule 2
3
GOV.UK. Fees for Planning Applications in England From 1 April 2025
4
Planning Portal. Permitted Development Rights – Planning Permission
5
Planning Portal. Buy a Planning Map
6
GOV.UK. Fees for Planning Applications
7
Planning Portal. How Long Does It Take to Get a Decision on an Application
8
GOV.UK. Appeal Against a Planning Decision – Overview
9
GOV.UK. Enforcement and Post-Permission Matters
10
GOV.UK. Key Changes Under the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act
11
Legislation.gov.uk. Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – Section 171B
12
GOV.UK. Lawful Development Certificates