Flat conversion plans in Three Rivers

Always. Splitting one house into two or more self-contained flats is a change of use, which is never permitted development, so a full application to Three Rivers District Council is required. The council assesses the unit sizes, the mix and the amenity against its housing policy, as well as any external changes. A Three Rivers conversion is judged more closely than an extension precisely because it creates new homes.

Each flat must meet the nationally described space standard, which sets a minimum floor area by the number of bedrooms and bed spaces — a one-bed one-person flat starts at 37–39 square metres, and larger units scale up from there. Three Rivers District Council will refuse units below the standard. We test how many compliant flats a Three Rivers building genuinely holds at feasibility, rather than drawing undersized units that cannot be approved.

Once you create separate units, building control requires Part E acoustic separation between them — the floors and party walls must be built or upgraded to resist airborne and impact sound — and a protected means of escape so each flat can be left safely in a fire. These are checked by Three Rivers District Council's building control, separately from planning. We plan the separation into the layout from the start, so the planning design and the building-regs build are the same scheme.

Not necessarily. Many boroughs set policy on the mix — resisting schemes that are all studios or one-beds, and sometimes requiring a family-sized flat — to keep a range of homes. Three Rivers District Council applies its own housing policy to a conversion, so the profitable-looking stack of small units is often the one that gets refused. We design the mix to what the borough will actually accept before drawing the application.

Usually yes. Once the Three Rivers building is flats, each unit is normally sold or let on a lease, and a Land Registry-compliant lease plan is needed to define its extent. The measured survey behind the conversion drawings is the ideal base for those lease plans, so the same accurate record serves the planning application, the building-regs layout and the leases without measuring the building twice. Three Rivers District Council is the decision-maker.

We price each Three Rivers conversion on the number of units and the building's size and complexity, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the feasibility, the change-of-use application drawings and free revisions until Three Rivers District Council decides. Building-regs separation drawings and any council fee are quoted separately. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.