Cases - Arun DC v First Secretary of State
Record details
- Name
- Arun DC v First Secretary of State
- Date
- [2006]
- Citation
- EWCA Civ 1172
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Planning permission - breach of condition - material change of use
- Summary
-
Planning permission had been granted for an extension to a house subject to a condition that it should not be used for independent residential accommodation. In 1996 the owner began to use it for student accommodation in breach of the condition. In 2004 the local planning authority served an enforcement notice alleging a breach of condition. It was claimed that the notice was out of time as it had not been served within 4 years of the breach. The local planning authority claimed that as the breach identified was a breach of condition, the 10-year rule applied.
The Court of Appeal held that the 4-year rule applies to a change of use to a single dwellinghouse, whether that change of use constitutes a material change of use or a breach of condition.
As section 55(3)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 provides that use as 2 or more separate dwellinghouses of a building previously used as a single dwellinghouse is a material change of use, the breach in this case is both a material change of use and a breach of condition. Either way, and irrespective of how the breach is identified in the enforcement notice, the 4-year rule applies.