Offices and shops to convert to homes
Office and shop buildings of 250 m² or more in towns in England, with no Article 4 direction against the change, not listed and outside protected landscapes: the buildings Class MA could turn into homes.
53,551 sites fit this search today
Imagery: Mapbox and Maxar. Boundaries: HM Land Registry INSPIRE, Crown copyright.
A land search, from the first words to a shortlist
38 seconds. Type what you are looking for, see the sites that fit, open one and save it to a shortlist.
What the search looks for
Each line is a filter on the map, so you can widen or tighten any of them.
Open the search- An office or shop building on the energy certificate register
- One to three buildings of 250 m² or more covering at least a third of the plot
- In a town in England
- No Article 4 on offices to homes
- Not listed
- Outside national landscapes and parks
On every site
- The building
- Its footprint, the number of buildings on the plot, and its use and floor area where it is on the energy certificate register.
- What takes the right away
- Article 4 directions, listed buildings, conservation areas and protected landscapes, mapped against the plot.
- Planning on the plot
- Ten years of planning applications, each with its decision and a link to the council's record.
Why these rules
Permitted development Class MA (General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 3): two years in a commercial, business or service use (Class E) before the prior approval application; the vacancy test and the 1,500 m² limit went on 5 March 2024.
Not on listed buildings, scheduled monuments or SSSIs, or in national landscapes, national parks, the Broads or World Heritage Sites; allowed in conservation areas, where the council also weighs a ground floor change.
Prior approval covers transport, contamination, flooding, noise from commercial premises, natural light in every habitable room and, at 18 m or seven storeys, fire safety; every home must meet the nationally described space standard. An Article 4 direction switches it off.
A shop of over 1,500 m² of footprint under 8 m tall is left out: too deep to give every room daylight, which prior approval tests (Class MA.2(2)(f)). Class MA has had no floor limit since 5 March 2024.
Sites from the search
Some of the sites the search returned on 10 November 2026. Each opens on the map with its record.
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Uttoxeter250 m²
East Staffordshire
Building footprint 250 m²Main commercial use Retail
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Rosliston250 m²
South Derbyshire
Building footprint 250 m²Main commercial use Office
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South Woodham Ferrers251 m²
Chelmsford
Building footprint 250 m²Main commercial use Office
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Nottingham251 m²
Nottingham
Building footprint 251 m²Main commercial use Retail
Imagery: Mapbox and Maxar. Boundaries: HM Land Registry INSPIRE, Crown copyright.
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