Planning permission is not required for lofts that are designed as furniture decks and serve as small resting areas in residential, service apartment, office and hotel units.

Such lofts are limited to one per residential flat unit and the size of the loft shall be 5 sqm or less within an individual unit. No building plan and structural plan approvals are required from BCA for loft size of 5sqm or less. As lofts are intended only as a furniture deck and not a full floor, the headroom of the loft area should not be more than the headroom below the loft.

Although no planning permission is required from URA, QPs and developers are required to reflect the location, size and headroom of the proposed loft on the proposal plans for URA’s information. If in doubt, homeowners or occupants should also submit the design and layout plan for URA’s advice first before installing them in their units to avoid the inconvenience of enforcement actions.

Note: All DC.Connect articles are only for general information. We strongly advise readers to read the relevant circulars we issue to professional institutes for full and accurate information on development control matters as these will continue to take precedence.