Flat conversion drawings in Barking and Dagenham

Why a conversion here always needs an application

Dividing a house has no permitted development shortcut. The legal test is simple: Use of a single dwellinghouse as two or more dwellings is a material change of use. That is why the route is a full application on our planning drawings in Barking and Dagenham, with one fee for each new home.

The national fee is £610 per dwelling for up to ten dwellings, so a two-flat scheme pays it twice. Larger houses that make three flats pay three times.

Space, light and outdoor room in a borough of family houses

About 68.8 per cent of households live in a house or bungalow and 42.4 per cent own their home. Most conversion candidates are therefore three-bedroom terraces and semis with real gardens, which gives scope that a central borough cannot match.

Gardens are a design asset. Across the borough 22.8 per cent of the land was domestic garden in the national land-use survey. The London Plan asks for private outdoor space for each new home: Min 5 m² private outdoor space for 1-2 person dwellings plus 1 m² per extra occupant, min 1.5 m deep and wide. A long rear garden can often be split, with the ground-floor flat taking the larger share.

Inside, each flat is tested against the national space standard, which includes Minimum GIA: 1b1p 39 m² (37 m² with shower), 1b2p 50 m², 2b3p 61 m², 2b4p 70 m² (one-storey dwellings); 3b4p 74 m², 3b5p 86 m². London adds a height ask of 2.5 m, a test we check with a laser measure on site.

Decisions, CIL and cost beyond the drawings

The borough decided 169 minor applications, the category a small conversion falls into, in its latest year. It granted 71 per cent and decided 100 per cent within the time limit. They are borough-wide figures and not a forecast.

Charges come next. New dwellings lose the small-scheme exemption: The under-100 m² CIL exemption does not apply where a new dwelling is created. The borough's schedule is LBBD CIL Charging Schedule October 2014 and its residential rates are £109.80/m² (Zone 1: Barking Town Centre, Leftley and Faircross); £39.22/m² (Zone 2: Barking Riverside); £15.69/m² (Zone 3: rest of borough). Schedule rates (2015): £70 / £25 / £10.. The Mayoral charge sits in band 3 at £30.3 per square metre, indexed for this year. We flag any liability in the next-steps pack.

Laying out two flats in a family house

The typical candidate is a three-bedroom terrace or semi with a long garden and a ground floor of two reception rooms and a kitchen. The most common split puts a two-bedroom flat on the ground floor with the garden, and a smaller flat above using the first floor and loft space, reached by a private stair at the side or through a shared lobby.

Two details decide whether this works. The first is the stair: a flat above needs its own entrance and a protected escape route, and taking a ground-floor hall to make one can reduce the lower flat below its minimum floor area. We test it on the survey before committing. The second is the position of bathrooms and kitchens, which should stack so drainage runs vertically instead of crossing someone else's bedroom.

Loft space is useful but not free. Making it habitable usually means a rear dormer, and that is a separate planning question, so read our loft conversion drawings approach alongside this one. A conversion that depends on an extension is a larger project than the same conversion without one.

Last, think about the street. The borough has 4 conservation areas and 3 Article 4 directions, and the front of a converted house should still look like one house, with a single door visible and bins hidden.

Price and related pages

Our fee for a two-flat scheme starts at £1,195, VAT included, with free redraws if the council asks for changes. We never promise a decision. After consent, building regulations drawings in Barking and Dagenham turn the scheme into technical sheets. See architectural drawings in Barking and Dagenham for the full list, or compare flat conversion drawings in Westminster.