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Discharge of planning conditions from £325

Permission granted, but with conditions that must be cleared before you build? We read the decision notice, prepare the details for each condition and submit the requests.

£325 fixed fee, no VAT to add

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In a sentence or two: your plans, and any feedback from the council so far.

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The short answer

A planning condition that needs the council’s approval of further details, such as materials or drainage, must be discharged before work starts if it is a pre-commencement condition. We prepare and submit up to three conditions for £325, no VAT to add. The council fee is separate and payable with each request.

Discharge of planning conditions

from £325

Fixed fee
£325
VAT
None to add
  • A read of the decision notice and each condition, marked by what it needs and when
  • The drawings, samples list or details each condition asks for, prepared for up to three conditions
  • The application forms and a covering letter that ties each document to its condition number
  • Submission to the council, with the council fee paid by you, and follow-up with the officer
  • A checklist of the conditions that bite before work starts and the ones that come later
  • An independent check of the pack before it goes in

£325. A starting fee: we confirm one fixed figure after checking your address. The council’s own fee, where there is one, is paid to the council.

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How a discharge runs with us

  1. Read the notice

    We list each condition, say whether it must be cleared before work starts, and what the council wants to see.

  2. Gather the details

    We prepare what is ours to prepare, such as materials, elevations and sections, and tell you what a specialist must supply.

  3. Submit

    Each request goes in with its fee and a clear reference to the condition it answers.

  4. Officer queries

    We answer the council’s questions and revise the details until the condition is discharged.

  5. Start on site

    With the pre-commencement conditions cleared, you can tell your builder the permission is ready to use.

Why conditions matter before the first brick

Conditions are the council’s terms for the permission. Some can be satisfied by doing as the condition says, but others require the council to approve details first. Development taken forward in breach of conditions may be subject to enforcement action, as the Planning Practice Guidance warns.

Pre-commencement conditions are the ones that stop work. A pre-commencement condition cannot be imposed without the applicant’s written agreement except in limited cases, so you will often have seen the wording before the decision was issued, and should have it in your decision notice.

What it costs and how long it takes

The council charges a fee for each written request, which must be paid when the request is made. From 1 April 2026 the fee for a householder is £89 per request and £309 in any other case, according to the GOV.UK fee schedule.

The council must give notice of its decision within 8 weeks of receiving the request, or a longer time agreed in writing. If no decision has been made within 12 weeks, the council must return the fee. A deemed discharge procedure also exists for some conditions, where the applicant is close to starting.

  • Council fee: paid per request, with the request
  • Decision due within 8 weeks, unless you agree longer in writing
  • Fee returned if there is no decision within 12 weeks
  • Right of appeal if refused or not determined in time

Conditions we prepare, and ones that need a specialist

Conditions on materials, windows, boundary treatment and cycle storage are drawing and specification work, and we do them. A condition requiring a tree report, a flood risk assessment or an engineer’s method statement needs a specialist’s document, and we tell you which at the start so you are not waiting on a report when the builder is booked.

If you have more than three conditions, tell us when you ask for a quote; we can agree a fixed fee for the whole set.

Tree survey (on our sister site Property Architecture) · Flood risk assessment (on our sister site Fixed Fee Plans)

Discharging conditions in numbers

Questions about discharging conditions

Can I start work before a condition is discharged?

Not if it is a pre-commencement condition. Doing so can put the permission at risk and expose you to enforcement. Read your decision notice for the words “before development begins”, and ask us if it is unclear.

What if I have more than three conditions?

Our fixed fee covers up to three. Tell us how many there are and we will quote a fixed fee for the set.

What if the council refuses to discharge a condition?

There is a right of appeal where a request is refused or not determined in time. Often a revised set of details gets it through faster, and our redraws of our own drawings are free.

Source: Planning Practice Guidance: use of planning conditions (GOV.UK)

Is the council fee included in your fee?

No. The council fee goes to the council with each request. Our fee covers preparing and submitting the pack.

Clear the conditions, then start

Send the decision notice. We reply with what each condition needs and a fixed fee, from £325.

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