Use Classes Explained: The Use Class Order

Full use class order table, from B2 to sui generis

Every lawful use of a building in England sits in a use class, or is sui generis. The table below lists each class in force today. We read Schedule 1 of the Order on legislation.gov.uk on 4 November 2026. The Class E and F wording comes from the Planning Portal's use classes page.

Two sets of letters you may still see, A1 to A5 and B1, are gone in England. The 2020 section below maps each one to its new class.

Uses that fit no class are sui generis, and each is judged on its own facts. Our guide to the sui generis use class lists every one of them.

Class B2 and B8: industry, storage and distribution

Class B2 is general industrial. The Planning Portal describes it as "use for industrial process other than one falling within class E(g)". It excludes incineration, chemical treatment, landfill and hazardous waste.

The line between B2 and Class E(g) is the neighbours. E(g) covers uses that can be carried out in a residential area without harm to its amenity. A process that cannot meet that test is B2.

Class B8 is "use for storage or as a distribution centre". The Planning Portal adds that the class includes open-air storage. Warehouses and yards used to store and move goods sit here.

Classes B3 to B7 were removed from the Order in the 1990s. So B2 and B8 are the only B classes left in England.

Class C1 hotels and C2 residential institutions

Class C1 is "use as a hotel or as a boarding or guest house where, in each case, no significant element of care is provided". A hostel is not C1. It is listed as sui generis in article 3(6) of the Order.

Class C2 covers three groups:

1. Care homes. Residential accommodation and care for people in need of care, other than a use in Class C3.
2. Hospitals and nursing homes. Named in the class as a separate line.
3. Residential education. Residential schools, colleges and training centres.

Class C2A is for secure residential institutions, from prisons and detention centres to secure hospitals and military barracks.

Turning a hotel or care home into flats moves it from C1 or C2 into C3. That is a change between classes. Expect a planning application unless a permitted development right covers it.

Buying one to convert? Confirm its lawful use and planning history before you exchange.

Class C3 dwellinghouses and C4 small HMOs

Class C3 is use as a dwellinghouse, whether or not it is anyone's sole or main residence. It has three parts:

1. C3(a): a single person, or people forming a single household as defined in the Housing Act 2004.
2. C3(b): up to six residents who form one household, where care is provided for them.
3. C3(c): up to six residents sharing a home as one household, with no care provided, other than C4 uses.

Class C4 is a house in multiple occupation for up to six residents. The Planning Portal describes it as a small shared house of three to six unrelated people, as their only or main home.

Above six residents, an HMO leaves C4 and becomes sui generis. Our guide what is an HMO explains the legal definition. The London policy tests are in our guide to HMO planning permission.

Planning is only one consent. A mandatory HMO licence applies from five people in two or more households, whatever the use class.

Class E, F1 and F2 since 2020

Class E is the Commercial, Business and Service class. Shops, cafes and restaurants, financial and professional services, indoor sport, clinics, nurseries, offices, research and light industry share it. Our guide to Class E use class explained covers the sub-classes, their limits and the conditions that can switch the freedom off.

Class F1 is for learning and non-residential institutions, with no residential use. It has seven parts:

• Provision of education.
• Display of works of art, otherwise than for sale or hire.
• Museums.
• Public libraries or public reading rooms.
• Public halls or exhibition halls.
• Public worship or religious instruction.
• Law courts.

Class F2 is for the local community. It has four parts:

1. Small essential shops. Shops mostly selling essential goods, including food, of no more than 280 square metres, with no similar shop within 1,000 metres.
2. Community halls. Halls or meeting places mainly used by the local community.
3. Outdoor sport. Areas for outdoor sport or recreation, without motor vehicles or firearms.
4. Pools and rinks. Indoor or outdoor swimming pools and skating rinks.

Check which class and sub-class your unit was granted before you plan a change.

What changed on 1 September 2020: A1 to A5, B1, D1 and D2

On 1 September 2020, England revoked Part A, Class B1 and Part D of the Order. Their uses moved into the new Classes E, F1 and F2, or became sui generis.

The change matters most for retail. A shop, a cafe and an office used to sit in three classes. Now they share Class E, so one can usually become another without an application.

Pubs went the other way. As Class A4 they had a class; now they have none.

The Planning Portal says applications are generally decided on the classes in force when they were submitted. Some laws still refer to the classes as they stood on a set date. Permitted development followed on 1 August 2021, when Part 3 Classes B to F, J, JA and K were removed.

Holding a permission granted before 2020? It will name the old classes, so map them with the table above.

Moving within a use class

Section 55(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes "any material change in the use" of a building development. Section 57(1) says development needs planning permission.

Section 55(2)(f) carves out the use class order. Use for "any other purpose of the same class" is not development. So a shop can become an office, or a cafe a gym, without an application, because all sit in Class E.

The freedom has limits:

1. Planning conditions. A permission can limit the use to one part of a class, for example "office use only".
2. Section 106 agreements. An obligation can restrict uses too, and it runs with the land.
3. Physical works. A new shopfront or external plant may still need its own permission.
4. Other consents. Building Regulations and licensing still apply to the new use.

Read every planning permission on the site before you rely on the class. Sui generis uses get no help from this rule, because they have no class.

Permitted development changes between classes

Some changes between classes need no planning application. Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015 (GPDO) grants them as permitted development, each with its own limits.

Class MA is the route most owners ask about. The building must have been in Class E use for a continuous period of at least two years. Listed buildings and some protected areas, such as National Parks, are excluded.

Prior approval is not a full application. The council checks set matters, such as transport, flooding, noise and natural light. If it does not decide within 56 days, the development may begin. The council fee is £260 per new home.

An Article 4 direction can remove a right in the area the council specifies. Our permitted development and prior approval service checks the right first. For the Class MA detail, read commercial to residential permitted development.

Prove the existing use with a lawful development certificate

Every route starts from the lawful use you have today. A lawful development certificate proves it to the council, a buyer or a lender.

There are two kinds:

1. Existing use (section 191). Confirms a use already carried on is lawful.
2. Proposed use (section 192). Confirms a use you plan would be lawful if begun now.

In England, enforcement action is generally time-barred ten years after a breach. Since 25 April 2024, that ten-year limit also covers building works and a change of use to a single home.

The burden of proof is on you, on the balance of probability. Government guidance asks you to describe the actual use precisely, not just the use class.

Rises to £732 and £323 are proposed from 8 December 2026. The draft regulations had not been made on 4 November 2026. Councils must decide a certificate within 8 weeks, unless you agree longer in writing.

We obtain one before Class MA whenever the two-year Class E history is in doubt. Our guide to the lawful development certificate covers the evidence in depth. Not sure what your building is? Get a free route check.