Do I need planning permission for a front porch in London?

Flats, converted homes and Article 4 directions

The porch right belongs to houses only. The technical guidance says the householder rights do not apply to houses which are flats, and that a dwellinghouse does not include buildings containing one or more flats or a single flat contained within a building. So a ground-floor flat in a converted Victorian house, or a flat in a purpose-built block, needs planning permission for a new porch, however small it is.

Paragraph D.1(a) also removes the right from a house whose use as a home was granted only through certain change-of-use rights in Part 3 of the Order, such as an office or barn converted under those classes. Then there are Article 4 directions. The guidance explains that a council may remove permitted development rights in some or all of its area by issuing an Article 4 direction, and where it has, a planning application will be needed. Being in a conservation area does not by itself remove the porch right under Class D, but London councils often pair conservation areas with directions that cover front elevations, so we check the direction text, not just the map.

New windows and doors follow a separate test, set out in whether you need planning permission to change windows or doors.

Building regulations: when a porch is exempt

Planning and building regulations are separate tests. Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations 2010 lists exempt buildings and extensions, and Class 7 covers the extension of a building by the addition at ground level of a conservatory, porch, covered yard or covered way where its floor area does not exceed 30 m². A porch inside the 3 m² planning limit is far under that.

The exemption has a condition: where the porch is wholly or partly glazed, the glazing must meet the safety glazing requirements in Part K of Schedule 1. In practice that means safety glass in the low panels and the door. The exemption is also for a porch at ground level, so a porch that is really a raised entrance on a podium, or one that carries a room above, needs a fresh look. Where the work goes further and becomes a front extension, the building control drawings for an extension apply instead.

Who can prepare plans for a front porch

A porch within the limits needs no application, and many owners simply build it. The reason to have plans drawn is proof. A lawful development certificate is the council's formal confirmation that the porch was lawful, which a buyer's solicitor may ask for later, and it settles a doubtful measurement before the bricklayer starts rather than after an enforcement letter. A porch that misses a limit needs drawings for a householder application, and the two sets are close enough that we can switch route without starting again.

We draw the existing and proposed front elevations, a ground floor plan with the porch footprint dimensioned to the outside of the walls, a section showing the height above ground, and a block plan with the measured distance to the highway boundary. A porch is a small job, and our guide to planning drawings without a site visit explains when a survey visit can be skipped. See our lawful development certificate drawings page for what the service covers, or planning drawings where the porch needs full permission.