When you have a garage attached to your home it can give you a number of advantages, one of these being lower car insurance premiums. Insurance companies give extra points to people who park their vehicle in a secured area over night because it reduces the risk of having the vehicle stolen.

If you don’t already have a garage attached to your home and you would like to have a concrete garage in which to keep your vehicle, then you do need to check whether you will need planning permission to do so. As a general rule you always need planning permission for something that is a permanent structure and becomes part of the house and grounds if you ever decide to sell. You would need to check out the guidelines from your local authority as there are variations from one area to another and even one property to another.

One of the easiest ways to add a concrete garage to your home is to go for a prefabricated or readymade design. Getting a pre-constructed concrete building may be considerably cheaper than having one built from scratch and you may not need planning permission for a readymade type. Local authorities differ in how they interpret what is and what is not a permanent structure that requires planning permission. The only thing that you can do under these circumstances is to check out the rules on planning permission from your own local authority.

The laws on planning permission can be a bit confusing. As a general rule the law regards pre-cast concrete garages as readymade and therefore temporary structures that do not need planning permission. There are, however a number of things to consider before you approach your local authority to ask whether or not you need approval for building a concrete garage. You should get several quotes for having your new building installed, don’t go with the first one that you find.

Ready built concrete garages come in different shapes and sizes and these factors can affect whether or not you need planning permission to build it in the first instance. As a general rule you won’t need to gain consent if the building does not stick out beyond the front of your house and providing it is at least a metre’s distance from your existing house wall. If the design you have in mind is more than three metres in height and needs to be attached to the wall of your home, then you will need to obtain consent to do so. Councils do vary in their interpretations of these general rules, especially with regard to readymade concrete garages and you need to check this out.

If your local authority says that you will need to seek approval from the relevant authority, even though you intend to have a pre-fabricated garage, then you should be prepared for it to be some time before you can actually have it installed. A lot depends on what else your local council has on the table and how much priority they give to planning permission requests for a garage.

Author Bio: Vincent Rogers is a freelance writer who recommends Compton Buildings, the UK’s leading manufacturer of sectional, prefab, prefabricated and concrete garages and sheds who also offer a range of garage doors, windows and security options.

Category: Society
Keywords: Garage, Garages, Building, Construction, Planning Permission