Planning problems in London: written reports from £180

The short answer

Match the letter in your hand to a report. A refusal notice points to the refusal review, a council letter or notice to the enforcement reports, work done without consent to the retrospective assessment, a house you want to buy to the due diligence report, and a shop or office you want to convert to the change of use report. Each is written, fixed in price and from £180.

How to tell which problem you have

Look at the paper you are holding. A decision notice that says “refused” starts a refusal. A letter from the council’s planning enforcement team starts an enforcement matter, and a formal notice with a date on it is a different and more urgent matter than a first enquiry letter. Neither is the same as a solicitor’s question about an extension you did not build yourself.

If there is no paper at all, ask what you want. Selling or buying means the planning past matters. Wanting a different use means a use class question. Having built something and worrying means the first assessment, because the answer decides whether you spend anything else.

• Decision notice marked refused: refusal review
• Enforcement letter or planning contravention notice: enforcement help
• Enforcement notice with an effective date: enforcement notice review
• Work built without permission, no letter yet: retrospective assessment
• A property you are buying, selling or lending on: due diligence report
• A building you want to use for something new: change of use feasibility

The deadlines that matter

To appeal a refused householder application you have up to 12 weeks from the date on the decision letter, according to GOV.UK. If an enforcement notice reached you first, the same page gives 28 days from the decision letter, so check the dates on both letters.

An enforcement appeal has to be made before the date the notice says it takes effect, under section 174 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. That date is written on the notice itself. A planning contravention notice is shorter: the Planning Practice Guidance says failing to complete and return one within 21 days is an offence.

These are the starting points, not legal advice. If your letters carry different dates, trust the letters and tell us the dates when you ask.

Householder planning appeal drawings · Retrospective planning application · Change of use drawings

What a paid report gives that a free first look does not

A free review is usually a short opinion before the firm quotes for its own appeal or application. That can be useful, and we are not saying you should skip it. What it does not normally give you is a document to keep.

Our reports are written down, by a chartered architectural technologist (MCIAT). They read the officer’s report, the cited policies and the planning history, not only the decision notice. They weigh every route, including doing nothing, an amended resubmission, and a lawful development certificate or permitted development fallback, so the advice does not lean towards the work we sell. You can hand the report to a lender, a buyer or a solicitor.

For the refusal review and the retrospective assessment the fee is also credited in full against our follow-on work on the same property. Where the follow-on step is a drawing job, the next page after the report is the one that quotes it.

Where the drawings come in afterwards

Most reports end in a decision, and some decisions need drawings. An appeal or an amended scheme needs a fresh set, a retrospective application needs the work drawn as built, and a change of use needs plans of the new layout. We draw those in-house, so the report and the plans come from the same hands.