Class MA: what the prior approval actually tests

The class ma prior approval test is narrower than a planning application and wider than people expect. The council is not deciding whether homes in a former shop or office are a good idea. It is deciding a closed list of prescribed matters, and if the proposal satisfies them and the building qualifies, approval follows. Most refusals turn on one of three things: the building did not qualify in the first place, the natural light condition was not met, or the application was incomplete and the applicant thought the clock was running when it was not.

Class MA sits in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 and came into force on 1 August 2021, replacing the narrower office-to-residential route that preceded it. It has been amended since, including to the floorspace limit and the vacancy requirement, so the current text of the Order is the only safe source for the qualifying conditions.

What the building has to be before you start

Class MA applies to a building in Class E use changing to dwellinghouses in Class C3. The qualifying conditions attach to the building, not to the scheme, and they are checked first.

The introduced version required the building to have been in Class E use for a continuous period of at least two years before the date of application, and to have been vacant for a continuous period of at least three months immediately before that date. It also imposed a cumulative floorspace limit. Those requirements have been the subject of amendment, so establish the current position from the Order before committing to a programme, and document the evidence for whichever conditions apply.

The evidence itself is where applications fail. A statement that the building has been in Class E use for two years is an assertion. Business rates records showing the description and the dates, leases, trading records and dated photographs are evidence. Where the building's recent history is mixed, expect the council to test it.

Class MA also does not apply in a list of excluded situations, including listed buildings and land within their curtilage, scheduled monuments and their curtilage, sites of special scientific interest, safety hazard areas and military explosives storage areas. An Article 4 direction removing the right in a defined area is the other common disqualifier, and many authorities have made them across town centres, so check the local register before anything else.

The prescribed matters for prior approval

The council considers only the matters the Order prescribes. Those are:

• Transport impacts, particularly to secure safe site access.
• Contamination risks in relation to the building.
• Flooding risks in relation to the building.
• Impacts of noise from commercial premises on the intended occupiers of the new dwellings.
• Where the building is in a conservation area, the impact of the change of use of the ground floor on the character or sustainability of the conservation area.
• The provision of adequate natural light in all habitable rooms.

That list is the whole scope. Design, external appearance, affordable housing, the loss of commercial floorspace outside a conservation area ground floor, and the effect on the vitality of a centre are outside it, which is what makes the route attractive and what makes authorities uncomfortable about it.

The documents that answer the list are modest compared with a full application. A short transport note covering access, parking and refuse and cycle storage. A Contaminated Land Assessment at Phase 1 desk study level, with intrusive work only where the desk study indicates it, prepared by a suitably qualified and experienced person. A Flood Risk Assessment where the building is in Flood Zone 2 or 3. A Noise Impact Assessment where there is commercial plant or a licensed use nearby, which in a town centre is usually the case.

The natural light condition

This is the requirement that catches deep-plan buildings, and it is a condition rather than a prescribed matter to be balanced. Adequate natural light has to be provided in all habitable rooms.

Two practical points. A habitable room with no window at all fails, whatever the communal arrangements. And a room lit only by a window onto an enclosed light well, or through a deep recess, will be tested rather than assumed, so a daylight calculation is worth commissioning before the layout is fixed.

Deep floorplates in former retail units are the classic problem. The answer is usually to accept fewer, larger units with better aspect rather than to fight the condition, because the condition does not bend.

Schemes under Class MA also have to meet the nationally described space standard, so unit sizes and bedroom dimensions are fixed rather than negotiable.

Timescales and the deemed approval trap

The council has 56 days from receipt of a valid application to notify its decision. If it does not, development may proceed without prior approval having been given expressly.

The trap is in the word valid. A deemed approval only arises where the application was complete when submitted, with all the information the Order requires and the fee paid. An applicant who omits a required document and relies on the 56 days has nothing, and building out on that basis is unlawful development.

So do two things. Submit a covering schedule listing each required item against the relevant paragraph of the Order, which makes completeness auditable. And ask the council to confirm in writing the date it treats as the date of receipt.

Development under a prior approval must also be completed within three years of the approval. That is shorter than the usual implementation period and it is a real constraint on a phased conversion.

Where a refusal leaves you

A refusal of prior approval can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, and the appeal is confined to the prescribed matters. That keeps the appeal narrow and relatively quick, which is an advantage.

The alternative is a full planning application, where the council can consider everything, including the loss of commercial floorspace and the design, and where affordable housing policy may be engaged depending on the number of units. For a small building that is often the pragmatic route once a Class MA refusal has identified the problem.

Fees for prior approval applications are set in the fees regulations and differ from full application fees, and they are indexed, so take the figure from the current schedule.

What to do before you buy

A short sequence that avoids most of the wasted money.

1. Check for an Article 4 direction covering the building. This is the first question, not the last.
2. Check the exclusions: listed status, curtilage, scheduled monument, site of special scientific interest, hazard and explosives areas.
3. Assemble the use and vacancy evidence, and read the current qualifying conditions in the Order against it.
4. Run a daylight check on the proposed layout before agreeing a price.
5. Scope the four technical notes and get fixed fees.
6. Submit with a completeness schedule and get the receipt date confirmed in writing.

Follow later changes on the planning law timeline, and the full report index lists the documents a full application would need if the prior approval route closes. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. 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.