Changing consultant during a live planning application

Changing consultant mid planning application is legally straightforward and practically awkward. The applicant stays the applicant, so the application itself does not fall away. What can fall away is your right to use the drawings, the native files you need to amend them, and the technical continuity that lets a new team answer the case officer's next question.

Sort the copyright position before you send the termination letter. After it, your negotiating position is worse.

Why appointments fail part way through

Four patterns account for most of them. Fee disputes, usually over variations nobody recorded. A missed deadline where the consultant's programme never matched the determination period. A breakdown of confidence after an officer raises something the consultant said would not arise. And a change of scheme that takes the work outside the competence of the original appointment, which is a different problem and often better solved by adding a specialist than by replacing anyone.

The last of those is worth separating out. Replacing a planning consultant because an ecology issue has surfaced makes no sense. Replacing one who has produced a document the officer says is unusable is a different matter.

Copyright and the licence to use the drawings

Copyright in drawings, reports and models belongs to the person who created them, under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, unless the appointment assigns it to you. Most standard professional appointments do not assign copyright. They grant a licence.

The scope of that licence decides what you can do next. A licence to use the drawings for the purposes of obtaining planning permission on the site lets you keep them on a live application. A licence limited to the consultant's continued involvement does not. Read the clause rather than assuming, because the wording varies between standard forms and between amended versions of the same form.

Where there is no written appointment, the courts have generally found an implied licence to use drawings for the purpose for which they were commissioned, provided fees have been paid. That is a workable position and a thin one. It does not obviously extend to amending the drawings, and it says nothing about who may put their name on the amended version.

Outstanding fees and what non-payment does to the licence

Most appointments make the licence conditional on fees being paid. That single clause hands an unpaid consultant real bargaining power, because a withdrawn licence on a live application stops the scheme.

If the fee is disputed rather than simply unpaid, resolve the dispute rather than sitting on it. Consultancy appointments for construction operations generally fall within the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, which gives either party the right to refer a dispute to adjudication at any time and produces a binding decision in a matter of weeks. That is usually faster than the planning timetable, which is unusual for a dispute process.

The commercial answer, where the relationship has ended but the fee is arguable, is often to pay the undisputed part, confirm the licence position in writing on payment, and argue the balance separately. Paying nothing and asking for the CAD files is the approach that ends in an impasse.

Telling the case officer

There is no statutory procedure. In practice, write to the case officer confirming that the named agent has been changed, giving the new agent's details, and asking that correspondence be redirected. Copy the outgoing consultant.

Two points of care. Where the application was submitted through the online planning service using the outgoing agent's account, the new agent may not be able to see the submitted documents or respond to consultation, so ask the authority to confirm how correspondence and any amended documents should now be lodged. And where a certificate of ownership or an agricultural holdings notice was signed by the agent, check whether anything needs re-signing if further certificates are required later.

Determination deadlines do not pause for a change of agent. If the new team needs time, agree an extension of time with the officer in writing rather than relying on goodwill, because an authority is entitled to determine at the end of the statutory period.

Getting the files and the survey data

Ask for a specific list rather than "all project files". A list gets a response. A general request gets an argument about scope.

• Issued drawings in PDF, at the revisions submitted, with the drawing register
• Editable drawing files, where the appointment provides for them
• Survey data: topographical survey, tree survey schedule, ecology field notes, borehole logs, noise measurement data
• Third party reports in full, including appendices and raw outputs
• Correspondence with the local planning authority and statutory consultees
• The validation checklist response and the submitted application forms

Editable files are the contentious item. Many appointments expressly exclude them, and a consultant who hands over a model takes on a risk about what is done with it afterwards. Where they are refused, a realistic fallback is to license the PDFs and have the new consultant redraw, which costs money but removes the argument.

Survey data commissioned from a third party is a separate question again, because the copyright sits with that specialist rather than the consultant who instructed them. Where the specialist was appointed by the consultant rather than by you, the practical route is to appoint them directly going forward and ask them to reissue their report addressed to you. Most will, for a modest fee. Whether the data is still usable is a different question, covered in our note on checking whether a survey is still valid.

Keeping the technical evidence coherent

The risk after a handover is a submission whose parts no longer agree with each other. New drawings with old floor areas. A transport statement quoting a unit mix that has changed. A heritage appraisal describing a scheme two revisions out of date.

Three checks close most of it:

1. Reconcile the schedule of accommodation, the site area and the floor areas across every document, including the application form.
2. Confirm which drawing revision each technical report was based on, and list any report that predates the current revision.
3. Identify each document whose author must hold specific competence, and confirm that author is still engaged.

The third matters most where a report is one the law requires a qualified person to prepare. An environmental statement has to be prepared by competent experts, a biodiversity net gain assessment expects a competent person, and a fire statement needs someone with fire engineering competence. If the departing consultant employed that person, the report may need reissuing by whoever now holds the responsibility. What competence means in each case is set out in our piece on what "competent person" means in planning legislation.

Contract terms worth fixing at appointment

Every problem above costs less to prevent than to resolve. When appointing, look for five things.

An express licence to use all deliverables for the purposes of the development on the site, surviving termination. A statement of what happens to that licence if fees are unpaid, ideally limited to the disputed sum rather than the whole licence. A deliverables schedule listing formats, including whether editable files are provided. A termination clause with a defined notice period and a fee position for work in progress. And a step in or novation provision for sub-consultants, so specialist appointments can transfer without renegotiation.

None of that is unusual, and consultants who use standard forms will recognise all of it. Raising it at appointment is a five minute conversation. Raising it during a termination is a negotiation you are conducting from behind.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required. This is general guidance and not legal advice, so take advice on your own contracts and check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

Find a reviewer in the PlanScope professional directory where a report needs a named, competent author after a handover, or browse the 66 report types to work out what the replacement team has to reproduce.