Changes to permitted development rights for office conversions into residential use were originally brought in as a temporary trial by the government in 2013 as a way to utilise redundant commercial office space and go part of the way to resolve Britain’s housing shortage. This change has now become a permanent amendment, and as a result we have seen the rise in commercial office space being converted into residential apartments and flats. Since 2015, a total of 54,000 homes have been created from old office blocks through permitted development rights, amounting to 6 per cent of all new homes created…