Granny Annexe Planning: Obtaining Permission to Build

When building a granny annexe, one thing that crops up very early in the decision making process is the daunting prospect of obtaining permission to build a granny annexe in your back garden from your Local Planning Authority (LPA).

Contrary to popular belief, a granny annexe with someone living in it on a day-to-day basis will always need either planning permission or a Certificate of Lawfulness from your LPA.

Some temporary-style buildings such as leisure buildings that are not going to be lived in may not need planning permission.

This is not something you should attempt yourself. It is only something that should be handled by professionals who specialise in obtaining residential planning permission in the UK.

With that in mind, and with a success rate of over 90%, it’s a service we offer to all our iHUS customers because we want your application to be a successful one.

The easiest (and best) way to find out what your chances are of obtaining planning permission for your granny annexe is to book a free on-site consultation service with one of our experts.

They have years of first hand experience of what your Local Planning Authority is likely to approve of and what they are likely to reject.

For example, you may want a pitched roof annexe, but we might advise during our free on site consultation that because the property is overlooked by several neighbours we would recommend a flat roof annexe as your best option.

This kind of precise knowledge and advice is invaluable and can potentially save you hours of wasted time not to mention thousands of pounds in trying to get granny annexe planning permission in the wrong way.

Most garden annexes like those in our HUSCore range are designed for back garden annexe use.

Granny Annexes and the Caravan Act

You might also have heard a lot about the Caravan Act as being a ‘silver bullet’ (it can still be refused), but it will still require a Certificate of Lawfulness from your Local Planning Authority.

We also offer this service as in some circumstances and this may well be your best route to obtaining permission and you have fuller flexibility on the design and size you would like.

When you obtain planning permission to build an annexe in the back garden you are working with your Local Planning Authority to develop the land. They will have input on how it looks, what materials and finishes are being used on the outside, and which style and size they will accept.

With the Caravan Act you are applying to site a temporary building on the land not develop it.

All our granny annexes are classed as mobile homes, so a self contained garden annexe will attract zero-rated VAT, saving you thousands of pounds when compared to a home extension for example.

It’s simple to get the best advice about your granny annexe project and find out the best way to go about obtaining the right type of planning permission for your granny annexe at the same time by requesting one of our informal on site consultations as your very first step to success.

Our annexe experts will discuss with you the best route for obtaining granny annexe planning permission for you and advise on the best location and style for your particular garden.

It’s simple, free, effective and gives you all the right information to help you make the best decision for your family now and for many years to come.

Granny Annexes And Standard Householder’s Planning Applications

For Granny Annexes that we consider to be “straightforward” during our on site consultation (based on many years of building granny annexes of all types throughout the UK) we recommend the normal Householder’s Planning Application route which is the same type of planning permission you would apply for if you were building an extension or adding something to your garden such as a raised decked area.

In some circumstances a Full Application will be requested by some Local Planning Authorities that deem a Granny Annexe to be a new dwelling (this will require a further and significantly higher fee). There seems to be very little consistency with regards to this across Local Planning Authorities even within the same county.

Although the process is a well recognised one, Granny Annexes are not something that your Local Planning Officer may have dealt with before and they are likely to have concerns and questions that we would deal with on your behalf.

Your Local Planning Authority is likely to have concerns over things such as :-

The overall size of the Granny Annexe in relation to the main house and the size of your garden.

The specification of the living accommodation as it needs to be considered ancillary to the main house to be an annexe.

They will want to know the reasons why you want to build an annexe in the back garden, who will be living in it in the near future, and what long terms plans you have for it in the future.

Planning approval will only ever be granted when you fulfil all the requirements of your Local Planning Authority and in particular the concerns raised by the Local Planning Office who is in charge of your application.

The preparation of all the required drawings, application and design and access statements required will be carried out by our planning specialists on your behalf.

All Local Planning Authorities abide by the same timescales when it comes to dealing with your planning application and will more often than not give a decision within the 8 weeks of them validating your submitted planning application.

Why Do Some Granny Annexe Planning Permission Applications Get Refused?

Unfortunately all granny annexe planning permission applications are dealt with on an individual basis and your decision can rest on one particular officer’s opinion on any given day wherever you happen to be within the UK.

UK planning laws are open to interpretation and that means that there are variable factors that can influence your planning application success that are completely out of any one’s control.

In the unlikely event that planning permission is refused we will appeal on your behalf, this can take a further 6 months or more but very few get to that stage without considerable negotiations having been exhausted first by our planning specialists.

Most Local Planning Authorities are more than happy to enter into a very detailed and sometimes lengthy discussion with our planning specialists to make sure the outcome is fair to both parties especially when there is an established need for relative care involved.

Despite popular opinion, they really are there to do a great job at making sure Planning Laws are abided by.

The most frequent reason for refusal we’ve seen to date has been in relation to the annexe size. The few that we have had refused were considered too big for either the plot size or too big to be considered ancillary to the main house.