House extensions without planning permission - Is this what they call PD?

Yes.  If you can legally build a house extension to an existing dwelling house then this is what they call permitted development or PD.  It is a piece of government legislation that allows certain types of house extension to be built onto existing homes without the need for formal Planning Consent.  However, like most government legislation it is not as simple as its sounds and it is riddled with trip wires for the unwary homeowner.

Writing an article about permitted development or PD on this web site would require many pages in its own right and there are others that have written extensively on this subject that I do not intend to repeat here.  Why re-invent the wheel when another website has it all - to learn more about permitted development in  its full glory and detail go to this web site www.permitteddevelopment.org

However, rather than scheduling all the detail about PD here we would offer one pearl of advise - NEVER, NEVER erect any house extension under what you think is permitted development without first obtaining a Certificate of Lawful development from your Planning Department.

Yes, I know its another application and requires a form filling exercise and the production of planning drawings that you wanted to avoid but it is well worth the small expense and 8 week wait for the decision notice.

You see the government advisors and their legal boffins totally cocked up the wording of the different classes of permitted development relating to domestic dwellings.

In their attempt to simply and increase the number of house extensions you could complete to a property in order to free up the local government planning system they forgot to include some relevant detail within their phraseology of the wording for permitted development.

This has lead to such confusion and differences on interpretation from both sides of the fence that the only way to be sure that your scheme is actually exempt from formal Planning permission is to submit an application for a Certificate of Lawful development.

This is where the council gives you a legally binding document confirming that your proposal is indeed outside of planning control.

The added beauty of this type of application is that the decision is made by the councils legal  department and not prejudiced by the planners desire for constant control of your life and site.

Look at it as the Planning Permission that you already own - you just need to reverse engineer a house extension that strictly fits the limits and criteria of permitted development - easy isn't it???

Welcome to the club!