Sui generis after 2020: the full list and what it means

The sui generis use list grew sharply on 1 September 2020. Pubs, bars, hot food takeaways, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls and live music venues all came out of the use class system that day and became uses in a class of their own. The practical effect for anyone running or buying one of these businesses is blunt: almost any change of use into them, or out of them, needs planning permission, and none of the flexibility that Class E gives shops and offices applies.

Sui generis is Latin for of its own kind, and in planning it means a use that the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 does not put in any class.

What sui generis means in practice

Falling outside the classes has one consequence. Article 3(1) of the Order says that a change of use within the same class is not development, so no permission is needed. If your use is in no class, there is no within to move inside. Every material change of use is development under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, and it needs permission unless the General Permitted Development Order grants it.

That cuts both ways. A landlord cannot re-let a former pub as a shop without an application, and a takeaway operator cannot quietly become a restaurant. But the same rigidity protects a sui generis operator from a neighbour switching to something noisier without any scrutiny.

The second consequence is conditions. Because the use has no class, planning permissions for sui generis uses are usually drafted with the operation described tightly, and conditions restricting hours, customer numbers, deliveries or the nature of the trade are the norm rather than the exception.

The uses the Order names

Article 3(6) of the 1987 Order lists the uses specifically excluded from all classes. After the 2020 amendment that list includes:

• a public house, wine bar or other drinking establishment, and a drinking establishment with expanded food provision
• a hot food takeaway, where the primary purpose is the sale of hot food for consumption off the premises
• a venue for live music performance, a cinema, a concert hall, a bingo hall and a dance hall
• a theatre
• an amusement arcade or centre, and a funfair
• a nightclub, a casino, a betting office and a pay day loan shop
• a launderette
• a petrol filling station, and premises for the sale or display for sale of motor vehicles
• a taxi business or a business hiring motor vehicles
• a scrap yard, or a yard for the storage or distribution of minerals or the breaking of motor vehicles
• a hostel, a waste disposal installation and a retail warehouse club

Large houses in multiple occupation are also sui generis. Class C4 covers shared houses occupied by three to six unrelated people, so anything above six residents falls outside the class system entirely.

Uses that fall outside every class by default

The named list is not exhaustive. A use is sui generis if it does not fit the description of any class, whether or not article 3(6) mentions it, and new business models arrive faster than the Order is amended.

Mixed uses are the commonest example. A building operating as a bakery and a café and a cookery school, with no element clearly ancillary to another, is a mixed use and therefore sui generis, even though each component would sit neatly in Class E on its own. The same is true of a unit trading as a shop by day and a bar by night.

The test is fact and degree. Ask what the primary purpose of the premises is, whether other activities are ancillary to it in any real sense, and whether the description of any class covers what actually happens there. An activity that has become substantial enough to stand on its own has stopped being ancillary, and the lawful use has changed.

Where an existing use has stopped for a long period, a further question arises about whether it has been abandoned, which affects what you can resume without permission. That point is covered in our note on how a lawful use can be lost.

Why every change needs permission

Moving from Class E to a sui generis use needs permission. Moving from one sui generis use to a different sui generis use needs permission, because there is no class to move within. Moving from a sui generis use to Class E needs permission unless a specific right applies.

There are a few narrow permitted development rights out of particular sui generis uses in Schedule 2 Part 3 of the GPDO 2015, and the list has been amended several times. Read the current consolidated text rather than relying on a summary, because the rights that exist are use specific and carry conditions.

Pubs are the clearest illustration. Permitted development rights to change the use of, or demolish, a public house were removed in 2017, so a change of use from a pub needs a full application, full publicity and a decision on the planning merits. That was a deliberate policy choice, and councils apply it.

Pubs, venues and protective policy

Most adopted local plans carry a policy protecting public houses, and many protect cultural venues as well. The policy usually requires an applicant to demonstrate that the premises are no longer viable, evidenced by a marketing exercise of a stated length at a realistic price, together with trading accounts.

Marketing evidence is where these applications are won and lost. Councils discount short campaigns, campaigns priced above market, and campaigns that marketed the property for alternative use rather than as a going concern. Read the policy wording carefully, because it will usually specify the period, the basis and the agent's qualifications.

For live music venues and other noise generating uses, the agent of change principle in national policy puts the mitigation burden on the newcomer. If a developer builds flats next to an established venue, the developer is expected to design out the noise problem, rather than the venue being constrained afterwards. Make that argument in writing at the application stage, and support it with an acoustic report, because it rarely gets applied on its own.

Assets of community value

A pub, a village shop or a community venue can be listed as an asset of community value by the council under the Localism Act 2011, on nomination by a community group. Listing does not prevent a change of use.

What it does is create a moratorium. When the owner wants to sell, the community has a window to express an interest and, if it does, a further period to prepare a bid. The owner is not obliged to sell to the community group at the end of it.

Listing also has planning weight. Where a property is a listed asset of community value, that status is a material consideration in determining an application affecting it, and many local plan policies refer to it directly. Check the council's register before advising a client that a change of use is straightforward.

Making the application

A sui generis change of use is a full planning application, not a householder or prior approval route, and the description of development has to describe the use in plain words. Do not write "change of use to Class E" for something that is not Class E.

The council will expect a Planning Statement dealing with the principle of the use, the policy protecting the outgoing use, and the amenity effects of the incoming one. For food and drink uses, add an odour and ventilation assessment and a noise assessment covering plant, customers and dispersal. For anything generating evening activity, add a management plan with hours, staffing, dispersal arrangements and a point of contact for complaints.

The evidence that actually shifts these applications is operational detail rather than policy argument, and our note on the evidence pack for a change of use application sets out what to assemble. Expect conditions, and negotiate their wording rather than accepting a standard set, because a condition restricting the use class or the occupier can outlast the business it was written for, as explained in our note on conditions restricting use class or occupier.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a change of use application at your premises 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.