Certificates of Lawful Development
A Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) is an official document that confirms the legality of existing, proposed, or completed building uses, operations, or related matters. When issued by the Local Planning Authority (LPA), this certificate ensures that the development mentioned within it is protected from enforcement action. However, it’s important to note that the certificate does not safeguard against enforcement if the designated use is later altered in a ‘material’ way without obtaining the necessary planning approval.
An application for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) should be used to establish whether:
- An existing use of land, or some operational development, or some activity in breach of a planning condition, is lawful.
- A proposed use of buildings or other land, or some operations proposed to be carried out in, on, over, or under land, would be lawful.
The Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (Section 4) introduced rolling time limits within which Local Planning Authorities can take planning enforcement action against breaches of planning control. These are as follows:
- Four years for building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, without planning permission. This development becomes immune from enforcement action four years after the operations are substantially completed.
- Four years for the change of use of a building, or part of a building, to use as a single dwelling house. Enforcement action can no longer be taken once the unauthorised use has continued for four years without any enforcement action being taken.
- Ten years for all other development. This ten-year period runs from the date the breach of planning control was committed.
Once these time limits have passed, the development becomes lawful, in terms of planning. At Arena Global Management, we have extensive experience in putting together, and submitting, Certificates of Lawful Development for our clients. If you believe that your development is lawful, or need advice on whether it could be considered lawful, we can advise you on the options that are available to you.