Challenging a CIL bill: reviews, appeals and surcharges
The right to review and appeal a levy calculation is short and can be lost by starting work. Here is the sequence, the appeal bodies, and the evidence that settles a floorspace dispute.
A CIL appeal chargeable amount challenge has a short life. The right to ask for a review runs from the day the liability notice is issued, the appeal that follows runs from the same date, and both can be lost by starting work. If a client rings about a levy demand, the first question is when the liability notice was issued, not whether the figure looks wrong.
The second question is whether anyone has checked the arithmetic. A surprising share of disputed bills turn out to be measurement or deduction errors that a collecting authority will correct without any appeal at all.
Check the calculation before you dispute it
Read the liability notice against the charging schedule and the permission. The recurring errors are consistent enough to work through as a list.
- The wrong charging schedule rate applied, or the wrong zone within a differential schedule.
- Indexation applied using the wrong year's figure.
- Existing floorspace not deducted, or deducted at the wrong area.
- Gross internal area measured from drawings that were superseded during determination.
- Areas that are not chargeable, such as structures people do not normally go into, included in the total.
- Relief or exemption already granted but not reflected in the notice.
- Phasing not recognised, so the whole permission has been charged at once.
Deduction of existing floorspace is where most money sits, and it has a condition attached. A building can only be netted off where it has been in lawful use for a continuous period of at least six months within the three years before the development was permitted. Vacant buildings fail this test regularly, and the evidence of lawful use is the client's to produce.
Write to the collecting authority setting out the error with the drawings and the measurements. Do that in parallel with protecting the formal deadlines rather than instead of it.
The internal review of the chargeable amount
The regulations provide for a review of the chargeable amount by the collecting authority itself. The request must be made within 28 days of the liability notice being issued, and it is carried out by a person senior to the officer who made the original calculation and not involved in it.
Two points matter in practice. The review is a precondition of the appeal on the chargeable amount, so skipping it removes the next step. And the authority has a short period to notify the outcome, which keeps the process moving even when the wider relationship is strained.
Use the review submission properly. Set out the disputed element, the correct figure, the measurement convention used and the evidence for it, and attach an annotated area schedule. A review request that says the figure is too high without showing the calculation achieves nothing except the loss of 28 days.
Appealing to the appointed body
Where the review does not resolve it, the appeal on the chargeable amount goes to the Valuation Office Agency as the appointed body, generally within 60 days of the liability notice being issued. Apportionment disputes between landowners follow the same route.
Appeals on other grounds go to the Planning Inspectorate. Those include appeals against surcharges, against a deemed commencement date determined by the authority, and against a CIL stop notice. Appeals about the refusal of charitable relief, residential annex and extension exemptions, and self-build exemptions each have their own regulation and their own trigger date.
| Dispute | Appeal body |
|---|---|
| Chargeable amount | Valuation Office Agency, after an internal review |
| Apportionment of liability | Valuation Office Agency |
| Surcharge imposed | Planning Inspectorate |
| Deemed commencement date | Planning Inspectorate |
| Refusal of an exemption or relief | Planning Inspectorate |
The appeal is decided on the papers. Present it as you would a written representations appeal: a clear statement of the ground, the regulation relied on, the facts, the evidence, and the figure you say is correct.
Surcharges and deemed commencement
Surcharges are imposed for specific procedural failures rather than for the levy itself. Failing to assume liability, failing to submit a commencement notice, failing to notify a disqualifying event and failing to respond to an information notice each attract one, and several are capped at 20 per cent of the chargeable amount or a fixed maximum, whichever is lower.
Where no commencement notice was served, the authority determines a deemed commencement date. That date drives the payment schedule, the loss of payment by instalments, and often the loss of relief, so it can matter more than the surcharge attached to it.
An appeal against a deemed commencement date is the right route where the authority has picked a date the evidence does not support. Site photographs with metadata, delivery records, contractor day sheets and utility connection dates are the material that decides these, and they have to be gathered quickly. The interaction between the notice and the surcharge is covered in more detail in our note on the commencement notice surcharge.
