Permission for B &B With Fewer Than 3 Rooms?

Q.

Is it correct that if you choose to do Bed & Breakfast from your home, with 3 or fewer letting rooms, that you do not need planning or change of use?

A.

There is no evidence that there is any limit on the number of bedrooms a B&B has to have before you have to apply for planning permission of building regulations approval.

Planning and Regulation Confusion

To be honest, the different permissions that apply don't often relate to each other, so it would be very unusual for a three room limit to apply to both planning and building regulations.

'Change of use' is a confusing term to use because it can apply to either planning permission or building regulations. It's also difficult to give hard and fast rules about these areas because the regulations differ in different parts of the United Kingdom. Apart from the different bodies regulating B&B's in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the rules are likely to be interpreted differently in different areas.

Proportion of House Being Used for Business

Most local authorities would tend to look at the size of the B&B business as a proportion of the house when considering planning permission. If you had five bedrooms in the house and were going to let out one of the bedrooms on a B&B basis, then you would probably not need it.

But you would need planning permission if you were going to be using three bedrooms in the same house. Then again, three bedrooms in a nine bedroom house, for example, might not require it. There are other factors that affect planning permission change of use as well. If you are going to employ staff or have separate dining rooms and living rooms for guests then that would mean applying for it.

Building Regulations

With building regulations the issues are similar, but of course different. The main test for building regulations change of use will be whether or not the property will be a B&B (or hotel or boarding house) rather than a private house once the business is up and running. Again different local authorities will have different ways of deciding this.

Check with the Local Authority

Having said all this, the only way to find out for sure is to write to the local planning office telling them the exact address and outlining your plans. It probably won’t cost you anything and you will have the security of knowing that you're on the right side of the law.