Use Class C: hotels, institutions, dwellings and HMOs

Class C of the Use Classes Order 1987 covers specified residential and sleeping-accommodation uses. It includes hotels, residential institutions, secure institutions, dwellinghouses and small HMOs, but it does not include every use in which someone sleeps. Hostels, larger HMOs and some serviced accommodation can be sui generis.

Use our change-of-use table and temporary-use table to identify a specific permitted development route.

The current Class C uses in England

• C1: hotels, boarding houses and guest houses where no significant element of care is provided
• C2: residential institutions, including care accommodation, hospitals and boarding schools
• C2A: secure residential institutions
• C3: dwellinghouses
• C4: dwellinghouses used as HMOs by not more than six residents

Serviced accommodation and short-term holiday letting do not currently have a separate English use class. A property may remain within Use Class C3 where the short-term letting does not amount to a material change of use; other arrangements may fall within Use Class C1 or be sui generis. The answer is a matter of fact and degree based on the character of the use, not a locally invented use-class label. The Government has proposed an English Use Class C5 for short-term lets, but as at 24th August 2026 it remains a proposal and is not a current use class.
 

Use Class C Page Updated: 24th August 2026

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