How the fee for new dwellings scales with unit numbers

The application fee for new dwellings is calculated per dwelling, in bands, under the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended. The structure has two parts: up to and including fifty dwellings the fee is a set amount for each dwelling, and above fifty it becomes a base figure plus a smaller amount for each additional dwelling, subject to an overall maximum.

That shape is worth understanding before the figures, because it is the shape rather than the rates that produces the budgeting mistakes. The rates themselves were increased in December 2023 and have been subject to annual indexation each 1 April since 2025, so any number quoted in an article will be out of date. Take the current figures from the current regulations or from the authority's published fee page, and check the arithmetic with the fee calculator on the Planning Portal before transferring money.

The per dwelling structure in the fee regulations

Within the first band, the fee rises in a straight line with the number of dwellings. Five dwellings cost five times the per-dwelling rate, twenty cost twenty times. There is no discount and no minimum beyond the single-dwelling figure.

For a self-builder, that makes the fee one of the few costs in the submission that is entirely predictable. It also makes it a small share of the total: the fee for a handful of dwellings is normally dwarfed by the technical reports, and a scheme that spends two thousand pounds on a drainage strategy to save a fee band has got its priorities inverted.

The regulations also set separate categories for other application types, and a residential scheme usually involves more than one. Reserved matters, discharge of conditions, non-material amendments and applications to vary a condition each carry their own fee, and several of them are charged per request rather than per condition, which is where a scheme with twelve conditions can save money by bundling.

Where the band changes

The change at fifty dwellings is the only step in the residential category, and above it the marginal cost per dwelling falls sharply. The cap then applies at the top end, so above a certain scheme size the fee stops rising at all.

Two consequences for a developer scoping a scheme.

The marginal fee saving from dropping below fifty units is small in absolute terms and is usually outweighed by other thresholds that sit at the same place. Fifty units is the trigger the recommendation engine and most validation checklists use for a Transport Assessment and for a Statement of Community Involvement, and those documents cost considerably more than the fee difference. Our note on planning performance agreements and what you are paying for covers the other side of that cost line.

And for a large scheme at or above the cap, the fee becomes a rounding error against the evidence base, so the budgeting question moves entirely to the reports.

Outline against full applications for the same site

An outline application for housing is not charged on the number of dwellings. It is charged on site area, in increments of a tenth of a hectare up to a threshold, and then on a base figure plus a reduced rate per further increment with its own cap.

That produces a different number for the same scheme depending on the route chosen, and the direction of the difference depends on density. A low-density scheme on a large site can pay more for outline than for full. A high-density scheme on a small site usually pays less.

But the fee is the wrong reason to choose a route. Outline followed by reserved matters means paying twice overall, since the reserved matters application carries its own fee, and the total across both exceeds a single full application in most cases. The reason to go outline is to establish the principle before committing to detailed design, and the fee consequence is a side effect to be budgeted rather than a factor in the decision.

Mixed schemes with dwellings and floorspace

Where a scheme includes both dwellings and non-residential floorspace, the fee is calculated for each element under its own category and the amounts are added, subject to the overall maximum.

Two points catch people out. Floorspace is measured on the basis the regulations specify, which is gross external area for most categories, and a measurement taken from an architect's net internal schedule will produce the wrong figure. And the creation of floorspace by conversion is treated differently from new build in some categories, so a scheme that converts an existing building and extends it needs the two elements separated on the fee calculation.

Where the residential element is created through a change of use rather than erection, the category is different again. Get the authority's validation team to confirm the categorisation in writing for anything unusual, because an underpaid fee makes the application invalid and the determination period does not start until it is paid.

Phasing and whether it reduces the fee

It does not, and it usually increases the total. Submitting a hundred-unit scheme as two applications of fifty means paying the first band rate on each, which costs more than one application of a hundred where the second fifty attract the reduced marginal rate.

Phasing has good reasons behind it: cash flow, infrastructure sequencing, the ability to start on an early phase while a later one is still in design, and the avoidance of thresholds that apply to the scheme as a whole. The fee is not one of them.

The one situation where splitting saves money is where the two parts are separate developments on separate land with no functional link, in which case they were always two applications. An artificial split of a single scheme risks being treated as one development for threshold purposes anyway, and it invites questions about whether the applications overlap.

Budgeting the fee against the rest of the submission

For a self-builder putting together a budget, the honest proportions are these. The application fee is the smallest line. The technical reports are the largest, and their number depends on the site's constraints rather than on the scheme's size. The professional fees for drawings sit between the two.

So the useful budgeting exercise is not fee arithmetic. It is working out which reports the site will actually require, because that is the line with a spread of thousands rather than hundreds. Flood zone position, protected species, trees, contamination history and highway access are the five that most often add cost. Ecology survey quotes in particular vary for reasons worth understanding, covered in our note on why ecology survey costs vary between quotes.

Then add the costs that sit beyond the application itself: the Community Infrastructure Levy liability where the authority charges it, highway agreement costs, and the obligations in any section 106, which have their own cost tail as our note on section 106 costs beyond the contribution describes.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Planning fees are indexed annually, so take the current figures from the regulations or the council's published schedule. See PlanScope pricing for the cost of drafting the supporting reports: one free report, £50 per report, or £150 per month for unlimited reports on the Professional tier. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.