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Add decking to your house

Last updated
14 Aug 2023

If you want to add decking or some other type of platform to your house, you should check to see whether it is a 'permitted development'. If it isn't you will need to apply for planning permission. 

This guidance only applies if your home is a dwellinghouse. This means it's a house you live in and is not used as a business premise to any significant degree.

Permitted development

You may not have to apply for planning permission if your decking meets the 'permitted development' rules.

The permitted development rules for adding decking to your house are:

  • it's located at the back of your house
  • the height of the floor level isn't any higher than 0.5 metres above ground level
  • the total height, including any attached structures or roof, isn't any higher than 2.5 metres above ground level
  • if it's within the grounds of a listed building or within a conservation area, the footprint doesn't exceed 4 square metres

For a more detailed explanation of what's considered a permitted development when adding decking to your house, read the Scottish Government's Guidance on Householder Permitted Development rights publication and go to section 4.106. This includes more circumstances where this sort of development may qualify as permitted development but also instances where additional restrictions apply.

Planning permission

If the decking you want to build doesn't meet the conditions for permitted development, you have to apply for planning permission.

Find out how to apply for planning permission, or contact your local council for further information.

Aberdeen City Council Aberdeenshire Council Angus Council Argyll and Bute Council Clackmannanshire Council Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Council Dundee City Council East Ayrshire Council East Dunbartonshire Council East Lothian Council East Renfrewshire Council Edinburgh Council Falkirk Council Fife Council Glasgow City Council Highland Council Inverclyde Council Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority Midlothian Council Moray Council North Ayrshire Council North Lanarkshire Council Orkney Islands Council Perth and Kinross Council Renfrewshire Council Scottish Borders Council Shetland Islands Council South Ayrshire Council South Lanarkshire Council Stirling Council West Dunbartonshire Council West Lothian Council

You should always check with your council's planning department to see whether you need to apply for planning permission. Even if you meet the permitted development rules, there might be other approvals you'll need to get.

Other approvals

You might need other approvals before you can carry out work. For example, you might need approval under the building regulations from the local council.

If you do not own the land on which the development is being carried out (for example, if you're a tenant or the land's in joint ownership), you need to get the landowner's permission.

If you live in a listed building you'll also need to obtain listed building consent.

It's your responsibility to make sure you get any necessary approval.

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