Planning permission for two-storey extensions in Fife

Fife at a glance

Nation: Scotland
Price region: Scotland
Postcode areas: KY
Towns covered: 14 listed below, plus surrounding villages
Site visits: Free, no obligation

What a planning application involves

This service suits you if you want your two-storey extension to go through planning with the best chance of approval. You get a check of your house's planning history, permitted development rights and local design guidance, a design shaped around them, the application prepared and submitted, and someone to deal with the planning officer's questions. We cannot promise an outcome, but we design to give the application a fair chance.

Across Fife we cover Dunfermline (KY12), Kirkcaldy (KY1), Glenrothes (KY6), St Andrews (KY10), Rosyth (KY11) and Cowdenbeath (KY4), plus the smaller places around them.

Fees

Planning drawings are a guide of £2,000–£3,500, priced in writing before the design stage starts. Householder planning application: £371.

Rules in Scotland

In Scotland, a householder planning application costs £371, and councils have two months to decide. Class 1B permitted development needs 10 m to every boundary, so most two-storey extensions need an application. Planning permission is separate from the building warrant, which is also needed before work starts.

Approval in Scotland: Householder planning application: £371. Councils have two months to decide a local planning application.

Building standards: A building warrant from the council's building standards service before work starts, and a completion certificate at the end. Scotland uses its own Technical Handbooks.

There is no Party Wall Act in Scotland. Shared walls and boundaries are governed by title deeds and common law, so we speak to neighbours early and record the condition of shared structures.

Getting the design right

Check the history first

Planning conditions from when the house was built, earlier extensions and Article 4 directions can all remove permitted development rights. We check the council's records and your house's history before design starts, so the route is clear.

A complete application

Applications that are missing drawings, the right fee or a certificate of ownership are not validated, and the decision clock does not start. We check the council's validation list so the application is complete on day one.

How we work in Fife

Understand the brief
At your home in Fife we agree what you need: bedroom count, bathroom, kitchen space, and how much garden you want to keep.
Design and approvals
We draw the extension and check it against the rules for Scotland, then apply for planning permission or a certificate of lawfulness, whichever fits.
Structure and building standards
A structural engineer sizes the foundations and steels, and we get a building warrant before work starts.
Build and hand over
We manage the build from groundworks to decoration-ready finish and hand over with the completion paperwork.

Towns we cover in Fife