The government is considering introducing rights to allow some offices to be converted into homes without the need for a change-of-use application.
Coalition officials have asked the property industry to submit its thoughts on allowing change of use from B1 to C3 to be classed instead as permitted development.
Sources said the the government was considering the change in an attempt to help address the housing shortage.
Last year, the number of homes being built dropped to its lowest level since 1923, according to figures released this week (see p44). The change would allow small offices, studios, laboratories and light industrial space to be redeveloped as housing without the need for a planning application.
The permitted development rights could also be added relatively quickly as an amendment to the Town and Country Planning Order 1995.
This week, figures from commercial law firm EMW showed that change-of-use applications and approvals were now at their highest level since the start of the recession.
EMW’s data reveals that a total of 6,800 change-of-use applications were lodged in the third quarter of 2010, up by 19% from the 5,700 applications submitted in the first three months of the year.
Some 82% of applications in Q3 were approved, the highest proportion since Q1 2008.
The number of planning applications submitted in Q3 2010 fell by 1% to 126,000. Change of use accounted for 5.4% of all applications.
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
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