The planning regulations were changed in October 2008 and many extensions and alterations to your home do not require planning permission as they fall within ‘permitted development’.
The work in these cases is deemed to be of a minor nature with little impact on the environment and surrounding properties.
However, individual circumstances can mean that you may think you do not require planning permission but, due to planning interpretation, you actually do. You may have built your extension without planning permission and then realise that you should have obtained it.
There may, for example, be an old public footpath at the rear of your property which means you are extending towards a highway or your permitted development rights were withdrawn by the council when the house was built.
In order to avoid problems when selling the property, we strongly advise that you obtain formal confirmation that planning permission is not required from your local council by obtaining a Certificate of Lawfulness.
Sections 191 and 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (the 1990 Act) provide for anyone (not just a person with a legal interest in the land) to apply to the local planning authority for a Lawful Development Certificate.
(a) Section 191 deals with situations where the applicant is seeking to obtain permission for planning purposes of existing operations on, or use of land, or some activity being carried out in breach of a planning condition – e.g. confirming that an existing extension did not require planning permission.
(b) Section 192 deals with the lawfulness of proposed operations on, or use of land – e.g. confirming that a proposed extension does not require planning permission.
A lawful development certificate has no function in determining whether consent may be required under other legislation such as the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990.
Uses and operations are deemed to be “lawful” if no enforcement action may be taken against them and they are not in contravention of any enforcement notice which is in force. A failure to comply with any condition or limitation, subject to which planning permission has been granted, is “lawful” if the time for taking enforcement action in respect of the failure has expired and it does not constitute a contravention of any enforcement notice or breach of condition notice which is in force.
A certificate granted for an existing use, operation or activity will specify (by reference to a plan or drawing) the area of land included in the certificate and describe the precise nature of the use, operation or activity which is certified as lawful. The certificate will not protect you from enforcement action by the planning authority if you subsequently change the specified use ‘materially’ without making a planning application for it.
A certificate granted for a proposed use or operation will describe the precise use or operations on a site in the terms considered permissible without the need to make a planning application for it.
The certificate will always give reasons why the use, operations or activity is, or would be, lawful. It will conclusively establish the lawfulness of the use, operations or activity covered by the certificate. A certificate granted for an existing use, operation or activity will not protect future development on the site. For example, an extension to an existing building described in the certificate, or the intensification of an existing use will not be covered. A certificate granted for a future use or operation will protect future development, but only if that future development is as described in the certificate and is undertaken before there is any material change in relevant circumstances. If the limitations specified in a certificate are exceeded, the landowner or occupier may be liable to enforcement action by the planning authority for any resulting breach of planning control.
Applying for a Lawful Development Certificate is a very similar process to making a planning application except that it does not involve a public consultation process.
It takes around 6-8 weeks for an application to be processed and it is usually the job of an architect or designer to carry out the application as scaled drawings and other information will need to prepared and submitted.
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Government website used for making on line applications and offering lots of helpful advice on planning permission and building regulations
myhome mygardencan deal with any Lawful Development Certificate application for you including preparing plans as required. Contact us for more information.