Regulations & Planning

The government's crackdown on holiday rentals is finally hitting properties that have been converted from family homes, as officials work to address the housing shortage ...

A Wiltshire man has been given a suspended prison sentence for breaching a High Court injunction to remove unlawfully built properties from his land. Some ...

In December 2022, Tower Hamlets councillors rejected a planning application for a new Chinese Embassy. The Chinese government decided not to appeal this decision, which ...

House builder Taylor Wimpey has been told to remove a property built without planning permission. The property in Cranbrook is located on the high street ...

The government has made it compulsory for all housebuilders to join and comply with the New Homes Ombudsman Service. This is in an attempt to ...

Associates of Snai1 Primary Products 2023 Ltd state on their website that its team "has a proven track record of minimising the liability for empty ...

A temporary development of short term housing has been built on the site of a former primary school in Llantwit Major, South Wales. The buildings ...

Existing Permitted Development Rights (PDR) for agricultural buildings have been extended from 21st May 2024. The change allows farm owners to convert farm buildings into ...

A modernist home at 71 Whitney Drive in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, attracted the attention of English Heritage due to its "classic modernist vision of large windows ...

Shropshire Council has been forced to refute allegations that a planning report showed "due regard" for the "equality of opportunity" between travellers and non-travellers. Mr ...

The new owner of a property in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, has been granted permission for the house to become a holiday let - despite ten years ...

A couple's failure to obtain planning permission prior to starting work on a self build project has attracted an unexpected £82,994.88 bill. Habib and Jade ...

The chairman of a planning authority has withdrawn his own planning application after being informed it would not be approved. Councillor Arshad Hussain is head ...

Despite being supported in his application by his neighbours, the owner of a £13.5 million property has not been given permission to rebuild the existing ...

Brightwell Manor is a three storey, Grade II Listed house in the picturesque village of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. The original building dates back to the 17th ...

In the sleepy village of Titchfield, where the drama usually revolves around tea choices and garden gnome placements, a theatrical scandal has unfolded. A 450-seat ...

The Hedgerow Regulations came into force on 1 June 1997 and are still current. The regulations were created with the intent of protecting important countryside ...

A local authority has taken so long to enforce a demolition order that it has been left with no choice but to regard the existence ...

New rules for fire safety compliance in holiday let property come into effect from 1st October 2023, which include home owners and landlords letting out ...

You will usually need to apply for planning permission when developing land or a building (including changing its use). Development that is carried out without ...

A West End theatre producer, Adam Spiegel, has been instructed to dismantle his coastal residence dubbed "Arcady" (an ideal rustic paradise) by North Norfolk District ...

A partly completed four bedroomed house in  Walsall, West Midlands has again been deemed unacceptable by the local authority. The house at 117 Sandringham Avenue, ...

A new town being constructed ten miles from Cambridge has been described as the largest of its kind since the development of Milton Keynes, back ...

Planning control is in place to help protect the general public interest. This does not necessarily equate to the private interest of individuals, who can ...

National Trading Standards has deemed the use of the term "price on application" (POA) in relation to the sale of houses misleading, as it hides ...

The bungalow has long been the choice property for people of retirement age or planning for the future, and an aging UK population means the ...

A major house builder has called for planning policy to be amended, to reflect the increasing demand in working from home. Barratt Developments commissioned the ...

As Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, Michael Gove is reviewing the issues he has inherited, including ...

Green belt policy was written into law after the introduction of the New Towns Acts of 1946 and 1981, which helped reduce the population of ...

South Hams District Council has come under fire from a parish council and residents of seaside village for its planning policies, as Hope Cove gets ...

Property developers in England are now able to convert a range of high street business properties into flats without the need for planning permission. The ...

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has been updated and makes changes to advice on building within rural areas. The document previously required a home ...

The Department of Education's (DoE) new fire safety proposals for school buildings still allow for combustible cladding to be installed on buildings less than 18 ...

In a retort to local authorities, who have accused house builders of 'land banking' in order to suppress supply and drive demand, the Home Builders ...

The government's plans to reform planning should be used as an opportunity to improve communities and ensure any changes are good for 'growth, heritage and ...

On 1st May 2021, the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuel Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 came into force as part of the government’s Clean Air Strategy ...

The government is devising a ‘fairer formula’ to its target of house building in England. The plans should result in more new homes being built ...

The housing minister, Luke Hall, has caused frustration amongst MPs, after saying that Covid 19 was to blame for the government's three year failure to ...

In a surprising announcement that included restrictions on the ability of local councils to prevent unwanted or unsightly development, the government has made changes to ...

The government announced an overhaul of the planning system, in an effort to build homes more quickly and encourage building on brownfield sites. Under new ...

The housing minister, Robert Jenrick, has announced a series of new UK housing bills that will soon be introduced to the Commons. Building Safety Bill ...

A national report for the Place Alliance and countryside charity, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), has been published by UCL, in response to ...

Don't buy a house in a flood plain - or you may find many of your dreams washed away! The definition of a high risk ...

Declining unemployment, better skills and the establishment of new businesses have been the main driving factors behind improvements to living standards in the UK's cities ...

It has emerged that one of the most significant impacts on property prices is the ability to get to work easily. The University of Leeds ...

Tiny homes are starting to spring up across the UK as developers exploit a change in planning rules where offices can now be converted into ...

A Welsh village that is home to 850 people could soon need to be entirely relocated due to the threat of climate change, although refugee ...

The temporary rules introduced in 2014 that allowed homeowners in England to carry out certain extensions to their properties without planning permission have been made ...

Wrexham Council has rejected a planned development that promised to deliver badly needed affordable housing to the town. Councillors accused the developer, Mandale Group, of ...

The term 'affordable housing' describes lower rent property that is available to eligible households that are unable to afford the full market value. The term ...

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is celebrating a landmark victory for postal workers across the UK after the government agreed to alter building regulations on ...

In 2012, we reported on the government's proposal to increase the level of construction of large scale infrastructure (speeding up the planning and other processes ...

A new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has delivered a dismal picture of local authority planning departments which are struggling under current house ...

Charles Dance is fighting to save his local pub in Kentish Town, north London, from being turned into a branch of the supermarket chain, Nisa ...

A £1.2 million Florida-style mansion in rural Northam in North Devon, with beautiful views over the River Torridge, was originally granted planning permission as an ...

The 5th April 2018 marked a landmark occasion for HM Land Registry - on this day the first digitally signed mortgage deed was used to ...

Two retrospective planning applications for a house in Lightwood, Staffordshire, have been rejected by Stoke-on-Trent Council, after the property was found to have been built ...

Thornton Holdings Ltd, owner of the 120-acre estate 19th century listed Thornton Manor, near the pretty village of Thornton Hough on the Wirral,  was granted ...

Late in 2017, the Chancellor’s decision to let first time buyers be exempt from stamp duty was welcomed by many.  Reducing the tax burden on ...

Small businesses across the land will be celebrating as the Chancellor confirmed the abolition of the Staircase Tax. In August 2017, business owners were shocked ...

In Woolway v Mazars the Supreme Court concluded that a 'hereditament' is “a self-contained piece of property, namely all parts of which are physically accessible ...

Parliament has approved the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No.2) Order 2017, which amends the permitted development rights that allowed the ...

It not normally necessary to apply for planning permission to convert a loft space into living accommodation, unless the roof space is extended, altered, or ...