It is a legal requirement in the UK to seek planning approval from your local council for any planned construction work.

In relation to residential properties, prior planning approval does not need to be sought, providing certain limits and conditions are met. This is called permitted development.

One of these conditions regarding house extensions is that the depth does not exceed 3m from the original building and the overall height does not exceed 3m if the extension is within 2m of the boundary.

However, I would advise that if your property does fall within permitted development that you seek to obtain a lawful development certificate. The certificate proves to the council and potential future buyers that your project was legal at the time of construction.

For more information on permitted development rights visit https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/responsibilities/planning-permission/permitted-development-rights

Depending on the size and type of your project, the planning application fee for a residential property starts from £231. Costs for commercial buildings carry higher fees, for example, a change of use application for a shop can start at £490.

All planning application fees are paid directly to your local planning authority.

For Paul Little's fees to prepare any type of planning application please click here

It is legal UK requirement that all the main elements of the construction must be approved by building control.

When the building surveyor looks at the technical drawings submitted or inspects your project during construction they will be checking that it complies with the building regulations, a set of standards that are designed to protect people's health, safety and welfare in and around the built environment.

I can either submit the application directly to the your council, or you can appoint an approved inspector, which is an individual or company who is licensed to approve the application.

The benefits of using an approved inspector is that due to the high workload of some councils approval may take up to 8 weeks, but with an approved inspector this may be in a number of days!

For more information visit https://www.labc.co.uk/homeowners/why-is-building-control-important

Even for projects that may seem relatively straight forward I would highly recommend using a qualified structural engineer to calculate any new structure for your project and to asses whether the structure in your existing property is capable of taking any loads imposed on it.

There are many contractors out there that promise they can provide this service but are not qualified to do so and put the health and safety of people at risk. I work with qualified structural engineers to ensure that projects are built to the highest standards.