Lawful Development Certificate in Barnet

Certificates and larger extensions in Barnet

The council's figures for larger home extension prior approvals tell a useful story. In its latest year it granted 18 of them and refused 103. Those are the applications for rear extensions beyond the standard depth, where neighbours are consulted and the officer weighs the effect on them.

A certificate for a standard-depth extension avoids that weighing altogether. The standard figure is: 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey. If your plan needs more, prior approval in Barnet is the route, and we explain the odds honestly instead of promising a result.

A larger project may belong in a full application. Our planning drawings in Barnet cover that, and the council's guidance sits in the Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, Part 4: Guidance on residential extensions and alterations.

Green Belt, flats and other limits

Around 28 per cent of the borough is covered by Green Belt polygons. Green Belt does not itself withdraw the householder rights, but it raises the stakes if a project falls outside them and has to go for permission.

Flats are the other common surprise: Householder permitted development (Sch 2 Part 1) does not apply to flats or buildings containing flats. So we confirm the type of dwelling early.

Loft work follows the volume rule: 40 m³ (terrace house) / 50 m³ (any other house) additional roof volume. Add earlier roof extensions to the new work before you decide the size.

Houses, volumes and the sums an officer checks

The Order treats house types differently, and only 52.5 per cent of Barnet households live in a house or bungalow. A terrace gets a smaller roof allowance than a detached house, and a house that has already been extended may have little left to use.

We set the sums out on one sheet. It lists the original house, every addition since, and the proposed work, with the volume or area beside each limit. The officer sees the arithmetic without having to rebuild it from four drawings, which keeps queries down.

Barnet's householder decisions give a sense of the council's pace: it decided 1,361 householder applications in its latest year and granted 80.2 per cent, with 95.1 per cent decided in time. Those figures are for planning applications, not certificates.

Barnet also has an Article 4 direction for houses in multiple occupation. Splitting a house into rooms to let is a change of use, so it needs a different route from an extension. We say so at the quote stage.

Fee, drawings and next steps

The council's fee is: Half the normal planning fee (householder: £274). It is paid to Barnet directly. Ours is fixed in advance and includes a check by a second chartered technologist.

Each set has a location plan, block plan, floor plans, elevations and sections at stated scales. If the council queries a drawing we correct it at no charge.

Related help in the borough: retrospective planning applications in Barnet for work already built, and the wider overview of architectural drawings in Barnet. For neighbouring councils, see Haringey or Enfield. The national rules are on the Lawful Development Certificate page.