Appeals against surcharges normally have to be brought within 28 days of the surcharge being imposed, and the regulations also prevent some appeals once development has started on site.
Time limits that end the right to challenge
This is the part to get on a file note at the first meeting.
The review request runs from the issue of the liability notice, not from receipt, and not from the day the client opened the envelope. The appeal on the chargeable amount runs from the same event. Surcharge appeals run from the imposition of the surcharge. Exemption appeals run from the authority's decision on the claim.
Starting development is the other cliff edge. Several appeal rights are unavailable once the chargeable development has started, and demolition forming part of the permitted scheme can itself amount to commencement. A client who begins enabling works while an appeal is being drafted may end the appeal by doing so.
Where a revised liability notice is issued, check whether it restarts the clock for the element it revises. Authorities issue revised notices routinely after a section 73 permission or a change in floorspace, and the new notice can reopen a route that appeared closed.
Where judicial review is the only route left
Some complaints do not fit any statutory appeal. A challenge to the charging schedule itself, to the lawfulness of the authority's approach, or to a decision where no appeal right exists, falls to judicial review in the Administrative Court.
That is a different proposition in cost and in timescale, and the claim must be brought promptly and in any event within the time limit that applies to the decision under challenge. It also asks a different question. Judicial review tests the lawfulness of the decision rather than its merits, so it will not substitute a better floorspace figure.
Before advising a client down that road, check whether the outcome could be achieved another way: a revised application, a phasing amendment, or an exemption claim on a fresh permission. The Viability Assessment route does not reduce a levy liability, because the levy is not negotiable in the way a section 106 package is, and clients frequently need that explained plainly.
Evidence that wins a floorspace dispute
Floorspace disputes are won on drawings and measurement conventions, not on argument.
Produce an area schedule by floor and by use, stating the convention used and identifying every area included and excluded. Cross-reference each figure to a drawing number and revision. Where existing floorspace is being deducted, provide the survey of the existing building, the measured areas on the same convention, and the evidence of lawful use for the required period: business rates records, utility bills, tenancy agreements, photographs with dates.
Where the authority has used superseded drawings, say which revision they used, which revision was approved, and what the difference is in square metres. That single comparison resolves more disputes than anything else.
Exemption cases turn on different evidence again, and the rules for residential extensions and annexes have their own thresholds worth checking before an appeal is drafted.
Browse all 66 report types to see which supporting documents a resubmitted or amended scheme may need.
This is general guidance rather than legal advice. Check the position with your collecting authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
How do I challenge the chargeable amount on a liability notice?
Request an internal review from the collecting authority within 28 days of the liability notice being issued. The review is carried out by a senior officer not involved in the original calculation. If that does not resolve it, the appeal on the chargeable amount goes to the Valuation Office Agency, generally within 60 days of the liability notice.
Which body hears which CIL appeal?
The Valuation Office Agency deals with the chargeable amount and apportionment between landowners. The Planning Inspectorate deals with surcharges, deemed commencement dates, stop notices and refusals of relief or exemption. Each ground has its own regulation and its own trigger date, so identify the ground before calculating the deadline.
Can existing floorspace be deducted from the calculation?
Yes, where the building has been in lawful use for a continuous period of at least six months within the three years before the development was permitted. Long vacant buildings frequently fail that test. The evidence of lawful use, such as rates records, utility bills, tenancies and dated photographs, is for the applicant to produce.
What happens if no commencement notice was served?
The collecting authority determines a deemed commencement date, which drives the payment schedule and can remove the right to pay by instalments and any relief granted. A surcharge is usually imposed as well. The deemed date can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate where the evidence does not support it, normally within 28 days.
Does starting work affect appeal rights?
Yes. Several statutory appeal rights are unavailable once the chargeable development has started, and demolition forming part of the permitted scheme can itself amount to commencement. A client who begins enabling works while an appeal is being prepared may extinguish the appeal. Check the position before any works start on site.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.