What planning rules in Adur catch homeowners out?

Planning permission in Adur feels straightforward — until it isn't. Homeowners regularly start projects assuming they're covered by permitted development rights, only to discover their property sits in one of the district's many restricted zones. The rules don't just vary by borough — they vary by street, and sometimes by individual property. WhatCanIBuild exists precisely for this moment: when you realise you don't actually know what applies to your home.

The South Downs problem most homeowners overlook

Adur borders the South Downs National Park — and for some properties, that proximity matters more than people realise. Homes on or near this boundary sit on what's known as Article 1(5) land, where permitted development rights are more restricted than elsewhere. Most homeowners don't realise their property falls into this category until they've already made plans. Whether your address is affected isn't always obvious from a postcode alone — it depends on exactly where your property sits in relation to the boundary.

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions aren't just background noise

Adur has 7 conservation areas and 9 Article 4 directions affecting specific streets. These two things sound technical, but the practical effect is simple: work that your neighbour in a different part of Adur could do freely might require a full planning application from you. Article 4 directions are particularly easy to miss — they're applied at street level, not across whole neighbourhoods, which means a single road can have different rules from the one behind it. If your property is in one of these zones and you proceed without checking, you're not protected by ignorance.

Why 'it's just an extension' is rarely the whole story

Even for seemingly simple projects, the question of whether you need permission depends on a combination of factors — your property type, its location, what's already been built, and which restrictions are in place. Permitted development rights don't apply to flats or maisonettes in the same way they apply to houses. If your home was created through a prior change of use, the rules shift again. Most homeowners don't realise how many of these layers can stack on top of each other for a single project.

Knowing you're in a conservation area is one thing. Knowing what that actually means for your specific loft conversion, rear extension, or outbuilding — and how similar projects on your street have fared — is something else entirely. That's what WhatCanIBuild surfaces: not just the constraints on your property, but what's actually been approved and refused nearby, and what the approval odds look like for your specific project type in Adur.

The cost of getting it wrong

A standard householder application in Adur costs £548 and takes around 8 weeks to decide — and that's assuming it's approved. Unauthorised work can trigger enforcement action, require you to reverse what you've built, or complicate a future sale. The risk isn't theoretical. It catches homeowners out in Adur every year, usually because they assumed their project was fine without ever checking their specific address.

Before you commit to plans, WhatCanIBuild gives you a clear picture of what your property's combination of constraints actually means — and what's happened to similar projects in your area. It's the best way to know what you're actually dealing with before any money changes hands.