Extend Your House

Use your GDO rights to create the extra rooms or living space you need

Councils restrict what you can build. But you can use your GDO rights to create a granny flat, or extend the kitchen, or build a bedroom or an office over the garage. You can add whatever living space you want and add real value to your home in the process. There are rules about what you can build under GDO rights, and these are explained below.

To find out if you have the necessary GDO rights, click the 'Sign up now' button.

The benefits
Why sign up?
Our report
Loft conversions
Extensions and rear additions
New buildings in the garden
Videos of what you can build
How to finance it
Professional help

More detail ... The rules that apply to additions and extensions built using GDO rights
Height restriction	Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here Some text goes here The new construction mustn't be higher than the highest part of the existing roof. There are restrictions on building too close to the ‘highway’. If the original building is less than 20 metres from the highway, then you can't build to the existing building line. If the original building is further than 20 metres from the highway, you can build up to the 20 metres point but no further. A point worth bearing in mind is that even a passage at the back of terraced houses can constitute a highway, so don't assume that you can just build at the back right up to a rear alley.) You can't build anything higher than 4 metres within 2 metres of the property’s boundary. This is to avoid problems with neighbours, and their need for light and air. There is also a restriction based on how much ground (such as garden, yard etc) there was surrounding the original house. The total developments must not cover more than 50% of that ‘spare’ ground area. So if you have a terraced house directly onto the street but with a rear garden, then you are only permitted to build a rear extension which (with any previous extensions since 1948) take up 50% of the original garden and no more. If you have a house with equal sized front and back gardens, then, your rear extension (with any previous extensions since 1948) could take up back garden, subject to the other size rules and the limits on building too close to the highway or boundaries. (In fact, extensions which take up the bulk of a garden tend to actually reduce the value of a property.) You can add a front porch, but it mustn’t be: any closer than 2 metres from the pavement. more than three square metres in size more than 3 metres high. You can only extend, if the GDO rights have not already been eaten up by earlier extensions anywhere in the house. You have to start with the cubic content of the original building. If it’s an old building, it may be hard to work out what the original shape was, but the rules say you can ignore anything done before 1948. so ‘original’ for an old house means how it was in 1948. Taking your new proposed works and any previous works (after 1948) into account, the overall ‘lifetime’ limit rules on extensions is as follows: The resulting house cannot be more than 10% (for a terraced house) or 15% (for detached or semi-detached houses) larger than the original house in cubic contents (unless the next point applies) You can always built up to 50 extra cubic metres (for a terraced house) or 70 cubic metres (for detached or semi-detached houses) even if that is more than 10% (or 15%). However, never mind what the 10/15% or 50/70 cubic metres rules say, you cannot have more than a cumulative 115 cubic metres of extra space. Offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden Offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden Offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden Offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden Offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden offices in the garden
Cumulative limit on all additions
Proximity to the road
Proximity to the boundaries
Restriction on ground area
Porches