Commercial property: all change to changes of use

Laura Maltby, a commercial property solicitor at our Canterbury St George’s Place office, explains a range of reforms to planning laws which commercial property owners, investors, landlord and tenants should be aware of.

As part of the Government’s commitment to help the economy and particularly the high street recover following the Covid-19 pandemic, from 1 September 2020, new rules introduce three new Use Classes: Class E, Class F1 and Class F2.

Use Classes set out what a commercial property can be used for and the new rules allow more flexibility for change of use.

The majority of high street premises will now fall into the new Use Class E which includes retail, restaurant, office and financial/professional services, indoor sport, recreation and fitness facilities, health centres and day centres - basically where the premises is used to provide some form of business or service.

Premises which were used for Use Class A1, A2 , A3  or B1 pre 1 September will now fall within Class E. The effect of this is that business owners will no longer have to apply for planning permission to change to another Use Class where the new use also falls within Use Class E because this type of change will no longer be considered a “development” for planning purposes.

There is also a new Class F.2 which aims to ensure that local community facilities can readily be changed to a new community use should the need arise. Class F.2 includes a shop (which mostly sells essential goods, including food, to visiting members of the public in circumstances where the shop’s premises cover an area not more than 280 metres square, and there is no other such facility within 1000 metre radius of the shop’s location), a hall or meeting place for the principal use of the community, an area for outdoor sport or recreation and an indoor or outdoor swimming pool or skating rink.

Some common types of use have now become what is termed “sui generis” uses, which includes pub/drinking establishments and hot food takeaways. This means that you must obtain planning permission for any change to or from these uses.

The goal behind the changes, which are the most significant to be made to the Use Classes system in over 30 years, is to make it easier for tenants and developers to change a property’s authorised use. The new Use Class E in particular will benefit commercial landlords of shops and offices who currently have vacant premises due to the effects of COVID-19, by enabling them to more easily change the use of their premises to ones that are more sought after. Equally, tenants who are currently tied into a lease of premises where the use is no longer profitable, i.e. a shop, can now convert the business into a café or restaurant without having to apply for planning permission.

If you are looking to purchase business premises, take on a lease or even let currently vacant business premises and would like to understand how these changes affect you, our commercial property team will be pleased to assist. You can find all of their direct dial numbers and email addresses here on our website.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.