Planning Checker
Terms of Use
Last updated: [DATE]
1. What this tool is
1.1.The Planning Checker (“the Tool”) is a free online guidance tool operated by Manchester Garden Rooms(“we”, “us”, “our”), company number [COMPANY NUMBER], registered office [REGISTERED OFFICE ADDRESS].
1.2.The Tool is designed to help homeowners understand, at an early stage, whether a proposed garden room or outbuilding is likely to fall within permitted development rights. It is a preliminary guidance tool only.
1.3.The Tool covers England only. The rules in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ.
1.4.By using the Tool you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the Tool.
2. This is not advice, and it is not a decision
2.1.The Tool and any result, summary or report it produces (“Result”) are provided for general information only.
2.2.A Result does not constitute, and must not be relied on as: legal advice; planning advice or planning consultancy advice; architectural advice; surveying advice; or professional advice of any kind.
2.3.Nothing in a Result is, or may be interpreted as: confirmation that your proposal is lawful; confirmation that permitted development rights apply to your property; confirmation that planning permission will or will not be required; a decision, determination or approval of any kind by a local planning authority; or a guarantee of any outcome from a local planning authority.
2.4.Only your local planning authority can determine whether your proposal requires planning permission.
3. It is based on your information, which we do not verify
3.1.A Result is generated automatically from the answers you enter. We do not survey, measure or inspect your property, we do not review your title or planning history, and we do not verify anything you tell us.
3.2.The accuracy and usefulness of a Result depends entirely on the accuracy and completeness of the information you provide. You are responsible for ensuring that information is accurate, complete and up to date.
3.3.Measurements must be taken correctly. In particular, height is measured from the highest ground level immediately adjacent to the building, and any surface laid on top of the ground, such as decking, does not count as ground level. An inaccurate input will produce an inaccurate Result.
3.4.You are solely responsible for your interpretation and use of a Result.
4. What the Tool cannot check
4.1.The Tool applies the general national permitted development rules only. It cannot and does not check whether:
(a) permitted development rights have been removed by a condition on the original or any later planning permission for your property — a common restriction on modern housing estates, which appears in no public dataset;
(b) an Article 4 Direction applies to your property, or which rights any such direction removes;
(c) your property is a listed building, or lies within the curtilage of one;
(d) where your legal curtilage boundary lies;
(e) which wall is your property’s principal elevation;
(f) whether your intended use is genuinely incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse — a question of fact and degree that only the local planning authority can settle;
(g) what your property’s original footprint was, for the purposes of any calculation based on it;
(h) whether restrictive covenants, title deeds, leasehold terms, party wall obligations or rights of light affect your plans. These are private legal restrictions outside the planning system.
4.2.Permitted development rights do not remove the need for permissions or consents under other regimes.
5. Designated land and mapping data
5.1.Any indication that your property is, or is not, in a conservation area, National Park, National Landscape / Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or World Heritage Site, or near a listed building, is drawn from third-party open datasets.
5.2.Those datasets are published by their providers as incomplete, may not reflect recent designations, and locate your property from a postcode or address rather than a surveyed boundary. Results for properties near a designation boundary are particularly unreliable.
5.3.An absence of any designation in those datasets is not evidence that no designation applies.Only your local planning authority can confirm your property’s designations.
6. Building Regulations are separate
6.1.Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are different regimes, and the Tool does not assess Building Regulations compliance.
6.2.Even where a building is exempt from the Building Regulations, electrical work supplied from your home remains notifiable under Part P, and provisions relating to a shared water supply may also apply.
7. Rules and fees change
7.1.Permitted development rights, application fees, local designations and Article 4 Directions all change over time. Application fees are subject to annual indexation, and further changes to the national fee schedule have been proposed.
7.2.We aim to keep the Tool current but do not warrant that it reflects the law, guidance or fees in force on the date you use it. Any fee figure shown is indicative — confirm the current fee with your local planning authority.
8. Reliance and liability
8.1.The Tool is provided free of charge, “as is”, for general information. We give no warranty, representation or guarantee that a Result is accurate, complete, reliable, current or suitable for any particular purpose, or that any planning outcome will occur.
8.2.To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss, damage, cost or expense arising from your use of, or reliance on, the Tool or a Result — including project delays, abortive or wasted expenditure, enforcement action, or the cost of altering or removing works — where you have proceeded without obtaining the independent confirmation described in clause 9.
8.3.Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited. Your statutory rights as a consumer are not affected.
8.4.This clause 8 applies to the Tool only. It does not apply to, limit or affect any contract you enter into with us for the design, supply or installation of a building, our obligations under any such contract, or your rights under it.
9. How to get a definitive answer
9.1.Before ordering, paying for or starting any work, confirm your position independently. You should either contact your local planning authority — which may charge for pre-application advice — or apply to it for a Lawful Development Certificate, or both.
9.2.A Lawful Development Certificate for a proposed use or development, applied for under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, is the only way to obtain a legally binding confirmation from your council that your proposal does not require planning permission. Where a certificate is in force, the lawfulness of the operations is conclusively presumed unless there is a material change before work begins.
9.3.The fee for a proposed use or operation is half the fee that would apply to the equivalent planning application. Which fee category applies to your proposal is a matter for your council. Fees are indexed annually. Confirm the current fee with your local planning authority before applying.
9.4.Building without permission where permission was required can lead to enforcement action, including a requirement to alter or remove what has been built.
10. General
10.1.We may change, suspend or withdraw the Tool at any time.
10.2.We may update these terms. The current version is always the one published on this page.
10.3.We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Planning Portal, Historic England, or any local planning authority.
10.4.These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales.