Class MA prior approval after the qualifying conditions changed

Class MA lost two of its qualifying conditions in 2024: the 1,500 square metre floorspace limit and the requirement that the building had been vacant for three months. What survived is the one that generates most refusals. The building must have been in a use falling within Class E for a continuous period of at least two years immediately before the date of the prior approval application, and the applicant has to prove it.

For a landlord buying a tired parade unit or a small office block, that is now the first piece of due diligence, ahead of the layout and ahead of the numbers. A building that changed hands mid-period, sat empty for a spell, or drifted into a sui generis use without anyone noticing may not qualify at all.

Proving the two years

The test is about use, not about occupation, and not about what the lease permits. A building can be unoccupied and still be in Class E use in the sense the Order requires, provided the lawful use has not been abandoned or changed. What defeats an application is an evidential gap rather than a vacant month.

Assemble the file before you apply:

• Leases, licences and tenancy agreements covering the whole period, with break dates and assignments.
• Business rates records showing the rateable occupier and the description of the hereditament.
• Utility accounts and meter readings.
• Accounts, invoices or correspondence showing the business trading from the address.
• Dated photographs, signage, and internet archive captures of the occupier's own website.
• A statutory declaration from someone with first-hand knowledge, where documentary evidence has gaps.

Watch for the use that slipped out of Class E. A unit that became a hot food takeaway, a drinking establishment, a betting shop or a cinema moved to sui generis and out of the class. A unit that became a nursery, a gym, a clinic or a professional office stayed inside it. Business rates descriptions are a quick first indicator and are not determinative.

Where the building is a mixed block, apply the test to the part being converted. A ground floor retail unit with two floors of offices above may have different histories.

What the council can actually refuse on

Prior approval is a narrow gate. The authority may only consider the matters the Order lists, which for Class MA cover transport and highways impacts, the risk of contamination, flooding risk, the effect of noise from commercial premises on the intended occupiers, the impact on the character or sustainability of a conservation area where the change relates to a ground floor use, the provision of adequate natural light in all habitable rooms, and fire safety considerations where the building meets the relevant height criteria.

The list does not include design, density, loss of employment floorspace as a general policy matter, affordable housing, amenity space or parking standards. Councils sometimes refuse on those and lose at appeal. They also, more effectively, refuse on the matters that are in the list, so treat each one as a report to be prepared rather than a box to be ticked.

Natural light is the sharpest of them. A deep plan office floor converted to flats produces internal rooms with no window, and the requirement is adequate natural light in all habitable rooms. Light wells, atria, reduced unit counts and shallower plans are the answers, and a layout that relies on borrowed light through a corridor will not pass.

Noise is the second. A first floor flat above a restaurant extract or a plant deck needs an acoustic assessment showing internal levels are acceptable, and mitigation that does not depend on windows staying closed without an alternative ventilation strategy.

Where the class still does not apply

Several exclusions remain. Listed buildings and land within their curtilage. Scheduled monuments. Safety hazard areas and military explosives storage areas. Sites of special scientific interest. Read the exclusion list in full rather than relying on a summary, since the drafting has been amended more than once.

Article 4 directions are the bigger practical constraint. Many authorities have made directions removing Class MA across town centres and employment areas, and national policy expects such directions to be limited to where they are necessary and to the smallest area possible. Whether a particular direction meets that test is a question for a plan examination or a challenge, not for your application. If a direction covers the building, the route is a full planning application.

Check for one at the outset. A direction that came into force after exchange and before completion is a bad surprise. Our note on the removal of the floorspace cap covers how the 2024 changes interact with directions made before them.

Fire safety and taller buildings

Where the building meets the height criteria for higher-risk buildings, fire safety enters twice: as a prior approval matter under the Order, and through the building safety regime that applies to the works themselves. The planning stage consultation with the Building Safety Regulator, and the fire statement that goes with it, is a separate process to programme, and the requirements around Gateway One fire statements apply to qualifying development regardless of the consent route.

On a mid-rise conversion below the threshold, the fire strategy is still a building regulations matter and still shapes the layout, particularly the escape route from upper floor flats through what used to be an office core.

Space standards, and why they bite

Dwellings created through the Part 3 routes must meet the nationally described space standard. That sets minimum gross internal areas by number of bedrooms and occupants, a minimum area for a single bedroom and a double bedroom, built-in storage, and a floor to ceiling height over a proportion of the area.

A conversion squeezed to maximise unit count fails the standard, and failing it takes the scheme outside the class rather than simply making it a poor scheme. Run the areas before the layout is fixed. On a deep plan floorplate, the space standard and the natural light requirement pull in the same direction, towards fewer and larger units.

A short planning statement submitted with the prior approval application is optional and usually worthwhile, because it lets you present the use evidence, the light strategy and the noise position in one place rather than leaving the officer to assemble them.

An illustrative application

Illustrative example. A two storey building, ground floor previously a bank and now a dental practice, first floor offices, both within Class E throughout the relevant period. Evidence comprises two leases, rates records, utility accounts and a statutory declaration covering a four month gap in 2024. The proposal creates four flats, all meeting the space standard, with two rear rooflights and a new light well to serve the rear of the first floor. Noise from the neighbouring takeaway extract is assessed with glazing and mechanical ventilation specified. Details are illustrative.

The determination period is 56 days from validation. Diary it on the day you receive the acknowledgement, and follow the planning law timeline for further changes to the class.

Enter the building postcode on PlanScope to check which constraints affect the address before you apply.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. 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.