Yes, but in the old parts you will be asking permission from people who care more about your windows than you do. Hundreds of buildings are listed. Six conservation areas cover the core and the river. The ground under most of the town moves with the weather. The town is not against extensions; it simply wants to read every one of them first.
Historic England's register lists 215 buildings in the area: 4 at Grade I, 7 at Grade II* and 204 at Grade II. Listing covers the whole building, inside and out, so replacing windows, moving an internal wall or changing a roof on a listed home needs listed building consent on top of any planning permission. Grade II is the most common grade and still the one that catches buyers out, because the list does not care that the kitchen was ruined in the 1970s. Nobody gets to decide the original doors were a mistake without a written application.
There are six conservation areas across the area: Godalming Centre, Crownpits, Munstead, Ockford Road, the River Wey and Godalming Navigations, and Thorncombe Street near Bramley. Inside a conservation area, some of the changes a homeowner could otherwise make without applying can need consent, and the council judges any proposal on whether it preserves the character of the area. A side extension that would pass without comment on a post-war estate can turn into a design discussion two streets away. Buying in Godalming Centre means buying a house with opinions attached.
One scheduled monument sits in the area, the strictest tier of heritage protection. It matters mainly to anyone whose land borders it, where work nearby can need separate consent.
None of this has stopped anyone. Waverley's planning register shows 2,337 applications across the area between April 2024 and June 2026, with 1,056 in the most recent twelve months. That is a town busy with loft conversions, rear extensions and garden rooms, and a strong sign that the paperwork is survivable. The neighbours are not being put off. They are just filling in more forms than they expected.
The ground adds its own condition. The British Geological Survey places the area's shrink-swell hazard at class 3 at its highest, and about 91% of the area reaches that class. Clay-bearing ground swells when wet and shrinks when dry, which moves shallow foundations. For an extension, that means asking a structural engineer about foundation depth, and about nearby trees, before the builder quotes. It is a design question, not a reason to walk away.
In practice, a post-war semi outside the conservation areas may still be able to extend under permitted development rules, subject to the usual limits. A listed house, or any home inside one of the six conservation areas, should be treated as needing consent until the council confirms otherwise. Check the listing and the conservation-area boundary for the exact address before making an offer that depends on a bigger kitchen.
Freedom to change a home here is poor in the historic core and reasonable on the newer estates. If the extension is the reason for the purchase, buy the house outside the heritage lines, not the one that looks best in the photographs.