What the fee covers
Our fee is £475. There is no survey charge in the price, because the job is a new building on open ground rather than work to an existing one. The drawings show the room, its height, its distance from the boundaries and how it is built.
The set is built around the rules below, so the council or building control can see at a glance that each limit is met.
The planning limits: height and position
Class E of the permitted development order covers buildings, enclosures and pools in the garden that are incidental to the enjoyment of the house. The building must be single storey, with eaves no higher than 2.5 metres.
Overall height is limited to 4 metres for a dual-pitched roof, 3 metres in any other case, and 2.5 metres if any part is within 2 metres of the boundary. It may not sit forward of the front wall of the original house, may not cover more than half the garden with other buildings, and is not permitted in the garden of a listed building.
If the house is on article 2(3) land, such as a conservation area, a garden room may not be built between a side wall of the house and the boundary. A balcony, verandah or raised platform also takes it outside the right.
The building regulations limits: area and sleeping
Building regulations have their own size test. Schedule 2 exempts a detached building of up to 15 square metres that has no sleeping accommodation. A single-storey building of up to 30 square metres without sleeping accommodation is also exempt, if no part is less than one metre from the boundary or it is built substantially of non-combustible material.
So a 14-square-metre garden office needs no building regulations approval, a 25-square-metre studio set well away from the boundary needs none either, and a room that anyone sleeps in needs approval at any size. Where approval is needed, our building regulations drawings are a separate set.
Fees if you do need the council
If the room is within Class E, no planning application is needed. If you want proof, a Lawful Development Certificate costs half the planning fee. If it exceeds the limits, an application at the householder fee, £548, is the route.
By the numbers
2.5 m
Highest an outbuilding may be within 2 metres of a boundary under Class E; eaves may not exceed 2.5 metres anywhere.
4 m / 3 m
Highest an outbuilding may be with a dual-pitched roof, and with any other roof, when more than 2 metres from a boundary.
50%
The most of the garden that buildings other than the house may cover.
15 m²
Largest detached building with no sleeping accommodation that is exempt from building regulations.
Source: The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2: exempt buildings and work, Class 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
30 m²
Largest single-storey detached building exempt if it is 1 metre from the boundary or non-combustible.
Source: The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2: exempt buildings and work, Class 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
1 m
Distance from the boundary beyond which a 15 to 30 square metre outbuilding needs no non-combustible walls.
Source: The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2: exempt buildings and work, Class 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
Half
A Lawful Development Certificate for proposed work costs half the planning fee.
£548
Council fee for a householder application for one house from 1 April 2026.
Source: Planning fees: annual indexation from 1 April 2026 (GOV.UK)
Garden room drawing costs: common questions
Can I sleep in a garden room?
Building regulations exemptions only apply to buildings with no sleeping accommodation, so a room anyone sleeps in needs approval. Planning rules also treat a separate home differently from a room incidental to the house.
Source: The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2: exempt buildings and work, Class 6 (legislation.gov.uk) · General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class E: buildings incidental to a house (legislation.gov.uk)
Why is there no survey charge?
A garden room is a new building on open ground rather than work to an existing one, so our price is for the drawings alone.
Do I need drawings at all for a small garden room?
If it is permitted development and exempt from building regulations, nothing is required by law. Drawings still prove the limits to a neighbour, a buyer or the council, and we recommend a Lawful Development Certificate if you want certainty.
Sources
- General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class E: buildings incidental to a house (legislation.gov.uk)
- The Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2: exempt buildings and work, Class 6 (legislation.gov.uk)
- Fees for planning applications (GOV.UK)
- Planning fees: annual indexation from 1 April 2026 (GOV.UK)
About the author. Ben Shaukat is Managing Director of Property Architecture Ltd, which trades as Planning Drawings.
Published by Planning Drawings. Checked against the sources above on . Planning rules change; check your council before you build.