Class M: betting shops and takeaways to homes
Class M turns a small shop, betting office or hot food takeaway into a dwellinghouse through prior approval. The 150 m2 floorspace cap and the 20 March 2013 qualifying use date decide most cases before design begins.
Class M is the permitted development right that turns a small shop unit, a betting office or a hot food takeaway into housing without a planning application. You still have to apply for prior approval, so it is not a free pass, but the authority can only consider the matters the Order lists. For a Class M takeaway to dwellinghouse conversion the two numbers that decide everything are 150 m² of floorspace and the qualifying use date of 20 March 2013. Get either wrong and the submission is invalid rather than refused.
Which uses Class M covers
Class M sits in Schedule 2 Part 3 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, and it permits a change of use to a dwellinghouse within Class C3. The uses it works from include retail, betting offices, pay day loan shops and hot food takeaways, alongside mixed uses combining one of those with a flat above.
The list has been amended more than once, and the 2020 reorganisation of the Use Classes Order moved shops and professional services into Class E while leaving betting offices, pay day loan shops and hot food takeaways as sui generis uses. Read the current consolidated text of Class M on legislation.gov.uk before you rely on scope, because advice written before August 2021 describes a different right.
Class M also permits the building works reasonably necessary to carry out the conversion. That phrase does real work, and the limits of it are much the same as the limits in Class Q: internal reconfiguration and modest external change, not rebuilding.
Floorspace limits and qualifying buildings
The cumulative floor space of the existing building changing use must not exceed 150 m². That is cumulative across the right, so a unit converted in stages does not get two bites.
The building must have been in one of the qualifying uses on 20 March 2013, or, if it was vacant on that date, when it was last in use. This is the condition that most often kills an application. A unit that has drifted through three occupiers and a long void since 2013 needs documentary evidence of what it was and when, and the evidence has to reach back further than the current lease.
Collect it before you exchange. Rating list entries, old leases, licensing records, dated street imagery and historic planning decisions all help. A listed building or a scheduled monument is excluded from the right altogether.
The prior approval matters assessed
Prior approval under Class M is applied for using the procedure in paragraph W of Part 3, and the authority assesses a closed list. The matters are transport and highways impacts, contamination risks on the site, flooding risks on the site, whether it is undesirable for the building to change to residential use because of the effect on local service provision where there is a reasonable prospect of the building continuing to provide such services, and, where the building sits in a designated shopping area, the effect on the sustainability of that area.
Where the proposal includes building works, the design and external appearance of the building come into the assessment as well.
| Matter | What the authority is looking for |
|---|---|
| Transport and highways | access, servicing, parking stress, refuse and cycle storage |
| Contamination | the history of the site and whether investigation is needed |
| Flooding | flood zone, surface water risk and finished floor levels |
| Local service provision | whether the unit has a realistic commercial future |
| Shopping area sustainability | the effect of a residential frontage on a parade |
A building in a conservation area attracts a further consideration about the change of use of the ground floor and its effect on the character or sustainability of the area. Ground floor conversions on a parade are the hardest version of this right to get through.
Natural light in habitable rooms
Since 2021 the Order has required new dwellings created under these Part 3 rights to provide adequate natural light in all habitable rooms, and prior approval can be refused where the scheme fails that test. The reason is obvious once you have walked round a deep, narrow shop unit with a solid party wall on each side and glazing only at the front.
Deal with it at design stage. Rooflights over a single storey rear section, a lightwell, a glazed rear elevation or a plan that puts the bedroom at the front and the kitchen in the dark middle are all credible answers. A bedroom with borrowed light through a corridor is not.
Minimum internal floor areas also apply to conversions under this Part, measured against the nationally described space standard, so check the current wording of the Order and the standard itself rather than relying on the 150 m² ceiling to do that work for you.
Noise from neighbouring commercial premises
Class M's list of prior approval matters is narrower than the list under Class MA, and noise from neighbouring commercial premises is handled differently between the two. Check the current wording of each before you assume the authority can or cannot raise it.
Either way the problem is real. A flat formed in a mid-parade unit sits between a chiller plant on one side and an extract duct on the other, and residential occupiers complain. Commission a short noise appraisal early, and if the surrounding uses are an issue, design to a measured internal noise target with glazing, ventilation and separating construction chosen to suit. A Noise Impact Assessment is the usual deliverable where the authority can take the point.
The same forward thinking applies to ground conditions. A former dry cleaner or a unit with a below-ground fuel tank will need a contaminated land assessment prepared by a suitably qualified person in accordance with BS 10175, and that is a professional job rather than a desk exercise.
Building works that fall outside the right
Three things routinely stray beyond Class M. Rear extensions to gain floor area, because the right permits works reasonably necessary for the conversion rather than enlargement. New openings in a flank wall where none existed, which is an appearance and amenity question and often a party wall question too. And changes to the shopfront that amount to a new frontage rather than an alteration.
Where you need more than the right allows, the cleaner route is a full planning application for the whole scheme with a Planning Statement that addresses policy as well as the technical matters, rather than a prior approval plus a second application later. Two consents that do not quite line up are the most common reason a conversion stalls on site.
Comparing Class M with Class MA
Both deliver housing from commercial premises, and they are not interchangeable.
Class M works from retail and specified sui generis uses, is capped at 150 m², and tests the qualifying use against 20 March 2013. Class MA works from Class E commercial, business and service uses, has a much larger floorspace ceiling, and imposes vacancy and continuous prior use conditions that catch tenanted buildings. The Class MA vacancy and continuous use conditions are the usual stumbling block there.
For a 90 m² takeaway that has been trading since before 2013, Class M is almost always the better route. For a 400 m² former office, Class MA is the only route of the two that works. And where neither fits, a full application is not the failure it feels like, because it lets you argue the planning merits instead of ticking a closed list.
Whichever route you take, a Lawful Development Certificate under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is the only formal way to confirm that proposed works are lawful. This is general guidance rather than legal advice, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Browse all 66 PlanScope report types to see what a prior approval submission for your unit is likely to need. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
What is the floorspace limit for a Class M conversion?
The cumulative floor space of the existing building changing use must not exceed 150 m². It is a cumulative limit across the right, so a unit converted in two phases cannot claim the allowance twice. Buildings above that figure need a different route, usually Class MA where the previous use was within Class E, or a full planning application.
Why does 20 March 2013 matter for Class M?
The building must have been in one of the qualifying uses on 20 March 2013, or, where it was vacant then, when it was last in use before that date. Evidence of the historic use is the applicant's responsibility. Rating records, old leases, licensing files and dated imagery are the usual proof, and a long void makes the exercise harder.
Can the council refuse prior approval because the flat would be dark?
Yes. The Order requires adequate natural light in all habitable rooms of dwellings created under these Part 3 rights, and a scheme that cannot deliver it can be refused on that ground. Deep plan shop units need rooflights, a lightwell or a glazed rear elevation. Borrowed light through a corridor will not satisfy the test.
Is Class M available for a listed building or in a conservation area?
Listed buildings and scheduled monuments are excluded from the right. Conservation areas are not excluded outright, but the authority may consider the effect of a ground floor change of use on the character or sustainability of the area, which makes parade frontages the hardest version of this right to secure.
What is the difference between Class M and Class MA?
Class M works from retail and specified sui generis uses such as betting offices and hot food takeaways, with a 150 m² cap and a 2013 qualifying use date. Class MA works from Class E commercial, business and service uses, allows much larger floorspace, and imposes vacancy and continuous prior use conditions instead.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.