Read our FAQ on leisure based property. We have all the most common frequently asked questions pertaining to the leisure property category.
With the varied nature of the leisure property market, there are usually plenty of questions to be answered. Hopefully, we will cover some of the key and commonly asked questions below.
The leisure sector is a major industry and the list of businesses requiring a leisure property is long and diverse. Some of these have been covered above. Others include casinos, coffee shops and bingo halls. Gyms and fitness centres also belong to the category.
Yes in most cases you would not require planning permission to change the use class of a pub, A4, into a restaurant, which falls within the A3 class.
Yes, you can, but as normal you would have to apply for planning permission as the land would be for commercial use. In some cases, it’s possible to apply to be a Certified Site under the The Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, which allows land owners the ability to set up small sites and allow camping in tents and limited number of caravans or motorhomes. There is also the 28 day usage law for land, where a piece of land can be used for camping for 28 days in a year might also be a fact that is useful, if you plan to only run a site for a small portion of the year for example.
In order to convert a shop from A1 use class, into A4 – drinking establishment or A5 hot food takeaway, you would require planning permission. However, if you were planning to convert a drinking establishment or a takeaway into a shop then you would not require planning permission.
This would be classified as a house, a C3 Dwelling houses being converted into a C1 Hotel class, and you would require planning permission in order to do so.
To convert an existing sui generis classified property into another use, you would need to apply and receive planning permission to do so.
If you wished to convert an existing D2 – Assembly and leisure classified property into a casino, then you would need to apply for planning permission as a casino is sui generis property. However to convert an existing casino property into a D2 classified property use is allowed without planning permission, this is partly to ensure that empty casino properties are not left deserted due to being tied into a specific use class.
A gym or fitness class, like yoga, aerobics or pilates would fall under the class D2 which is described as premises for entertainment and leisure purposes.
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Leisure Property Use Classes
