Use Class C2: residential institutions and care accommodation

Use Class C2 of the Use Classes Order 1987 (as amended) is for the use as residential institutions.

The full description is use for the provision of residential accommodation and care to people in need of care (other than a use within class C3 (dwelling houses)).
Use as a hospital or nursing home.
Use as a boarding school, residential college or residential training centre.

“care” for Use Class C2 is defined as ‘personal care for people in need of such care by reason of old age, disablement, past or present dependence on alcohol or drugs or past or present mental disorder, and in class C2 also includes the personal care of children and medical care and treatment‘. This is within Article 2 of the Use Class Order 1987.

Permitted development changes for Use Class C2

There is no broad suite of permitted development rights for moving C2 accommodation into other use classes. The main current change-of-use exception is Class T, which can allow a C2 building to change to a state-funded school or registered nursery, subject to its limitations and conditions. Other changes of use normally require planning permission unless another specific right applies.

If you require assistance with planning permission please either request a free fee proposal, or book a Zoom call with Ian, the founder of Planning Geek. Our team of planning consultants are here to help.

Does a C2 property have permitted Development Rights?

Maybe!

Potentially, but only where the particular building is itself a dwellinghouse for GPDO purposes. ‘Dwellinghouse’ is not confined to Use Class C3. Rectory Homes Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] EWHC 2098 (Admin) and London Borough of Brent v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin) confirm that a building can be a dwellinghouse without being in C3 use.

In  London Borough of Brent v Secretary of State for Levelling up, Housing and Communities [2022] EWHC 2051 (Admin), the Deputy Judge set out legal principles determining the meaning of “dwellinghouse”  including:

• A dwellinghouse is a unit of residential accommodation which provides the facilities needed for day-to-day private domestic existence (the Gravesham test, judgment 8th November 1982, reported at (1984) 47 P&CR 142)
• Whether any particular building is or is not a dwellinghouse is a question of fact
• Use Category C3 is not exhaustive of the uses to which a dwellinghouse may be put
• There is no requirement for a dwellinghouse to be in use by, or akin to, “a single household”. That is a concept confined to Class C3 dwellinghouses

Part 1 of the GPDO may therefore be relevant to accommodation within a C2 scheme where the particular building is itself properly characterised as a dwellinghouse for GPDO purposes. Class C2 status alone does not establish that point: the physical character and actual use of the building still matter, as do the limitations and conditions of the particular permitted development right.

Examples for Use Class C2

According to the Planning Geek directory of uses, C2 includes Boarding School, Care Homes, Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Residential accommodation for people in need of care, Extra Care Housing, Residential Schools, Colleges or Training Centres.

Rectory Homes Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2020] EWHC 2098 (Admin) does not say that sheltered or extra-care housing is necessarily C3. Its important point is that accommodation can have the physical characteristics of a dwelling and still form part of a Class C2 scheme. Whether specialist housing falls within C2 or C3 remains a matter of fact and degree, including the nature of the care, the way the accommodation is occupied and the planning unit.

But as with any property there will be situations where C2 is more appropriate. The distinguishing feature of C2 accommodation is occupants being in “need of care” as opposed to simply having care available if needed. Accommodation in the form of dwellings can exist in both Use Class C2 and C3. Examples for C2 Use include bungalows and flats.

For the wider planning-policy position for retirement housing, housing-with-care, older and disabled peoples housing, student accommodation and shared living, see our specialist housing planning guide.

The practical point is that C2 and ‘dwellinghouse’ are not mutually exclusive concepts. Any claim to Part 1 permitted development rights still needs to be tested against the GPDO definition and the facts of the particular building rather than assumed from its C2 use.

Use Class C2 Page Updated: 30th August 2026

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