Which existing uses qualify for a Class MA conversion

Class MA of Part 3 lets a building in Class E use become dwellings through prior approval rather than a full application. Everything turns on the first condition, which is about history rather than design: the building must have been in a use falling within Class E for a continuous period of at least two years before the date of the prior approval application.

Investors buying on the strength of a conversion route are buying that history. If it is not there, or cannot be proved, the route is not available at any price.

The qualifying use condition

The condition is not that the building is in Class E use now. It is that it has been, continuously, for at least two years immediately before the application. Two years of office use ending eighteen months ago does not qualify. Two years made up of six months as a shop, a year empty and six months as a gym does not qualify either, because the period must be continuous.

What counts is the use of the building, assessed on the facts rather than on a rating description or a lease permission. A unit let on a lease permitting office use but sitting empty throughout is not in office use.

Note also that the two years is measured to the date of the prior approval application, not to the date of exchange, completion or the start of works. An investor planning to apply in eight months' time needs the use to continue in the meantime, which is a live consideration when agreeing a lease surrender.

Uses that were never within Class E

This is where most failed applications start. Class E was created in September 2020 and it absorbed the former A1, A2, A3 and B1 classes and parts of the old D1 and D2. It did not absorb everything.

A building in Class B2 general industrial use, or Class B8 storage and distribution, has never been in Class E. Nor has a hotel in Class C1. Nor has a use in Class F1, which covers schools, places of worship, museums, libraries, public halls used for those purposes and similar non-residential institutions. Nor has a use in Class F2, which covers local community uses.

Class F2 catches people out repeatedly. A small local shop that is the only such facility serving a settlement, below the floorspace threshold the Order sets, is in F2 rather than E. It looks like a shop, it trades like a shop, and it cannot use Class MA. The same goes for a community hall, an outdoor sport facility or a swimming pool.

Check the class carefully rather than assuming that anything retail-looking is Class E.

Sui generis uses can never qualify

A sui generis use is in no class at all, so it cannot have been in Class E. Pubs and drinking establishments, hot food takeaways, nightclubs, cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls, dance halls, live music venues, betting offices, launderettes, petrol filling stations, casinos and large houses in multiple occupation are all outside the class.

The trap here is sequence. A building may have been in genuine Class E use for years, then spent eight months as a sui generis use, and that interruption breaks the two year continuous period. The clock restarts from the date the building returned to Class E use.

Equally, a building that moved into a Class E use eighteen months ago from a sui generis use has a qualifying period that is simply too short. Wait, and keep the evidence.

Vacancy and what changed

The Order originally required the building to have been vacant for a continuous period immediately before the application, which is a condition that sat awkwardly alongside the requirement for two years of active use. That vacancy condition, and the floorspace cap that also applied, were amended in 2024.

Check the current consolidated text of Class MA on legislation.gov.uk before relying on either position, because this is exactly the sort of detail that older summaries get wrong.

Whatever the current position, keep evidence of any vacancy period anyway. It is useful for rates relief, for the transport and noise assessments, and for demonstrating that the building is not making a continuing contribution to the local economy where an authority argues otherwise.

Documentary evidence councils accept

The applicant bears the burden of proving the qualifying use. Assemble the file before applying rather than in response to a holding letter.

• Leases, licences and tenancy agreements covering the whole two year period, with any gaps explained.
• Business rates records, including the rating description and the liability start and end dates.
• Accounts, VAT registration and trading records for the occupier.
• Utility bills showing consumption consistent with occupation, not just a standing charge.
• Dated photographs, including interior shots, and any marketing particulars.
• Staff records, delivery notes or booking records, depending on the use.
• A statutory declaration from the occupier or the managing agent covering the period.

Gaps matter more than volume. A council will look at the weakest month, not the strongest year. Where the history is contested or the evidence is thin, a certificate of lawfulness for an existing use under section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 settles the point before you commit to the conversion.

Mixed use buildings and part conversions

A building with a shop at ground floor and flats above is not wholly in Class E, and the analysis applies to the part in Class E use. Whether that part is a separate planning unit is a question of fact, and our note on how councils decide what the planning unit is explains how the boundaries are drawn.

Where the ground floor is retail in a conservation area, expect an additional prior approval matter concerning the effect of losing that ground floor use on the intended occupiers and the area. That is a real assessment, not a formality, and in a designated shopping frontage it can be the reason an application fails. The alternative route of converting only the upper floors is covered in our note on retail to residential above a shop.

Mixed uses within a single unit can also take the whole unit outside Class E. A building operating as both a trade counter and a haulage depot may be a sui generis mixed use, and in that case no part of it has been in Class E.

The rest of the application

Once the qualifying use is established, prior approval covers a defined list of matters: transport and highway safety, contamination, flooding, noise from nearby commercial premises, the provision of adequate natural light in all habitable rooms, the conservation area ground floor question where relevant, and fire safety for taller buildings. The resulting dwellings must also meet the nationally described space standard.

Buildings that are listed, within the curtilage of a listed building, scheduled monuments, or on certain designated and hazard-related land are excluded altogether, and the full list is in the conditions to Class MA.

Prepare the technical evidence before submission. A former workshop will need at least a desk study feeding a contaminated land assessment, and a short Planning Statement setting out the qualifying use history and addressing each prior approval matter gives the officer everything in one place.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that a use is lawful.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents a Class MA prior approval application 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.