Camden
We advise on permitted development rights for Hampstead houses with a property-specific rights map — conservation designation, Article 4, tenure and earlier extensions first, national size tables last. The output is an honest route and, where useful, lawful development certificate drawings.
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The short answer
It depends on the house, designations and remaining allowance. Camden positions are confirmed first. We map rights honestly and document them with an LDC when useful.
Planning at a glance
Hampstead
| Local planning authority | Camden |
|---|---|
| Postcode district | NW3 |
| Conservation area | Hampstead Conservation Area — appraisal adopted October 2001 |
| Likely approval route | Householder planning application or permitted development, depending on conservation status, listing and property type — confirmed for the exact address before drawings begin |
| Statutory determination time | 8 weeks for most householder applications (13 weeks for major applications) |
| Local planning note | The conservation area extends beyond the village core to South End Green, Frognal and Rosslyn Hill; Article 4 controls concentrate on fronts and street-facing sides. |
| Where most projects start | Planning Route Review — £395 inc. VAT, credited in full against your package if you proceed. Find my package → |
Permitted development advice in Hampstead is a legal envelope check, not a style conversation. We start with designation, Article 4, listing, tenure and planning history — not with a national rear-depth diagram copied from a blog.
Camden’s Hampstead Conservation Area and street-level Article 4 regimes can remove rights that still exist a few streets away. The address is the product. Two neighbouring houses can have different remaining envelopes after previous works.
Flats and maisonettes do not get householder extension PD. Converted houses around the village often need freeholder and planning routes instead. We say that on day one so fees are not spent drawing a PD rear that the tenure cannot carry.
Even where PD survives for an unrestricted house, we usually recommend a lawful development certificate so sale and refinance do not depend on informal assumptions. Certificate drawings must prove every condition with accurate existing and proposed geometry.
Larger-home rear extensions may need prior approval neighbour consultation — a third path between pure PD and full householder applications. We name that path when it applies rather than collapsing everything into “PD or not”.
Building regulations still apply to most PD works. “No planning” is never “no technical package”. Structure, fire, insulation and drainage remain required for meaningful projects.
This page owns rights mapping and LDC strategy. Built form pages — rear extensions, dormer lofts, wraparounds — own massing design once the route is chosen. We will not paste rear massing copy into a PD advice page.
Compared with Highgate PD reviews, Hampstead more often stays single-borough Camden with dense conservation and Article 4 grain. Compared with West Hampstead, Village and Heath-edge streets more often remove rights that patchier NW6 coverage might leave open.
Related services: PD advice, lawful development certificates, planning applications, and planning drawings when PD is unavailable.
A useful first pack is the address, any previous decision notices, and a sketch of what you want to build. We will map rights before selling a form.
Delivery sequence: designations and tenure → planning history → remaining envelope → pure PD, prior approval or householder pivot → LDC drawings if PD is real → building regulations for the works.
Clients who arrive with a national size table get a address-specific rights map. That map is the product of this page; the built form is a later owner once the route is honest.
Local analysis
Conservation, Article 4, listing and flat tenure decide whether national PD even applies. We refuse to start with millimetre depth tables when the rights may already be gone.
Leasehold roofs and rears need freeholder analysis that PD tables never mention.
LDC drawings prove conditions with measured existing and proposed geometry. Vague sketches fail certificates and fail sales later.
We prepare certificate packages only when the rights analysis supports them — not as decoration on a planning scheme.
Larger rear extensions can trigger prior approval neighbour consultation. That is neither pure PD nor a full householder application.
When rights are gone we pivot cleanly to planning drawings and applications without pretending PD still applies.
This page owns rights mapping, prior-approval triage and LDC strategy for Hampstead houses. It is not a rear massing page and not a dormer design page.
Building regulations remain a separate track after any PD conclusion.
Thinking about a project in Hampstead?
Send the address and a short description. We will confirm the likely approval route and the drawings your project needs.
Local planning
Camden is usually the authority for NW3; conservation and Article 4 positions are checked for the address before any depth or roof volume is treated as PD.
PD is cumulative and condition-heavy; earlier extensions and roof works count against remaining allowances.
Flats lack householder extension PD regardless of postcode — many Hampstead enquiries are leasehold and need a different consent map.
Conservation coverage and Article 4 commonly remove or shrink PD for fronts, roofs and sometimes rears on Hampstead streets.
We never import a flat suburban PD blog table onto a Heath-edge or Village Core address.
For the wider local-authority picture — policies, timescales and application routes — see planning in Camden.
Services
Extensions & Renovations
Planning & Consents
Technical & Building Regulations
Leasehold & Licence to Alter
Nearby
Send your Hampstead address and what you want to build. We will confirm whether PD, prior approval or full planning is the honest route, with a fixed-fee next step.
