Office space is facing a “crisis” across key towns in the county, as more and more landlords sell off their buildings to cash in on the desperate desire for more residential accommodation.

And among the hardest hit are Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury.

According to a report compiled for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council by chartered surveyors Durlings, some 22% of office space has been lost in the town since May 2013 - and another 22% is at risk.

It is a result of what is known as permitted development rights, introduced in 2013 and extended in 2016, which allows landlords to capitalise on the higher value of residential space by converting previous office space without the need for planning permission.

Maidstone council said it had seen almost 300 homes created from former office space and hundreds more likely to follow. It had originally asked for an exemption to the planning option but was refused.

Mandy Bearne, business development director at chartered surveyors Caxtons, explains: “In Maidstone there used to be lots of office space which are now flats.

“But the problem is the ability to change came at the same time no-one was building new offices - particularly not in town centres.

“Some of the companies looking for offices say it’s a crisis because they can’t find anything.”

And, she says, a consequence is prices now starting to spiral.

Andrew Metcalf, director at the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce adds: “Kent towns are losing hundreds of thousands of square foot of space in this manner.

“A lot of the time its commercial pragmatism on the part of the landlord. If you have an asset why wouldn’t you capitalise on the need and value of residential demand? But it’s the unintended consequences which can cause issues.

“And that’s town centres counting the cost of losing workers who shop close to their place of work.”