Class MA and the conditions that limit it

Class MA lets a building in Class E commercial, business and service use change to dwellings under prior approval, without a full planning application. The right is narrower than its reputation. The building must have been in Class E use for a continuous period of at least two years before you apply, the right is disapplied on a list of designated sites and heritage assets, every new home must have adequate natural light in all habitable rooms and meet the nationally described space standard, and an Article 4 direction can remove the right entirely in the area you are interested in.

Two of the original limits have gone. The 1,500 square metre floorspace cap and the three month vacancy requirement were removed by an amendment to the Order that took effect on 5 March 2024. Read the current text of Class MA before relying on any summary, including this one, because Part 3 has been amended repeatedly.

What Class MA permits

Class MA sits in Schedule 2 Part 3 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 and was introduced in 2021. It permits the change of use of a building and any land within its curtilage from Class E to Class C3, subject to prior approval by the local planning authority.

Class E is broad. It covers shops, restaurants and cafes, financial and professional services, indoor sport and fitness, medical and health services, creches and nurseries, offices, research and development, and light industrial processes suitable in a residential area. So a former bank branch, a gym, a dental surgery and an office all come within the right in principle.

This replaced the narrower Class O right for offices, which applied only to Class B1(a) use and has fallen away with the use class it referred to. If you are reading older guidance that talks about office to residential conversion under Class O, it is describing a right that no longer applies to new proposals.

Physical works are not authorised by Class MA. The right covers the change of use and, to a limited extent, works reasonably necessary for the conversion. New windows, extensions, external alterations and a change to the shopfront need their own permission, and that is where many prior approval schemes come unstuck.

The two year use requirement and the vacancy test

The qualifying condition that bites most often is continuous Class E use for at least two years immediately before the date of the prior approval application. Not two years at some point in the past. Not two years of ownership.

Evidence that condition properly. Business rates records, lease documents, utility accounts, trading records, signage photographs with dates, and a statutory declaration where documentary evidence is thin. An authority that doubts the two year position will refuse, and the burden is on the applicant.

The three month vacancy requirement that originally sat alongside it was removed from 5 March 2024. That removal matters commercially, because it means a building in active Class E use can convert without a deliberate void period. But the two year use condition survived, and the two are easy to confuse when reading older commentary.

Where the building has had a mixed history, the question becomes which use was the primary one. A unit used as a shop with ancillary storage is in Class E. A unit used substantially for general industrial purposes in Class B2 is not, and no amount of a Class E label in the lease cures that.

Floorspace limits and how they changed

Until 5 March 2024, Class MA applied only where the cumulative floorspace changing use did not exceed 1,500 square metres. That cap has been removed, so larger buildings can now use the right.

The practical effect is uneven. A large building generating a substantial number of homes attracts more scrutiny on the prior approval matters the authority can consider, particularly transport and noise, even though the floorspace itself is no longer a bar. And removal of the cap has made Article 4 directions more attractive to authorities that want to protect town centre frontages, so the local position matters more than the national one.

Where a scheme would once have been split into phases to stay under the cap, check whether a single application is now simpler. Where a previous phase was already approved under the old limit, the cumulative floorspace wording no longer constrains the next one.

Matters the authority may consider

Prior approval is not a rubber stamp, and the list of matters is specific. The authority considers transport impacts, particularly safe site access, contamination risk, flood risk, the impact of noise from commercial premises on the intended occupiers, and the impact on the intended occupiers of introducing residential use into an area the authority considers important for general industrial, storage or distribution use. Where the building is in a conservation area, the authority also considers the impact of the loss of the ground floor use.

Those last two are the ones that refuse schemes. A unit in the middle of a working industrial estate is a poor candidate however clean the paperwork. A ground floor shop in a conservation area shopping parade engages the frontage question directly, and an authority with a town centre vitality policy will use it.

What the authority cannot do is apply its general development plan policies as though this were a full application. Affordable housing, amenity space standards beyond those in the Order, and design policy are outside the prior approval matters. That is the value of the route, and it is also why authorities reach for Article 4.

Natural light and space standards

Two conditions apply to all residential conversions under Part 3 and are easy to overlook.

Every habitable room must have adequate natural light, and the authority must refuse prior approval where the plans do not show it. There is no numerical test in the Order, so a short daylight note with the plans is worth preparing, particularly for deep plan buildings and basements. A bedroom lit only by a borrowed light or a rooflight at the end of a long corridor will not pass.

New dwellings created under Part 3 must also meet the nationally described space standard, which sets minimum gross internal areas by number of bedrooms and bed spaces, along with minimum room dimensions. Annotate every unit on the plans with its gross internal area and its bed space count. An application that leaves the officer to measure it invites a refusal.

Where Article 4 directions apply

An Article 4 direction made by the authority removes a permitted development right in a defined area. Many authorities have made directions covering Class MA in town centres, primary shopping frontages and industrial areas.

Check for directions before anything else. They are published by the authority and recorded in the national planning data, and a direction means a full planning application with all the development plan policies in play. National policy expects directions to be limited to situations where they are necessary to avoid wholly unacceptable adverse impacts, and to the smallest geographical area possible, which is a point worth making in representations on a draft direction rather than after it is confirmed.

Watch the timing too. A direction made without immediate effect comes into force after a notice period, and an application made before that date is determined under the right as it stood.

Common reasons prior approval is refused

The pattern is consistent: evidence of the two year Class E use is thin, the plans do not demonstrate adequate natural light, unit sizes fall below the space standard, the site is in an area the authority treats as important for industrial or storage use, noise from a neighbouring commercial operation has not been assessed, or external alterations have been included that the right does not cover.

Flood risk and contamination refusals turn on the absence of an assessment rather than on the substance. Where the building sits in Flood Zone 2 or 3, submit a flood risk assessment with the prior approval application. Where the previous use was potentially contaminative, submit a desk study.

A refusal can be appealed under section 78, and the appeal is determined on the prior approval matters only, which keeps the case narrow.

Deciding between prior approval and a full application

Prior approval is faster, lower in cost and narrower. A full application is slower and opens the scheme to the whole development plan, but it can authorise external alterations, a different mix, and a scheme that does not fit the qualifying conditions.

Three situations point towards a full application. An Article 4 direction covers the site. The scheme needs external works that materially change the building. Or the building fails a qualifying condition, for example because it has not been in Class E use for two years.

Note also that development permitted by a development order is outside the biodiversity gain condition that otherwise attaches to planning permissions, which is explained in our note on the biodiversity gain condition. The levy can still apply to prior approval development, and the notice requirements are the same, as set out in commencement notices and the levy amendment regulations.

Follow changes to Part 3 on the planning law updates timeline, and check the Order as currently in force before you commit. Browse the 66 report types by category to scope the flood, contamination and noise evidence a prior approval application may need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Permitted development rights change frequently and a lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.