Change of use in London: when you need planning permission
A change of use needs planning permission when it is a material change in the use of a building or land, unless a permitted development right covers it. Turning a house into flats counts as material. A small HMO may not, depending on your council and use class.
Prefer to talk it through?
What counts as a material change
Planning law asks whether a change is material, not whether it is big. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives one clear example: using a building previously used as a single dwellinghouse as two or more separate dwellinghouses is a material change of use (legislation.gov.uk).
So a house split into flats needs permission, however modest the building work. Our guide on converting a house into flats covers that case in detail, and our flat conversion drawings service covers the drawings.
House to HMO: the Class L right
Some changes need no application because a national right allows them. Under Part 3, Class L of the General Permitted Development Order 2015, a dwellinghouse (use class C3) can switch to a small house in multiple occupation (C4) and back again without an application, as long as no second separate dwelling is created.
The catch is that a council can remove the right in a defined area with an Article 4 direction. If yours has, a house-to-HMO change needs a planning application. Our Article 4 direction guide explains how to check, and our HMO planning guide goes through the rest.
Across the 33 London councils, there were 52,543 planning decisions in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2 (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2, released 24 Sep 2026).
Shops, offices and other changes
Other uses have their own rules, and some changes between commercial and residential uses go through the prior approval process rather than a full application. Prior approval asks the council a narrower set of questions than a full application does.
This is where a call to the council, or a conversation with us, saves the most time. Our change of use drawings service covers prior approval and full applications, with a starting fixed fee of £895.
The application fee and the clock
For a material change in use of a building or land other than the two cases the fee table lists separately, the fee is £610 from 1 April 2026 (category 14 of SI 2012/2920 as indexed, per the government fee table). The two separately listed cases carry different fees, so check the category for your project.
Once a valid application is in, article 34 of the DMPO 2015 gives the council 8 weeks to decide it, unless it is major development, and the period starts the following day. Read our guide to how long planning permission takes for extensions to that period.
How busy London councils are
Across the 33 London councils, there were 52,543 planning decisions in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2 (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2, released 24 Sep 2026).
A clear, correctly drawn application is easier to decide than a vague one. We prepare the existing and proposed layouts, the use of each floor and the supporting statement so the council can see exactly what changes.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £895 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for change of use drawings (prior approval or planning), from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| two or more separate dwellinghouses | Town and Country Planning Act 1990 s55(3)(a): using a building previously used as a single dwellinghouse as two or more separate dwellinghouses is a material change of use (source wording: "the use as two or more separate dwellinghouses of any building previously used as a single dwellinghouse") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £610 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed), category 14: a material change in use of a building or land other than categories 12 and 13 (source wording: £610) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| Class L | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 3 Class L: change of use from Class C3 (dwellinghouses) to Class C4 (houses in multiple occupation), and back, is permitted development unless it would create two or more separate dwellings (source wording: "Class C4 (houses in multiple occupation)") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 52,543 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.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 that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
Do I need planning permission for a change of use?
Can I change a house to an HMO without planning permission?
How much is the planning fee for change of use?
How long does the council take?
Photographs: Tim Green from Bradford (CC BY 2.0).
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