C2 use class explained

Use class C2 covers residential institutions in the English planning system: residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools and residential colleges. It matters in supported housing because whether a scheme falls into C2, into C3, or outside both changes what consent you need and what the building is worth.

This guide explains what C2 covers, how it differs from the neighbouring classes, when supported housing falls into it, and why lenders take an interest.

What is the C2 use class?

Class C2, residential institutions, covers use for the provision of residential accommodation and care to people in need of care, other than a use within class C3, along with hospitals, nursing homes, residential schools, colleges and training centres.

The defining feature is the combination of accommodation and care provided together as an institutional use. That is what separates it from a dwellinghouse, where people live independently whether or not they receive help.

C2 versus C3 dwellinghouses

Class C3 covers dwellinghouses: use as a single household, including by up to six people living together as a single household where care is provided to residents. That last part is easily missed and matters enormously in supported housing, because it means a small supported living house can fall within C3 rather than C2.

The practical line runs roughly along independence and household. Self-contained supported homes where residents live independently with support visiting generally sit in residential use. Grouped accommodation where personal care is delivered as an institutional service is more likely to be C2. The assessment is fact-specific and local planning authorities can and do take different views.

Where HMOs and sui generis fit

Class C4 covers small houses in multiple occupation, between three and six unrelated individuals sharing facilities. Larger HMOs, generally seven or more occupants, fall outside the use classes altogether as sui generis, meaning any change to or from that use needs express planning permission.

This is directly relevant to supported living conversions, because a former HMO being converted, or an ordinary house being converted into shared supported accommodation, can move between C3, C4 and sui generis depending on occupancy and configuration. Article 4 directions in some areas also remove permitted development rights between C3 and C4.

Is extra care C2 or C3?

Usually C3, though it is one of the most contested questions in later-living planning. Extra care schemes where residents hold their own self-contained apartment and buy care as a separate service have the characteristics of dwellinghouses, and are commonly treated as C3.

Where care is more intensive and delivered as an institutional service, an authority may take the view that a scheme is C2. The distinction carries real financial consequence, because affordable housing obligations and community infrastructure levy treatment differ between the classes, which is why it is so often argued.

What is a C2 application, and when do you need one?

A C2 application is an application for planning permission for a change of use to a residential institution, or for development in that use. You need one where the proposed use materially differs from the existing lawful use and no permitted development right covers the change.

For a supported living conversion, the sequence matters: establish the existing lawful use, establish the proposed use given the configuration and the care model, and then determine whether consent is required. Getting a certificate of lawfulness where the position is arguable is often cheaper than a dispute later, and most development lenders will want the planning position resolved before drawing.

Why lenders care about use class

Two reasons. First, timing and deliverability: a conversion needing a change of use carries planning risk and a programme a lender must fund through, and most will not advance against an unconsented scheme.

Second, and more importantly, use class shapes the vacant possession value, which is the downside a supported housing loan usually rests on. A property in residential use that reverts cleanly to an ordinary home if the provider leaves supports a better loan than a building consented and configured as an institution with limited alternative use. That valuation consequence is why we establish the planning position early rather than at survey.