Change of use drawings in Hounslow
Turning one Hounslow house into two or more homes is a material change of use, so it needs planning permission and a drawing set to match. DrawingsDirect, MCIAT chartered architectural technologists, prepares the existing and proposed plans, elevations and sections for a Hounslow application, with change of use drawings from £895.
Fixed fee from £695 drawings + £200 survey (£895 total) · all prices
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When a Hounslow house conversion counts as a change of use
Under section 55(3)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, using a building that was a single dwellinghouse as two or more separate dwellinghouses involves a material change in the use. That is the situation behind most house-to-flats projects in Hounslow, and it is why a householder application is the wrong form for them.
Other changes of use, such as shop to home or office to home, follow different rules and different forms. If you are not sure which applies to your building, our guide to planning permission for a change of use in London sets out the questions to ask before you commission drawings.
What Hounslow expects to see on the drawings
A change of use application is judged on the layout as much as the exterior. The case officer looks for each proposed home on its own plan, how the entrances and shared areas work, and what changes on the elevations. We draw the existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections so that every dimension agrees from one sheet to the next.
For a house split into flats, see also our flat conversion drawings service; the planning set becomes the base for the Building Regulations drawings later. Our guide to converting a house into flats covers the planning test in more detail.
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 690 Hounslow planning appeals decided between 2021 and 2026, with enforcement, withdrawn and invalid cases excluded.
How Hounslow decides planning applications
Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) shows Hounslow decided 1,216 planning applications of all types across the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2.
The statutory decision period for an application that is not major development is 8 weeks beginning with the day after the council receives it (DMPO 2015, article 34(2)(b)). A complete, consistent set makes a validation query, and the delay it brings, less likely. Our planning permission service explains the wider process.
Appeals in Hounslow
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 690 Hounslow planning appeals decided between 2021 and 2026, with enforcement, withdrawn and invalid cases excluded. Of those, 41% were allowed.
That is the borough-wide picture across every type of development, not a forecast for your address. The practical lesson for a conversion is to answer the likely objections in the first submission: the quality of the homes, outlook and light, and the effect on neighbours.
Conservation areas and Article 4 directions in Hounslow
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) finds 43 conservation-area entries and 3 Article 4 direction entries on the national register for Hounslow, and the Article 4 list there may be incomplete. A conservation area adds heritage questions to a conversion that changes the front of a house. An Article 4 direction removes permitted development rights that would otherwise apply.
Check your address against both before you design, starting with Hounslow Council's conservation area map. Our guide to Article 4 directions in London explains how a direction works and how to find out whether one covers your street.
Hounslow's fee per new home, and our fee
From 1 April 2026 the statutory fee for changing a single dwellinghouse to two or more dwellinghouses, where fewer than 10 are created, is £610 per additional dwellinghouse (SI 2012/2920, Schedule 1, Part 2, category 12(1)(a)). That is paid to the council, separately from our drawings.
Our fixed fee for change of use drawings starts from £895. The full list is on the pricing page, and the change of use drawings service page describes what the set contains. If Hounslow asks for changes to the drawings, the redraws are free. Read the Act itself at legislation.gov.uk.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1,216 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 690 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 41% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 3 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 43 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| two or more separate dwellinghouses | Town and Country Planning Act 1990 s55(3)(a): use as two or more separate dwellinghouses of a building previously used as a single dwellinghouse involves a material change in the use (source wording: two or more separate dwellinghouses) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £610 | Statutory fee from 1 April 2026, SI 2012/2920 Sch 1 Pt 2 category 12(1)(a): change of use of a single dwellinghouse to two or more (fewer than 10) dwellinghouses, per additional dwellinghouse | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 8 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(b): decision period for an application that is not major development (source wording: 8 weeks beginning with the day immediately following receipt) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £895 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for change of use drawings, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
Questions people ask
Do I need planning permission to turn my Hounslow house into flats?
What does the council charge for a house-to-flats application?
How long does Hounslow have to decide?
Does a conservation area change what I can do in Hounslow?
Photographs: David Howard (CC BY-SA 2.0); Tim Green from Bradford (CC BY 2.0).
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