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Start a conversationPlanning use classes, explained.
What class a building is in, and which changes need permission.
Reviewed October 2026
The short answer
Use classes group the uses of buildings in England. A change within one class is not development. Since 1 September 2020, most shops, cafés, gyms and offices have been Class E. Pubs, takeaways and large HMOs belong to no class. Moving between classes usually needs permission, unless a national right covers it.
In practice · A wedding venue, Northamptonshire
Offices, then a venue, then a home
The use you start from decides the route. This building went from offices to a wedding venue in 2017, then to one home in 2026, with a permission for each move.
The order of work
01Built as officesClass B1, extended 2006.
02Became a venueSui generis, August 2017.
03Principle testedPre-application, 2025.
04GrantedOne home, 20 July 2026.
A two-storey stone building in open countryside in Northamptonshire, built as offices. A permission of August 2017 changed its use from Class B1 offices to a wedding and events venue, and called the new use sui generis.
The job
- Site
- A wedding venue, one home in Northamptonshire
- Role
- Architect and agent, RIBA Stages 0 to 4
- Lawful use
- Wedding venue, sui generis, by a 2017 permission
- Outcome
- Granted 20 July 2026, with five conditions
A venue belongs to no class, and no national right turns one into a house, so the only route was a full application. It went in on 1 April 2026, after a 2025 pre-application enquiry found the change acceptable in principle.
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The class settled the route; local policy settled the answer. In open countryside a new home is the exception, and the local plan allows one through the re-use of a redundant building. With the weddings over, the council found the venue qualified.
A second policy protects village shops and pubs, and asks for marketing before such a use is lost. The council gave it little weight here, as the venue was neither a shop nor a pub and stood some distance from the nearest villages, so no marketing was needed.
Permission was granted on 20 July 2026 with five conditions, one of which means any extension or outbuilding needs a further application. The house was nearing completion in October 2026.
The proof
Four projects, four starting points.
Sui generis · to flats
Russell Terrace
A villa of about 1830 in a Leamington conservation area, licensed as a 22-bed student HMO. Above six residents an HMO falls outside Class C4 and is sui generis, so no national right applied: a full application for eight flats was granted in September 2025.
Warwick ref W/25/0777 · View project
C2 consent · to homes
Inwoods Park
A cleared site on the edge of Rugby, bought with a consent for a Class C2 retirement village. Homes without care are Class C3, so a new full application was made: 25 homes, granted at committee in March 2024.
Rugby ref R23/0491 · View project
Class O · prior approval
Brandon Parade
A three-storey office building on a corner of Leamington's conservation area. Offices were Class B1(a), so the national Class O right allowed homes by prior approval, given in October 2019 for 13 flats. Class O closed to new applications after July 2021.
Warwick ref W/19/1535 · View project
C2 · to one house
A language school
A language school with student bedrooms near Warwick: a residential college, which is Class C2. A house is Class C3, and no national right links the two, so returning it to one home took a full application, granted in June 2022.
Warwick ref W/22/0704
Every planning application we make in our own name is a matter of public record on a council register, and ours reach more than 100 planning authorities across the UK.
Change of use architects →
01 · Where you stand
Find the lawful use first
Start from the lawful use, not the sign over the door: the use of the last permission actually carried out, or one that has run for ten years in England without enforcement. A certificate of lawful use names its class, and permitted development does not apply to an unlawful use.
Then match the use to the Order's own words, across the whole site. Most Class E uses must serve visiting members of the public. Class E uses can share a unit, but uses from different classes normally make a sui generis mix, unless one is primary.
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Read the permission's conditions too. A condition tying a building to one named use and no other can switch off permitted development, and one written in the old class letters before 2020 still applies, read for the activities it names.
Then check for an Article 4 direction before relying on a national right. It cannot stop a change within one class, but it can remove a permitted change between classes, such as a house becoming a small HMO.
02 · The rules
Four rules for a change of use
The class decides whether a change needs permission at all, and if it does, which routes are open.
Rule 01
Same class is free
A change within one class is not development, so in Class E a shop can become a café, a gym or an office without permission. The freedom covers the use only: building works may still need their own consent.
Where it fails: a condition or obligation can forbid it, and splitting one home into two is always development.
Rule 02
No class, no free move
Pubs, takeaways, nightclubs, cinemas, theatres, petrol stations and HMOs of more than six residents belong to no class, so a change to or from them usually needs a full planning application.
Where it fails: national rights move a few of them, such as a takeaway, casino or betting office into Class E.
Rule 03
A national right first
Between classes, check the permitted changes before applying: Class MA takes Class E to homes by prior approval, Class G adds up to two flats to a Class E use, and Class L moves a house to a small HMO and back.
Where it fails: Class MA needs two years of Class E use, and it excludes listed buildings and protected landscapes.
Rule 04
Count the households
A family, or up to six people living as one household, is Class C3. Three to six people sharing as a house in multiple occupation are Class C4, and more than six sharers are sui generis.
Where it fails: an Article 4 direction can remove the right to turn a house into a small HMO without an application.
