Can I Live In My Garden Office?

The versatility of our products means that they are suited for a wide variety of different uses and purposes.

What Is A Garden Office?

Our garden office spaces have a variety of purposes. We often get asked whether they’re suitable for living. Our garden offices are buildings that can be added to your garden to create extra space for hobbies, a growing business, or anything you need more space at home for.

Why Can’t Garden Offices Be Used For Living?

Our buildings are completely insulated and kitted out exactly as a normal room in your home would be, and make the perfect relaxing extra home space.

Most people construct a garden building under permitted development rights with occasional overnight use in mind. However, your garden building must adhere to building regulations if it is going to be slept in at any point.

Our buildings do not comply with building regulations as they’re classed as outbuildings. In some cases planning permission will be required for example, flats or listed buildings will always require planning permission. This is because these kinds of properties do not have permitted development rights which are required for our buildings to be constructed without planning permission.

What Are Permitted Development Rights?

Permitted development rights are rights that can allow a homeowner to make certain changes to an existing building, or to allow certain building works to go ahead without the need for planning permission from your local planning authorities. Permitted Development rights originate from general planning permissions from Parliament.

What Is Planning Permission?

Planning permissions are in short permissions from your local planning authorities that allow you to carry out construction work. However, your grant for planning permission can also be refused, although there are ways to appeal. In the case of your garden office needing planning permission, our team handle the entire process and keep you in the loop every step of the way.

Living Space

So you can use our garden offices as a living space and make it comfortable with sofas and design it how you like. Although they cannot be used for accommodation and overnight stays – without planning permission.

If you are looking for permanent extra living space, we would recommend our newest addition to the Green Retreats Group, The Annex. The Annex is a year-round living space that includes everything you need to live independently. For example, a kitchen space, living area, bedroom and bathroom. The Annex does need planning permission and all adhere to building regulations. This means you can live comfortably all year-round, and our team handle the entire planning permission process!

Located just at the bottom of your garden, you can keep your loved ones as close as possible, whilst still allowing them privacy. So although our garden offices cannot be used for permanent living, we do provide a product that is!

Find Out More Today

Whether you are interested in an annexe or a garden office, our Buckinghamshire showroom showcases both of them in a natural environment. Our annexes are outdoor in order to give you a feel for the size of them, as well as what they will look like in your own garden.

Completely furnished, you can look around and test them out for yourselves – you will feel right at home! We have also our garden offices on display, and our team can tour you around the showroom, detailing the differences and unique features of each product.