Do garden stairs need planning permission?

Permitted development, in plain terms

A lot of work to a house can go ahead without a planning application because the government has already granted permission for it, as long as you stay inside set limits. That's permitted development. The legal bit, if you want it: Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.

Two parts of that matter for garden stairs:

• Class A covers extending or altering the house itself. It rules out building a veranda, balcony or raised platform.
• Class E covers buildings and structures in the garden. It has the same rule: no veranda, balcony or raised platform.

The Order defines a raised platform as one more than 0.3 metres high. The government's technical guidance says the same, and adds that roof terraces count too.

Where the landing comes in

Hardly anyone builds a flight of steps that ends in mid-air. Steps down from back doors need somewhere level to step out onto first, and steps up to a first-floor door or balcony need a platform at the top. That landing is the part the planning rules look at.

As a rough guide:

• Landing 0.3 m high or less. It can be treated like low decking, which can be permitted development under Class E within the limits below.
• Landing more than 0.3 m high. That's a raised platform, which needs planning permission.
• Stairs up to a balcony or roof terrace. Balconies and roof terraces aren't permitted development, so plan on applying.
• Steps down a slope with no platform. The guidance doesn't deal with these directly. Check with your council before you start.

The limits on low decking and platforms

The Planning Portal gives the conditions for decking and platforms to be permitted development:

• no more than 30 cm above the ground
• together with extensions, sheds and other outbuildings, covering no more than half the garden
• nothing on land in front of the wall that forms the principal elevation, usually the front of the house

In National Parks, the Broads, National Landscapes (Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and World Heritage Sites, anything more than 20 metres from the house is limited to 10 square metres. On designated land, which includes conservation areas, you can't put decking or a platform to the side of the house.

Flats, listed buildings, conservation areas and Article 4

Flats and maisonettes. The householder rights only apply to houses. The 2015 Order's definition of a dwellinghouse leaves out flats and buildings containing flats, so external stairs to a flat, including a first-floor flat's own garden steps, will need a planning application.

Listed buildings. No decking or platform is permitted development within the grounds of a listed building. You may also need listed building consent as well as planning permission, and the Planning Portal is clear that doing work that needs listed building consent without it is a criminal offence.

Conservation areas and protected landscapes are what the Order calls Article 2(3) land, and they have tighter limits, as above. Round here that covers a lot of ground: conservation areas in most towns, the Kent Downs, High Weald and Surrey Hills National Landscapes, and the South Downs National Park. On top of that, a council can remove some or all permitted development rights in an area with an Article 4 direction, and a condition on an earlier planning permission for the house can take them away too. Either way, you may need to apply for work that is normally allowed.

How to get a firm answer

Your local planning authority makes the decision, not us and not your builder. If you're not sure, there are two ways to find out.

Ask the council. Many councils give advice before you apply. Send a simple drawing showing the height of the landing above the ground and where it sits on the house.

Apply for a Lawful Development Certificate. For proposed work, this is a legal document confirming that what you plan is lawful, so no planning application is needed. The Planning Portal says it should be decided within eight weeks of the council validating it, and the fee for proposed work is half the normal planning fee. It doesn't replace planning permission: if the council refuses it, you'll need to apply for permission instead.

Don't skip this. Build without permission you needed and the council can serve an enforcement notice telling you to undo the work. Ignoring one is illegal, though you can appeal.

Building regulations are a separate question

Planning is about whether you can build it. Building regulations are about whether it's built safely. Permitted development doesn't get you out of building regulations, and planning permission doesn't cover them either.

For stairs, the guidance is in Approved Document K, which deals with stairs, handrails and guarding, and applies to outside steps that form part of the building. Where an outside stair is part of an escape route from an upper floor, Approved Document B (fire safety, including means of escape) comes into it as well. Your building control body can tell you whether your steps need an application.

What we do about it

At the free site survey we look at the height, the landing and the house, and tell you straight if we think you'll need to apply. We draw the staircase for you to approve, and those drawings can go in with a planning application or a Lawful Development Certificate. Structural calculations are available too (see surveys and drawings).

Building an extension as well? Our guide to steps from a kitchen extension to the garden covers the landing, handrails and levels.