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Add an extension to your house

Last updated
14 Aug 2023

If you want to add an extension to your house, you should first check if you need to apply for planning permission. 

This guidance only applies if your home is a dwellinghouse. This means it's a house you live in and is not used as a business premise to any significant degree.

Permitted development

You don't need to apply for planning permission if the extension meets certain rules. This is called 'permitted development'.

The rules for permitted development depend on how many storeys (levels) your extension will have.

Single-storey extensions

If your extension will have one storey, you don't need planning permission as long as:

  • it's located at the back of the house
  • it doesn't go back further than 3 metres if it's a terraced house, or 4 metres if it isn't
  • the height of the eaves (where the wall meets the roof) is no higher than 3 metres
  • it's not higher than 4 metres, including sloping roofs
  • it doesn't cover more ground area than the original house did
  • it, and any other development, does not take up half or more of the 'rear curtilage' – this means half or more of the grounds behind your home
  • it isn't within a conservation area

Multi-storey extensions

If your extension will have more than one storey, you don't need to apply for planning permission for it as long as:

  • it's located at the back of the house
  • there's at least 10 metres between the extension and the boundaries of your grounds
  • it isn't higher than your house (excluding chimneys)
  • it doesn't cover more ground area than the original house did
  • it, and any other development, does not take up half or more of the 'rear curtilage' – this means half or more of the grounds behind your home
  • it isn't within a conservation area

For a more detailed explanation of what's considered a permitted development when adding an extension to your house, read the Scottish Government's Guidance on Householder Permitted Development rights publication and go to section 4.11. This includes more circumstances where this sort of development might qualify as permitted development but also instances where additional restrictions apply.

Planning permission

If the extension you want to build doesn't meet the conditions for permitted development, you have to apply for planning permission.

Read our guide on how to apply for planning permission, or contact your local authority for further information.

Aberdeen City Council Aberdeenshire Council Angus Council Argyll and Bute Council Cairngorms National Park Authority Clackmannanshire Council Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council) Dumfries & Galloway Council Dundee City Council East Ayrshire Council East Dunbartonshire Council East Lothian Council East Renfrewshire Council Edinburgh Council Falkirk Council Fife Council Glasgow City Council Highland Council Inverclyde Council Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority Midlothian Council Moray Council North Ayrshire Council North Lanarkshire Council Orkney Islands Council Perth & Kinross Council Renfrewshire Council Scottish Borders Council Shetland Islands Council South Ayrshire Council South Lanarkshire Council Stirling Council West Dunbartonshire Council West Lothian Council

You should always check with your council's planning department to see whether you need to apply for planning permission. Even if you don't, there may be other approvals you'll need to get.

Other approvals

You might need other approvals before you can carry out work. For example, you might need approval under the building regulations from the local council.

If you don't own the land on which the development is being carried out (for example, if you're a tenant or the land's in joint ownership), you may need to get the landowner's permission.

If you live in a listed building you will probably also need to obtain listed building consent.

It's your responsibility to make sure you get any necessary approval.

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