[Closed] If you want to build a flat in your garden

Is the definition of a flat not a number of dwellings that reside above/beneath one another? Ergo you're either looking to build a house or a "block" of flats?

YES you need planning permission to build a new dwelling

Yes it will need planning permission.

Lazy link:

[url= http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/ ]Planning Portal: Do I Need Permission[/url]

Some things allowed under permitted development....................yours however won't be.

Is that because it will have 'sleeping accommodation'? I'm currently burrowing through [url= http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/responsibilities/buildingregulations/approvalneeded/ ]this website[/url]

Your looking at Building Regs which more often than not apply even when you don't need planning permission. (there are however exceptions)

Nope, because, unless (and probably will need PP even in this case) you plan only to house members of your immediate family or domestic staff, it'll be a separate property to yours, with it's own postal address, utilities, meters, bills. A whole new property needs PP. An annexe you might just get away with under permitted development, not something for strangers to live in.

The webpage you linked to is for building control of works, which comes after planning permission. The planning permission bit you need is [url= http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/responsibilities/planningpermission/permitted ]here[/url]. [url= http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/100806_PDforhouseholders_TechnicalGuidance.pdf ]This document[/url] gives a good idea of what is usually permitted, although note that some Councils have removed some permitted development rights, so you would still need to check with your local Council. As per that link, some building work would come under permitted development (e.g. small, single storey extnesions or conservatories, some garages, sheds etc). If you are proposing a new building which will be inhabitable (i.e. bathroom, kitchen and the ability to sleep in it) then that would be a new dwelling and is definitely not permitted development. However, if it was purely a bedroom and the kitchen, bathroom and living space were shared with the house, you would need to speak with your local Council to see if they would consider it an extension of the existing dwelling. For example, in East Cambs, they allow any number of caravans on the curtilage of a dwelling provided that you can show they provide ancillary accommodation to the original dwelling and not new dwellings in themselves.

Is the definition of a flat not a number of dwellings that reside above/beneath one another? Ergo you're either looking to build a house or a "block" of flats?

Yep, sorry I wasn't being very clear- it'll be one storey, about 5m x 5m at most, maybe as little as 4m x 4m...

Would be an interesting conveyance plan having a separate dwelling in someone else's back garden with no means of access. Especially if selling on at a later date.

Well, I'd say that's fairly conclusive! Thanks for all your help ppl, some really great info there 🙂

Just found it in the Technical Summary I linked to. If the building is separate from the main house, it comes under Class E, which essentially states that planning permission would be required for

... normal residential uses , such as separate self-contained accommodation [or] the use of an outbuilding for primary living accommodation such as a bedroom, bathroom, or kitchen.

So speak to your Council.

IIRC The difference between a dwelling and a building, for planning, is having sewerage and a TV aerial. I'm allowed neither on the workshop as I don't have planning permission for a dwelling, just a workshop. Construction wise there'd be not much difference.

Wouldn't that be a bungalow, rather than a flat?