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Class DB: temporary use through a high street rental auction
Class DB of Part 4 is a specialist permitted development right linked to the high street rental auction regime in Part 10 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
It allows qualifying high-street premises, together with land within their curtilage, to change temporarily to a suitable high-street use for the duration of a tenancy granted following a statutory rental auction. It is not a general permitted development right for any empty shop.
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What are qualifying high-street premises?
The premises must be on a designated high street or in a designated town centre and the local authority must consider them suitable for a high-street use. Premises are not qualifying high-street premises if they are, or when last used were, used wholly or mainly as a warehouse.
Class DB only operates where the tenancy itself follows a rental auction under Part 10 of the 2023 Act.
What is a suitable high-street use?
The 2023 Act defines high-street uses broadly. They include:
- A shop or office
- Services for people who include visiting members of the public
- A restaurant, bar, public house, cafe or other place selling food or drink for immediate consumption
- Public entertainment or recreation
- A communal hall or meeting place
- Manufacturing or other industrial processes that can reasonably operate close to and compatibly with those high-street uses
The local authority decides which of those uses are suitable for the particular premises.
The permitted use lasts for the rental auction tenancy
Unlike some other Part 4 rights, Class DB does not set a fixed number of days or years. The permitted change of use lasts for the duration of the tenancy granted following the rental auction.
At the end of that tenancy, the premises must revert to their former use.
Notification is handled by the local authority
The local authority responsible for the rental auction must notify the local planning authority of the suitable high-street use, the date on which that use will start and the date on which it will cease.
Class DB is therefore not a prior approval application made by the tenant. It is a planning mechanism built into the statutory rental auction process.
Where Class DB cannot be used
Class DB is not available where the premises form part of a site that is, or forms part of, a military explosives storage area or a safety hazard area.
Fees and appeals
Class DB does not create a separate prior approval application for the tenant. It operates through the statutory rental auction process, with the local authority notifying the local planning authority. If a separate planning application is needed for development outside Class DB, check the current charge on our planning fees page. A refusal can normally be taken through the usual appeal process.
Relevant legislation
Regulation 15 of the 2024 rental auction regulations inserted Class DB into Part 4. The definition of qualifying premises and suitable high-street use is in section 192 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
Class DB High Street Rental Auctions Page Updated: 22nd September 2026