The Government recently made a major change to planning laws which could have a major impact on tenants and leaseholders who live in blocks of flats.

The Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development and Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 automatically gives planning permission to owners of blocks of flats to extend up to two extra storeys upwards in most circumstances.

This would give permission for construction work to take place at apartment blocks which could cause disruption to existing leaseholders and tenants who live in the lower floors. On top of this, it has the potential to make it more expensive for leaseholders to buy the freehold on their flat – as even the Government’s own Impact Assessment of its regulations acknowledges. It also removes the right of neighbours who may be overlooked by large developments to object.

Together with my Labour MP colleagues, I am calling on the government to reverse this legislation and ensure developers who propose major extensions to apartment blocks need to apply for planning permission as they ought to.

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