The sui generis list and what falls outside every class

A sui generis use sits outside every class in the Use Classes Order, which has one practical consequence that matters more than all the others: there is no such thing as a permitted change within a class, because there is no class. Moving into a sui generis use needs planning permission. Moving out of one needs planning permission. Moving from one sui generis use to a different sui generis use needs planning permission as well, even when the two look similar from the pavement.

Pubs, hot food takeaways, nightclubs, cinemas, petrol stations and betting shops are all in this category. So is the drinking establishment that also serves food.

What sui generis means

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 groups uses into classes so that changes within a class are not development at all, and therefore need no permission. Section 55(2)(f) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides that a change of use within the same class is not development.

A sui generis use, literally a use of its own kind, has no class to move within. Every change of use to it or from it is development under section 55, and development needs permission unless a development order grants it. Some limited permitted development rights do exist for particular sui generis uses in Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order, and those are narrow and conditional, so read the class before assuming.

The other thing to understand is that a use is sui generis by operation of the Order rather than by anyone deciding it. Nobody designates your unit. It either falls within the description of a class or it does not.

The uses the Order takes out

Article 3(6) of the Use Classes Order expressly excludes a list of uses from all classes. The list has been amended several times, notably in 2015 and again by the 2020 regulations that created Class E, and the current consolidated version is the only safe reference.

The entries that come up most often in practice are:

• a theatre
• an amusement arcade or centre, or a funfair
• a launderette
• a petrol filling station, and premises for the sale or display for sale of motor vehicles
• a taxi business or a vehicle hire business
• a scrapyard, or a yard for the storage or distribution of minerals or the breaking of motor vehicles
• a hostel
• a waste disposal installation for incineration, chemical treatment or landfill
• a retail warehouse club
• a nightclub, a casino and a betting office
• a public house, wine bar or other drinking establishment, and a drinking establishment with expanded food provision
• a hot food takeaway
• a cinema, a concert hall, a bingo hall and a dance hall
• a venue for live music performance

Several of those moved into this territory in September 2020, when the Order was restructured. Pubs and hot food takeaways used to sit in Classes A4 and A5, and the abolition of those classes means a restaurant in Class E cannot now become a takeaway without permission, where previously the position was different. That single change generates a large share of the change of use applications councils receive on high streets.

Uses that never fitted a class

Beyond the express list, plenty of uses are sui generis simply because no class describes them. Large houses in multiple occupation with seven or more sharers, builders yards, car washes, crematoria, places of worship with a substantial ancillary function that takes them outside Class F1, stables and liveries, laboratories that are not ancillary to a Class E use, and mixed uses that cannot be characterised as falling in one class.

Drive-through units are a recurring argument, because the restaurant element may look like Class E while the drive-through operation changes the character of the use, and the note on drive-through units sets out how councils and highway officers approach it.

Mixed uses deserve a warning. Where a unit operates two uses that are not ancillary to each other, the planning unit may be a single sui generis mixed use rather than two separate uses. The consequence is that adjusting the balance between them can itself be a material change, which is the reasoning explained in the piece on intensification.

Why moving between two sui generis uses needs permission

A nightclub and a casino are both sui generis. Changing from one to the other is a material change of use requiring permission, because they are different uses and neither sits in a class that would permit the move.

This catches operators regularly. A unit with permission as a hot food takeaway cannot become a betting office without a new permission, and a betting office cannot become a nightclub. The fact that both were sui generis before and after is irrelevant.

It also means a sui generis permission is narrower than it looks. A permission granted for a public house authorises use as a public house. If the business becomes predominantly a restaurant, the character of the use has changed and the permission may no longer cover it.

Describing the use on the application form

Write the description of development precisely, naming the existing use with its class where it has one, and naming the proposed use with the words sui generis in brackets. For example: change of use from Class E(b) restaurant to hot food takeaway (sui generis).

Loose descriptions cause two problems. A vague description leads to a permission whose scope is unclear, which surfaces years later when the property is sold. And validation officers routinely return applications where the description does not identify the use classes involved, which costs a week.

Where the proposed use is one the Order does not name, describe the activity rather than reaching for a label. Use as a car wash and valeting facility tells a case officer more than use as a sui generis commercial use.

Conditions a council will attach

Sui generis permissions attract more conditions than class changes, because the council is granting consent for one specific activity and wants to control its effects.

Expect conditions on opening hours, deliveries and servicing times, plant and machinery noise limits with a stated margin against background under BS 4142, extraction and odour control, external seating, waste storage, customer numbers and, for licensed premises, the area of the unit given over to different activities. Councils sometimes restrict the permission to the named operator, though such conditions have to satisfy the tests for planning conditions and are less common than they once were.

Two documents do most of the work on an application of this kind. A Ventilation and Extraction Statement deals with the kitchen extract route, the termination height and the odour control system, and it is the document that decides most hot food takeaway applications. A Planning Statement assembles the policy case, the hours sought and the amenity assessment.

Getting back to a class use

Reverting is a change of use in its own right, and it needs permission. A unit that became a hot food takeaway cannot simply start trading again as a restaurant, because that is a change from a sui generis use to Class E.

There is a limited exception in section 57 of the 1990 Act, which allows a previous lawful use to be taken up again in certain cases, particularly where a permission was granted for a limited period. It is narrower than people assume and it does not apply to most permanent permissions.

The practical consequence is that landlords should think carefully before agreeing to a sui generis change of use on a unit they intend to re-let. A restaurant unit has more possible tenants than a takeaway unit, and once the permission changes, getting the flexibility back costs an application and eight weeks.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents a change of use application on your premises is likely to need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. A Lawful Development Certificate is the only formal way to confirm that a use is 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.