What constitutes habitation of a garden shed from a Planning perspective.

ircoha

I want to build a stand alone building in my back garden which will have 3 possible uses.

1: A garden shed.

2: an art studio for my own use and also teaching art classes.

3: granny flat for elderly parent.

The planning regs seem as follows:

If 1 and < 25sqm in floor area then exempt.

If 2 regarded as commercial then need planning for any size.

If 3 need planning any size.

Do they treat a granny flat in the same way as an additional house?

It will need to be about 30sq meters so I need to apply anyway:
wondering whether to go commercial as stated or go for granny flat from the start.

Other option is apply for 30 sqm garden shed and then apply for retention of art studio and granny flat as and when required.

Any suggesstions please?
Thanks

Sonnenblumen

The regs differentiate domestic from commercial use. Commercial regs are much more stringent and getting retention on commercial is much more difficult than domestic/private use.

Unapproved commercial development is more likely to get a court order for demolition.

There are also health and safety, public liability etc etc to be considered. Not as simple as you seem to think.

muffler

First of all I would just like to remind people that we dont condone the flaunting of the planning laws nor do we allow discussion on it in this forum. However every case is different depending on the nature and extent of the opening post.

In this case I dont see too much out of the way but just be careful with replies as we dont want to see posts like "go ahead and build and forget the planners as they are only a shower of ****ers" or along the lines of "sure your local councillor will get it sorted for you"

Anyway my advice to the OP would be to apply for planning permission for a domestic garage/shed/store and when you get the planning you can decide what best to do then. If the use was changed then of course you should apply for that before you carry out the development. In a hypothetical situation where you were forced into applying for retention then the worse can happen is that it would be refused and you can always revert to the original usage - i.e. domestic shed.

If you have the planning permission for the domestic shed then I cant see enforcement proceedings being instigated but if they were I think demolition of the structure would be out of the question as you can voluntarily regularise the usage back to the originally approved. Your shed would remain safe thus protecting your investment.

All of this is hypothetical as I said and any potential change of use should be addressed with a formal planning application in advance.

Mellor

Apply for a shed. Build a shed (or go straight out an build it if less that 25m2). Then see where you stand.

There is a big difference between doing art in you shed, and studio that provides lessons. You might be able to go ahead after discussing it with the council. for example, I someone gives guitar lessons or grinds in their house, do they need to consider such matters, or are they enforced.

As for granny flat, an application will be required. I wouldn't go retention, as that is when you've done it and have to change. Change of use would be better. Build the shed, then apply for a change of use and fit it out as a flat. Of course build a good quaility shed that has the min spec for a flat. The energy rating as a separate property would be fantastic.

ircoha

Muffler: many thanks for your comments: It was not my intention to try elict the types of unhelpful responses you listed, I was trying to exhaust the possible options.

SB: thanks for you comments and highlighting some of the issues with commercial dev.

Mellor:thanks for highlighting the change of use option as opposed to retention.

From PL5 via the link Muffler posted earlier elsewhere.
[ http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/PlanningDevelopment/Planning/PlanningLeaflets/ for benefit of others]

7. Can I build a garage?
You can build a garage, carport, shed, greenhouse, kennel
for domestic pets etc., as long as it does not extend out in
front of the building line of the house and does not exceed 4
metres in height, (if it has a tiled or slated pitched roof), or 3
metres (if it has any other roof type). The floor area
limitation for exempted development is 25 square metres.

Just wondering what constitutes a pitched roof, in other words, what is the angle that makes an otherwise flat, or lean-to type roof a pitched roof?
Thanks.

muffler

ircoha wrote:

Muffler: many thanks for your comments: It was not my intention to try elict the types of unhelpful responses you listed, I was trying to exhaust the possible options.

I wasn't suggesting that you started the thread with that intention but I just wanted to remind other users of what type of comments they should or should not post.

ircoha wrote:

Just wondering what constitutes a pitched roof, in other words, what is the angle that makes an otherwise flat, or lean-to type roof a pitched roof?

Because it has to be a slate or tiled roof you can take it that the minimum pitch will be 22 degrees.

Mellor

Just for reference.
A flat roof is less than 10 degrees. A pitched roof is 10-70 degrees and a wall is 70-90.

But this doesn't change the 22 degree roof for slates/tiles allowable to 4m.

ircoha

Thanks guys, will be sticking with the wording of PL5 as will not go for planning for the shed so will slope accordingly.