Use Class C2 – Residential Institutions

Use Class C2 of the Use Classes Order 1987 (as amended) is for the use as residential institutions.

The full description is use for the provision of residential accommodation and care to people in need of care (other than a use within class C3 (dwelling houses)).
Use as a hospital or nursing home.
Use as a boarding school, residential college or residential training centre.

“care” for Use Class C2 is defined as ‘personal care for people in need of such care by reason of old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs or past or present mental disorder, and in class C2 also includes the personal care of children and medical care and treatment‘. This is within Article 2 of the Use Class Order 1987.

Permitted Development Changes for Use Class C2

There are not any permitted development rights to go from or to C2 from/to any other use class. This would require planning permission. The one exception to this is the rarely used Class T to go from a C2 to a state funded school. Maybe it has been used once, who knows?!

If you require assistance with planning permission please either request a free fee proposal, or book a Zoom call with Ian, the founder of Planning Geek. Our team of planning consultants are here to help.

Does a C2 property have permitted Development Rights?

Maybe!

If it is a dwelling and not a larger property, it may well do. A dwellinghouse is not defined in the GPDO or indeed in the Planning Act of 1990. Rectory Homes Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] and London Borough of Brent v Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin) both confirmed that a dwellinghouse is not necessarily a C3 dwelling and can be in use as other classes. 

In  London Borough of Brent v Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin), the Deputy Judge set out legal principles determining the meaning of “dwellinghouse”  including:

• A dwellinghouse is a unit of residential accommodation which provides the facilities needed for day-to-day private domestic existence (known as the ‘Gravesham test’)
• Whether any particular building is or is not a dwellinghouse is a question of fact
• Use Category C3 is not exhaustive of the uses to which a dwellinghouse may be put
• There is no requirement for a dwellinghouse to be in use by, or akin to, “a single household”. That is a concept confined to Class C3 dwellinghouses

Therefore Part 1 of the GPDO may extend to C2 dwellinghouses if you can find them.

Examples for Use Class C2

According to the Planning Geek directory of uses, C2 includes Boarding School, Care Homes, Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Residential Accomodation in need of care, Extra Care Housing, Residential Schools, Colleges or Training Centres.

Sheltered Housing and maybe Extra Care Housing are likely to be Use Class C3 – this was reinforced in the judgment from Rectory Homes Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020]. If the units can be used as independent dwellings, (in this case they each had their own front door and private facilities) then they can be considered as “dwellings”, irrespective of whether an element of care is provided.

But as with any property there will be situations where C2 is more appropriate. The distinguishing feature of C2 accommodation is occupants being in “need of care” as opposed to simply having care available if needed. Accommodation in the form of dwellings can exist in both Use Class C2 and C3. Examples for C2 Use include bungalows and flats.

This judgment opens up the question as to whether dwellings within C2 use can benefit from extensions and other alterations contained within Part 1 of the GPDO. A dwellinghouse is not defined in the Use Class Order. An interesting thought……

Page Updated: 21st January 2024

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