Building work in Barnet: area guide

Barnet Council is the planning and building control authority for Barnet, which covers EN5, EN4, N2, N3, N11, N12, N20, NW4, NW7, NW9, NW11 and HA8 and takes in Finchley, New Barnet, East Barnet, Whetstone, Totteridge, Mill Hill, Hendon, Edgware and Golders Green. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Barnet.

The stock in Barnet runs to roughly 160,480 dwellings, 50% of them flats and 50% houses, built 20% before 1919, 34% between 1919 and 1939 and 46% after 1945. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 42 statistical areas in Barnet. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Barnet

What Barnet Council publishes about building work in the borough, with each point linked to the council page it comes from:

• The national Planning Data service returns 16 conservation area results for the London Borough of Barnet, including Railway Terraces. planning.data.gov.uk
• The Planning Data record for Barnet's Article 4 direction on small houses in multiple occupation (HMO) gives a start date of 2016-05-29. planning.data.gov.uk
• Barnet's Article 4 direction in Glenhill Close Conservation Area, approved on 31 July 2002, covers the erection or alteration of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure. open.barnet.gov.uk
• The national Planning Data record for the Barnet Local Plan document, published by the London Borough of Barnet, gives a start date of 2025-03-04. planning.data.gov.uk

With 50% of Barnet's homes flats, the lease comes first on many jobs. Flats have no householder permitted development, so an extension or most external changes to a flat need planning permission from Barnet Council as well as the freeholder's consent. The 50% that are houses keep the householder rights within the size limits, and in a conservation area a single-storey rear extension survives unless an Article 4 direction removes it. Check Barnet Council's conservation area and Article 4 lists for the street before anything is drawn. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Reviewed jobs in Barnet

Our MyBuilder profile holds 2 verified reviews from jobs in Barnet. The job titles are the customers' own, as published:

• Install new kitchen, Barnet, 15 Apr 2022 (5 out of 5)
• Bathroom Refurbishment, Barnet, 14 Oct 2021 (5 out of 5)

Read every review, including the ones from elsewhere, on our reviews page.

Barnet is one of London's most populous boroughs and one of its most suburban. Half of Barnet's homes are flats and nearly half were built after 1945, but the houses of Hendon, Mill Hill and Edgware are known for interwar semi-detached and detached types, with Victorian and Edwardian streets in Finchley and Golders Green, across N2, N3, N11, N12, N20, NW4, NW7, NW9, NW11, HA8, EN4 and EN5. The interwar houses have cavity walls, hipped roofs, plots with side access and often an attached garage. The spine wall is a load-bearing wall removal question and the garden a house extension one, with one exception at Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Hampstead Garden Suburb and local control decide the route

Hampstead Garden Suburb is one of the most tightly controlled residential areas in the country: a conservation area under an Article 4 direction, with many properties also under a private scheme of management requiring consent from the trust as well as planning permission from Barnet Council. Assume nothing on the exterior is permitted development there, so a house extension job starts with both consents.

Elsewhere the standard permitted development limits usually stand, and suburban plots ease the practical side: a skip on the drive, materials stored on site, rear access down the side of the house rather than through your hallway. If the back wall carries the floor above, a rear knock-through is RSJ installation before any kitchen is planned.

Popular starting points in Barnet: kitchen renovation in Barnet, house extensions across Barnet, what to check before hiring a builder in Barnet and Renovation Mistakes to Avoid.