Sui generis uses: the list and what it costs you

A sui generis use is one the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 refuses to put in a box. The sui generis use class list is really a list of exclusions: article 3(6) of the Order names a set of uses that belong to no class at all, and anything the Order simply does not mention falls outside as well. The consequence is the expensive part. Because the permitted change routes in the General Permitted Development Order are written as movements between named classes, a use that sits in no class has almost nowhere to go without a planning application.

For a business that means two things. Arriving at a sui generis use needs permission, and leaving it needs permission again.

What sui generis means in the Order

The Order groups uses into classes so that changing from one use to another within the same class is not development at all. Article 3(1) says a use within a class is not taken to involve development, which is why a shop can become a bank without an application now that both sit in Class E.

Article 3(6) then pulls specified uses out of that system entirely. A use named there has no class, so there is no within-class flexibility, and the General Permitted Development Order's Part 3 classes mostly cannot reach it. The 2020 amendment made this bite far harder by moving pubs, hot food takeaways, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls and dance halls out of the old A and D classes and into sui generis.

The uses the Order names as sui generis

The named list runs, in substance, as follows.

• theatres, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls and dance halls
• public houses, wine bars and other drinking establishments, including those with expanded food provision
• venues for live music performance
• hot food takeaways, meaning premises for the sale of hot food for consumption off the premises
• nightclubs and casinos
• betting offices and pay day loan shops
• launderettes
• amusement arcades and centres, and funfairs
• fuel filling stations, and premises for the sale or display for sale of motor vehicles
• taxi and vehicle hire businesses
• scrap yards, yards for storing or distributing minerals, and premises for breaking motor vehicles
• hostels
• waste disposal installations for incineration, chemical treatment or landfill
• retail warehouse clubs

Read article 3(6) in the Order as it currently stands before relying on any entry. The list has been amended more than once and the wording of each entry matters: a venue for live music is sui generis, while a restaurant that occasionally has a pianist is not.

Uses that fall outside because the Order is silent

The second route into sui generis is omission. If a use is not described in any class, it has no class, and nobody had to write it down.

Well established examples include a house in multiple occupation for more than six people, which leaves Class C4 at the six occupant ceiling, stables and livery, a car wash as a primary use, a crematorium and a caravan or camping site. Plenty of others are arguable, and the answer turns on fact and degree rather than on a list.

Where the classification is contested, the two sensible routes are a pre-application enquiry in writing or an application for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The certificate is the only formal confirmation available. A taxi office is a good illustration of how slippery this gets, and the classification problem for taxi and private hire offices is worth reading before assuming the use is simply an office.

Why the permitted change routes mostly do not help

The common statement that no permitted change applies to a sui generis use is nearly right, and the exceptions matter commercially.

So the handful of uses that were given specific rights can move, with prior approval and the usual conditions, and everything else needs an application. Check Part 3 of the General Permitted Development Order as currently amended rather than working from a summary, because these classes have been rewritten repeatedly since 2020.

Going the other way is worse. There is no permitted route into a sui generis use from anywhere. A Class E unit becoming a hot food takeaway, a bar, a nightclub or a vehicle hire business needs a full planning application every time, and the fact that the previous use was lawful gives you nothing beyond a fallback position in the planning balance.

Describing the use in the application

With no class to lean on, the description of development in the permission defines what you are allowed to do. That cuts both ways, and it is where businesses lose flexibility they did not know they were giving up.

Be precise about the activity, but resist describing the business model. A permission for "use as a micro-brewery taproom with ancillary retail sales" is narrower than "use as a drinking establishment", and the narrower description becomes the ceiling. If the intention is a bar that also serves food, say so at the outset rather than applying to vary a condition two years later.

Supporting evidence should answer the three questions officers actually ask about sui generis proposals: what the use does to the street at night, what it does to parking and servicing, and what it does to neighbouring amenity. A short planning statement that addresses the relevant local plan policy on town centre uses, a transport statement where trip patterns change, and an extraction and odour case where food is cooked will cover most of it. For cooking uses the ventilation and extraction statement is usually the document that decides whether environmental health objects.

An illustrative example. A vacant Class E unit in a secondary parade becomes a hot food takeaway. The application needs the use described plainly, an extraction scheme terminating above eaves level with odour abatement specified, a noise assessment for the fan and condenser, a delivery and waste management arrangement, and an answer on late hours. Nothing about the previous retail use assists, because the trip profile, the hours and the emissions are all different.

Conditions that come with a sui generis consent

Expect conditions that would be unnecessary for a class use. Hours of opening and of deliveries. A cap on covers or on capacity. Restrictions on amplified music and on external seating. A requirement for the extraction system to be installed and maintained as approved. Sometimes a personal condition tying the permission to a named operator, which is rare but does happen where the case rested on how a specific business would run.

Conditions restricting the use to the one applied for are standard and, for a sui generis use, largely declaratory: there is no class to drift within. The ones to negotiate are the operational caps, because they are what limit the business later. A condition fixing closing time at 23:00 is far more consequential than the description of development.

Where music is part of the offer, the conditions tend to be drawn from the acoustic evidence, and the issues overlap heavily with those facing cinemas, theatres and live music venues.

Going back to the previous use

There is no general right to revert. Once a material change of use has happened and been implemented, the earlier use is only available again if it remains lawful and has not been abandoned, which is a question of fact involving the length of the gap, the physical state of the premises and the owner's intentions.

Two narrower routes exist. Where a permission was granted for a limited period, section 57(2) of the 1990 Act allows the normal use to resume when it expires. And some permitted development rights contain their own reversion provisions for changes made under them.

Otherwise, going back is a fresh change of use and needs permission if it is material. Plan for that at the start, particularly where a tenant is taking a short lease on premises whose long-term value depends on the earlier use remaining available.

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.