Granny Annexes: The Planning Rules Explained

There are a couple of key rules you need to be aware of to stay on the right side of the law when creating an annexe for ageing parents or returning children, says planning consultant Ken Dijksman

There are a couple of key rules to consider when creating an annexe for ageing parents or returning children. Planning consultant Ken Dijksman explains what you need to know

Looking after elderly parents, and children hanging around well into their 20s, are responsibilities that more homeowners are having to cope with. Part of the answer to both problems can be to create an annexe to your home. This is a self-contained living space that is still used as part of the same house, within the same plot and within the same ownership.

The financial pressure to build ‘granny annexes’ is increasing because extended family living makes financial sense. Unfortunately, the planning system has yet to catch up, and there is a lot of misinformation about what does and doesn’t need permission. What’s more, local planning authorities are, as ever, inconsistent in how they deal with this genuine social issue.

The key thing to understand about an annexe is that it is not a separate dwelling — it might be self-contained, the occupants may have considerable independence, but this living space must be part of one home occupied by one, possibly extended, family unit. Only under this definition can it legitimately be described as an ‘annexe’. Councils are increasingly suspicious because planning officers see it as their job to prevent the creation of new dwellings, unless they have planning permission. Any hint of a new flat or dwelling being created in the garden can stir up the council’s enforcement team.

But there are ways to avoid this hassle: planning law in relation to annexes is pretty clear and accommodating, and it is possible to create annexe accommodation for parents or children without breaching planning regulations. The simplest way of doing this is to convert existing accommodation into self-contained living space. This includes converting an existing garage in the garden, an integral garage, a wing of the house, the loft space, or any other built part of an existing single dwelling. Internal changes, and most external changes such as the addition of doors and windows, do not comprise ‘development’, so planning permission is not needed. Providing the rearranged accommodation is used as an extended part of the existing single dwelling, there is no change of use, so planning permission is not required. The problem is your local planning authority could potentially jump to conclusions and presume guilt unless you prove your innocence. This can be stressful, time-consuming, expensive and above all, create undue hassle. The way to avoid this is to submit a formal application for a Lawful Development Certificate. This is not a planning application — you are not asking for permission, you are seeking a legal determination. In other words, you are asking the council to confirm your legal right to create annexe

“Any hint of a new flat or dwelling being created in the garden can stir up the council’s enforcement team”

accommodation within your existing property. This could be combined with new extensions to your house or built explicitly to create an annexe, provided they comply with normal Permitted Development (PD) rules for extensions. But do remember, it is not lawful to build an outbuilding for use as an annexe under PD. Subject to various simple criteria, new outbuildings can be built in your garden for just about any purpose incidental to the use of your house as a single home, such as a home office, gym or workshop — but not for self-contained residential accommodation. You will need planning permission if an outbuilding is to be specifically built for the purposes of being an annexe.

Time to Consider a Planning Application

If you find that the extensions you are allowed to build under Permitted Development (i.e without planning permission) are simply not big enough to create an annexe, then you will need to make a planning application. You and your designer will need to consider all the normal issues, like impact on neighbours, the design of your house, the right materials, etc, as you would with any extension.

You may wish to build the extension now with the intention of perhaps creating an annexe in the future. In this case, in planning terms, that future use is an irrelevance at this stage because internal changes do not need planning permission.

If you do want to design and build the annexe now however, the council will be suspicious when they see an additional kitchen, living room, bathroom, and perhaps separate entrance all shown on plans. You will therefore need to be clear in the design and in your application of your intention for this to be used as one house, by one family, in one ownership with no restrictions being placed on the use of the accommodation by the occupants of the house and annexe. In other words, you need to really emphasise and demonstrate that in design and layout terms, this is not accommodation which could be subdivided, split off or rented out. If the council suspect that the intention is to create a new dwelling they will almost certainly refuse it (unless they’re convinced that a new dwelling would actually be acceptable in that location and have all normal attributes, such as its own garden, parking and access, etc).

How to Stay on the Right Side of the Law

I recently dealt with an enforcement case in which an older couple were living in their existing large outbuilding, with their extended family members living in the main house. The local council decided that this was a serious problem that required formal action to be taken; even though one member of the couple was seriously ill and the annexe was within a large garden in the heart of an existing village. The council was concerned that a ‘new dwelling’ had been created. What followed was over a year of serious stress, considerable expense and a truly horrible experience for the couple involved, who were forced to defend their actions, with my help, at a Public Inquiry.

There are few things more unpleasant than the threat of being evicted from your own home and this is what they faced. Of course, we won the appeal. The inspector made it crystal clear that because the self-contained accommodation was being used as part of a single and functionally integrated extended family home, as such it did not constitute the creation of a new dwelling. So planning permission was not required.

People get themselves into trouble by assuming the council either won’t notice or will be reasonable. Unfortunately, you must assume the worst. But the law is on your side when it comes to creating additional accommodation for your relatives within your home, even if it is self-contained and they have independence, provided you’re all still living as one family. But as I mention above, obtaining a Lawful Development Certificate is the safest way to prove it.

There are instances where it is blindingly obvious that the creation of an annexe is an attempt to get around planning controls and create a new dwelling — and the council will always be on the lookout for attempts to dupe the system. So, in any application you make, or when you use Permitted Development rights, you may encounter problems if the annexe is too separate and physically divorced from the main dwelling. You must be able to reasonably argue that it’s all being occupied as one integrated unit.

What you cannot do is rent out an annexe to third parties — this constitutes a subdivision of the house and it needs planning permission. If the annexe is within a built-up area and has its own access and garden, then permission for a separate dwelling might be forthcoming, or if it’s been rented out for over four years as a separate dwelling, it may be immune from any action the council can take. But you need to be aware that independent occupation by a third party is not consistent with this accommodation being called an annexe to the main house.

To sum up, you can use your existing house or any part of it (including existing outbuildings) as additional accommodation that might include a kitchen and living room to be occupied by your family. The key point is that you all lived together in one ‘planning unit’ of occupation. If you’re spending money on creating this dedicated space for elderly parents or grown-up children, I would always urge an application for a Lawful Development Certificate from the council so you, and your family, can rest easy.