Plain-English articles and guides on retrospective planning, enforcement and the planning system — written by Chartered Town Planners (MRTPI).
The two questions every retrospective planning case starts with.
In our experience, around 70% of retrospective applications are approved, 10% are approved with modifications, and 20% are refused. Here's why the success rate is higher than most homeowners expect.
Read article →The 4 and 10 year rule explained — including the 25 April 2024 changes under the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, and how to use a Lawful Development Certificate.
Read article →Everything we know about retrospective planning, in one place.
The honest answer to the most common question we hear — with the legal definitions, the three preliminary tests, and the realistic outcomes.
Read article →How to tell whether your works needed consent in the first place — and the five common situations where permitted development rights have been quietly removed.
Read article →A five-step plan for responding to a council enforcement letter, written by Chartered Town Planners. The deadlines, the notice types, and the route forward.
Read article →The legal definition under section 171A TCPA 1990, the categories of breach, and the council's expediency test that decides whether enforcement follows.
Read article →What to do when a pre-commencement condition was missed and the works have already started — the section 73 route back into compliance.
Read article →The four most common objections councils raise — neighbour concerns, policy non-compliance, enforcement risk and cost — and how to address each one.
Read article →Exactly what councils expect in the application pack — drawings, statement, forms and supporting documents — and the validation traps to avoid.
Read article →HMOs, short-let annexes, agricultural to commercial, shop to takeaway — when a change of use needs consent and how to regularise it after the fact.
Read article →The most common type of retrospective case. Why most home extension cases are approvable, and how the application is drafted to give the case officer everything they need.
Read article →The 1 metre / 2 metre rule, when consent is needed, and how to regularise an unauthorised boundary treatment that has triggered a council letter.
Read article →The 30cm rule, the overlooking question, and the structured planning arguments that get raised decks approved despite neighbour concerns.
Read article →A Chartered Town Planner will give you an honest, written read on your case — for free.