Do I need planning permission for air conditioning?

This is the question most installers dodge, so here is the honest position. The permitted development order gives householders deemed consent for air source heat pumps meeting conditions, but the right is drafted to exclude units used for cooling. An air conditioning condenser therefore sits outside permitted development on a strict reading, and a planning application is the formally correct route.

Reality is more textured. Boroughs enforce on complaint, and a small condenser on a rear elevation, invisible from the street and quiet at night, rarely generates one. Front elevations, conservation areas and anything visible from the street are different: planning officers do notice, neighbours do complain, and retrospective enforcement can mean removal.

Listed buildings add listed building consent for fixings to historic fabric, inside and out. Conservation areas cover a remarkable share of inner London, most of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, forty-plus areas in Islington alone, so check before assuming your street is ordinary.

Our practice: we advise on siting at survey, place condensers where visual and noise impact are lowest, and tell you plainly when your situation is one where a planning application or freeholder consent is the right call rather than a formality to skip. The install itself stays a one-day job; the paperwork just precedes it.

More in rules, planning & flats, or browse all 40 questions on the FAQ index.