As seen on TV

Introduction

When you get stuck into a new composite door project, there’s a lot to consider. You’ve likely thought of the colour, the style, and the hardware and toyed with multiple ideas. There are plenty of ways to personalise your new door and give it a touch of your personality. But while it’s fun to get carried away in the design stage, there’s one factor that’s likely to give you a moment’s pause; planning permission.

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Here at Endurance Doors, we’ve helped hundreds of homeowners design their dream doors. We’ve seen first-hand how an eager customer can be struck with hesitation when they realise they haven’t considered planning permission. That’s why we decided to put this short guide together. This will hopefully put a few minds to rest and give you a better understanding of the law and your new composite door.

Planning Permission

First of all, let’s clear this up right now: in the vast majority of cases, you will not need planning permission to install a new composite door. There are exceptions, but if you are replacing an existing door with a new one, it will fall within your permitted development rights as the homeowner. This also applies to any minor alterations you need to make, such as replacing a handle or letterbox. 

We would always recommend checking with your local authority, but it’s likely that you won’t need to obtain planning permission. We’ve only encountered a few cases where it was necessary and they were mostly in listed buildings. The regulations were stricter for them, but providing the owners stuck with the overall style of the property, permission was usually granted. 

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It’s also possible that a previous owner of your house might have placed a restrictive covenant on it that prevents any significant development. Your solicitor should have informed you of this when the sale was completed but if in doubt, check with them. It’s unlikely that replacing a front door would be affected by this but it’s best to find out sooner rather than later.

Installing A Brand New Door

The other scenario where this gets a tad more complicated is if installing your new front door requires major structural work. For instance; maybe you don’t like the door’s location and want to move it to another part of the house. This would involve creating a new entranceway and filling in the old one, so you’ll have to involve a structural engineer and ensure it’s safe to do so. 

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As this is a more in-depth job, there will be cases when you need to obtain planning permission first. The good news however, is that from our previous experience, it’s rare for the local authority to say no. We’ve been contacted about several projects that required a new doorway, and unless it was a heritage or listed building, it generally went quite smoothly.

If in doubt, it’s best to contact your local council and check with them. It’s rare for a new composite door project to be held up by planning permission, but it’s always worth asking ahead of time. 

Once you’ve got the go-ahead, you can then get stuck in with designing your new front door. When you’re ready, check out our online door designer and see what you can create. If you have any questions, you’re welcome to contact us by calling 01652 340340, or via email at marketing@endurancedoors.co.uk.