Flat conversion drawings in Brent

Planning route and the fee

Dividing a house is always an application: Use of a single dwellinghouse as two or more dwellings is a material change of use. We prepare the sheets as part of our planning drawings in Brent. The fee is £610 per dwelling created, so two flats pay it twice.

Brent decided 734 minor applications in its latest year, and granted 74.8 per cent. It decided 95.2 per cent in time. That shows a team handling a steady flow of small schemes, though it is a borough-wide figure and cannot predict a single decision.

Flats in a borough where most households rent

Only 43.3 per cent of Brent households live in a house, and 38.4 per cent are owner-occupied. Rented and divided property is the norm, which is why officers see many conversions and know exactly where they go wrong: small bedrooms, windowless kitchens and cramped bin storage.

Every flat is tested against the national space standard. It sets 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, and bedrooms follow Single bedroom at least 7.5 m² and 2.15 m wide; double at least 11.5 m², one double at least 2.75 m wide (others 2.55 m). The national headroom test is Floor to ceiling at least 2.3 m for 75% of GIA; areas under 1.5 m headroom not counted. In London the ceiling-height ask is 2.5 m.

Gardens help. Domestic gardens make up 30.3 per cent of the land in the national land-use survey, which is why many Brent conversions can offer each flat private outdoor space. Trees limit some plots, with 1,229 tree preservation orders on record.

Choosing the right Brent document for your scheme

Because several documents can apply, we begin each Brent job with a short triage. The first question is whether the outside changes. If nothing external changes, the alterations guidance matters less and the design guide and space standards do most of the work. If a new dormer, side door or rear window is needed, the alterations guidance becomes central.

The second question is whether any room is let by the room. The HMO document exists because the borough has so many shared houses, and a plan that mixes two self-contained flats with one let room will be read against it. We recommend keeping the two uses apart, because a clean flat conversion is easier to explain than a hybrid.

The third question is the lower floor. A flat in a former cellar or semi-basement raises light, damp and escape questions, and where excavation is needed the basement document applies. Many Brent conversions avoid this by using the existing ground floor, and we say plainly when a lower flat will not work.

Brent made 879 householder decisions in the latest year and granted 86.6 per cent, so a well-organised submission is nothing unusual and a poor one stands out. We check the plans against the council list before they go in.

Costs beyond the drawings

Brent charges £357.14/m² (Residential, Use Classes C3 & C4; schedule base rate £200.00/m²) in CIL, and the small-build exemption does not help here because The under-100 m² CIL exemption does not apply where a new dwelling is created. The Mayoral element is band 2, £72.73 per square metre indexed.

Building control comes after consent. Approved Document E asks for Separating walls 43 dB DnT,w+Ctr (min); floors and stairs 43 dB airborne (min), 64 dB L'nT,w impact (max) for dwellings formed by material change of use, and our building regulations drawings in Brent show how the floors and walls get there.

Price and next steps

A two-flat scheme starts at £1,195, VAT included, with redraws free if the council asks for changes; we never promise a decision. If the plan is to let rooms rather than create flats, see our HMO conversion drawings. The borough's other services are on architectural drawings in Brent, and flat conversion drawings in Westminster show a central comparison.