Certificate of Lawfulness
If you want to be certain that the existing use of a building is lawful for planning purposes or that your proposal does not require planning permission you can apply for a certificate of lawfulness.
It is not compulsory but there may be times when you need one to confirm that the use, operation or activity named in it is lawful for planning control purposes.
There are two types of certificate, one which determines the lawfulness of an existing use, operation etc and a second certificate which may be used to determine the lawfulness of a proposed use or development.
You can apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness for a proposed use (£75) or development if you wish to find out whether:
- any proposed use of buildings or other land is lawful;
- any operations proposed to be carried out are lawful (i.e. building works).
You can apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness for an existing use (£150), operation or activity in breach of a planning condition if you wish to find out whether:
- the existing use of buildings or other land is lawful;
- operations that have been carried out are lawful (eg building works);
- failure to comply with a condition or limitation attached to a planning permission is lawful.
