Only a third of offices that have been converted into homes meet national space standards, research claims.

Surveyor trade body RICS commissioned the University of Sheffield and University College London to look at the quality of offices that had been converted into homes under permitted development rights rules.

The Government introduced permanent rules in 2016 allowing offices to be converted for residential use without the need for planning permission.

But the research indicates that office-to-residential under permitted development has produced more poor quality housing than those governed through full planning permission.

Five local authorities with high rates of permitted development schemes were examined from Camden, Croydon, Leeds, Leicester and Reading.

Site visits to 568 buildings found an inconsistency in the quality of developments, with only 30% of units delivering through permitted development meeting national space standards.

The research said in some examples homes had no amenity space, low quality design and were poor locations for residential amenity.

The report said permitted development rights made it faster and more efficient to build new homes as there was no planning consent needed or fees to pay, but some concerns were highlighted.

Researchers said the current system removes the opportunity for local authorities to weigh up the costs and benefits of a specific development and refuse permission if necessary.

There were also warnings that it reduces adequate office space which could hit long term economic development and called for the introduction of minimum space standards and more consideration on the implications of a development for the wider community.

Abdul Choudhury, policy manager for RICS, said: “Permitted development rights have potential to ease the UK housing crisis and speed up delivery of developments by reducing regulatory burdens.

“However, regulatory safeguards are necessary to mitigate negative aspects of development and to uphold minimum standards. By bypassing regulations, the policy may create more problems than it solves.

“Particularly with office or agricultural to residential, government needs to balance the competing priorities of housing, infrastructure and need for commercial spaces. In some areas, over-conversion has produced a shortage of office units which has pushed up their costs. Central Government policies can dilute local planning authority powers, which seems contradictory to the localism agenda government have championed in the past.

“The Government needs re-examine the policy and ask itself, how useful are different iterations of permitted development to local communities as a whole, rather than blindly focusing on numbers.”