03 · The catch
Class E kept the old conditions
Class E made many changes free, but it did not override what earlier permissions say. National guidance says the 2020 rules do not override a condition or obligation that prohibits a new use, and the High Court has read old class letters for the activities they named.
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In 2023 the High Court ruled that a 2003 condition capping financial and professional services, restaurants and cafés at 40% of a London shopping centre's retail floorspace still applied under Class E.
Councils were still imposing conditions that withhold national rights in 2024. In October 2025 an Inspector kept one on a London light industrial estate that switched off Class MA, to protect employment land. One route is an application to vary or remove the condition, though it can be refused, as it was there. It is free where the council accepts the condition is the only reason a same-class change needs permission.
Common questions
Use classes, answered
What are the planning use classes?
In England the use classes are B2, B8, C1, C2, C2A, C3, C4, E, F.1 and F.2. Anything else is sui generis.
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B2 is general industry, B8 storage or distribution, C1 hotels, C2 and C2A institutions, C3 homes and C4 small HMOs. E, F.1 and F.2 cover commercial, learning and community uses. Class E holds eleven uses, from shops to light industry. F.1 covers education, galleries, museums, libraries, public halls, places of worship and law courts; F.2 covers small local shops, community halls, outdoor sport, swimming pools and skating rinks. Wales keeps the older classes, with its own C5 and C6.
What does sui generis mean?
Of its own kind: a use that belongs to no use class. The Order names some: pubs, takeaways, nightclubs, casinos, cinemas, theatres and petrol stations.
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Any use no class fits is sui generis too. An HMO of more than six residents is sui generis because no class fits it, not because it is named. Nightclubs have been sui generis in England since April 2005; pubs, takeaways, cinemas, concert halls, bingo and dance halls since 1 September 2020. A mix of uses from different classes is normally sui generis, unless one use is primary.
What is use Class E?
Class E is the commercial, business and service use class, in force in England since 1 September 2020.
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It holds shops, cafés and restaurants, financial and professional services, gyms, clinics, nurseries, offices, research and light industry. It took in most of the old A1 class, A2, A3 and B1, plus parts of D1 and D2. Most of its uses must serve visiting members of the public. Swimming pools and skating rinks are Class F.2, not E. Homes made from it under Class MA must meet the national space standard.
What replaced the B1 use class?
Class E(g): offices, research and development, plus industrial processes that can run in a residential area without harm to its amenity.
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In England B1 was removed on 1 September 2020. Every B1 use was treated as Class E from that day. Wales still has Class B1. In England, Class B2 general industry now means any industrial process outside Class E(g). On one site the two can be treated as a single class, so long as the B2 area does not grow substantially.
What is use class B2?
General industrial use: any industrial process other than one within Class E(g).
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Class E(g) is the light industry that can run in a residential area without harm to its amenity. B2 is industry too noisy, smelly or dirty to run beside homes, short of the heavy uses the Order names as sui generis. The national Class I right lets a B2 building become storage or distribution, Class B8, for up to 500 square metres of floor space.
What is use class B8?
Use class B8 is storage or distribution: warehouses, distribution centres and storage on open land. A yard for storing or distributing minerals is sui generis.
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No national right takes Class B8 to homes: the old Class P right closed to new prior approvals in June 2019. An agricultural building can be used for storage or distribution under Class R, as one of its flexible uses, though the site then counts as sui generis.
Is a care home Class C2 or C3?
A care home, providing residential accommodation and care to people in need of care, is use class C2.
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Up to six residents living as one household with care, as in supported living, is Class C3(b). For older people's housing, national guidance leaves the class to the council, weighing the level of care and the communal facilities. No national right turns Class C2 into homes: Class T leads only to state-funded schools.
Do I need planning permission to turn a house into an HMO?
Not usually. The national Class L right lets a house become a small HMO, use class C4, unless an Article 4 direction removes it.
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A small HMO is three to six sharers; more than six is sui generis and normally needs an application. Class L works one home to one home, never a split into flats. The Framework of August 2026 names preventing an over-concentration of small HMOs as a reason for an Article 4 direction. HMO licensing is separate: mandatory licensing starts at five people in two or more households.
Sources
Where this page comes from
The main rules here come from the sources below.
Checked 14 October 2026
- Order
- Use Classes Order 1987, article 3 and both schedules
- Reform
- Use Classes amendment 2020: Class E, F.1 and F.2
- Rights
- Permitted Development Order 2015, Part 3: changes of use
- Guidance
- When is permission required?, planning guidance
- HMOs
- Housing Act 2004, section 254: what an HMO is
- Framework
- National Planning Policy Framework, DM6 and DM10
- Conditions
- Lazari v Secretary of State, High Court, 2023
- Appeal
- Appeal APP/H5390/W/25/3364782, Hammersmith and Fulham, 2025
- Fees
- Fees Regulations 2012, regulation 6: no-fee applications
- Our record
- Council registers and our files for the five projects here
Written by
Rickett Architects
A RIBA Chartered practice, working since 1970, with more than 2,500 projects behind it. Our senior architects take projects from first survey through planning to completion, for private clients, developers and landowners across the Midlands and well beyond it.