The repeat application fee exemption and its conditions

If your householder application was refused, you may be able to submit one further application for the same development on the same site without paying a second fee. The repeat application fee exemption, long known as the free go, sits in the national fees regulations and it comes with five conditions that all have to be met. The commonest reason people lose it is time, because the clock runs from the date of the refusal rather than from the date you decide to try again.

What the exemption covers

The exemption removes the application fee for one further application following an earlier application that was refused, or that you withdrew. It does not remove anything else. You still pay for the drawings, and where a specialist report is needed you still pay for that.

The exemption is for the fee alone, and it applies once. Two refusals do not give you two free attempts at the same scheme, because the earlier application that generates the exemption must itself have attracted a fee. An application submitted under the exemption cannot generate a further exemption of its own.

Retrospective applications are treated differently, and the fee rules for them changed in December 2023. If you are applying after the fact, assume the exemption is not available and ask the authority to confirm the position in writing before you submit.

The same site and same character tests

Two tests do the work here, and both are applied by a validation officer rather than by a planner.

The site must be the same, or substantially the same. Shaving a metre off the red line to make the scheme fit does not break this. Adding a strip of the neighbouring garden, or moving the application to a different part of a larger holding, usually does.

The development must be of the same character or description. This is the test people misunderstand. It does not mean the scheme has to be identical, because the whole point is to let you respond to the reason for refusal. A rear extension refused on depth, resubmitted 600 mm shallower with a redesigned roof, is the same character. A rear extension replaced by a detached garden annexe is not.

Where you are unsure, the honest approach is to describe both schemes in a short covering note and ask the validation team to confirm the exemption applies. A fee dispute discovered at validation costs you three weeks.

The twelve month window

The further application must be made within 12 months. The start date depends on what happened to the first one.

1. Where the application was refused and not appealed, the period runs from the date of the decision notice.
2. Where it was refused and appealed, the period runs from the date the appeal was decided or withdrawn.
3. Where you withdrew it, the period runs from the date the authority received it.

That third one surprises people. Withdraw an application three months in, spend six months redesigning, and you have three months left rather than twelve. Diary the date as soon as you withdraw.

Appealing and resubmitting at the same time is a legitimate tactic on a marginal refusal, since the appeal preserves the original scheme while the resubmission tests a compromise. Householder appeals run on a twelve week deadline rather than six months, so on a small scheme the appeal decision usually arrives before the exemption window closes. Just watch the interaction with the exemption, because a dismissed appeal resets the window to the appeal decision date rather than extending it indefinitely.

Who the applicant has to be

The further application must be made by or on behalf of the same applicant. An agent change is fine, because the applicant is the person named on the form rather than the person who submits it.

A change of applicant usually is not fine. If the first application was in your name and the second is in your spouse's name, or in the name of a company you have since formed, the exemption can be refused. The same issue arises where a plot is sold between applications, which is a common pattern on self-build sites.

Where ownership has actually moved, there may be a route through naming the original applicant as a joint applicant, but do not assume it. Ask first, and keep the answer. For who must be notified when the applicant is not the sole owner, see our note on ownership certificates A to D.

Withdrawn applications and whether they count

A withdrawn application can generate the exemption, which is useful. The practical catch is that it has to have been a real application, validated and with the fee paid.

So check the earlier reference on the authority's public register before you count on it. The register shows the validation date, the decision or withdrawal date and the fee paid, which is everything the exemption turns on, and it takes two minutes.

An application returned as invalid, where the fee was refunded, has not been made for these purposes. Neither has one you abandoned at the draft stage on the national planning portal. If the authority never issued a validation date, there is nothing to count from.

This gives you a deliberate option on a scheme heading for refusal. Withdrawing before the decision, rather than taking the refusal, keeps the planning history cleaner and still preserves the exemption. The cost is that the 12 months starts earlier.

Checking the position before you submit

Three things to do before you rely on the exemption.

Confirm the fee position in writing with the validation team, quoting the earlier application reference. Authorities interpret the same character test slightly differently, and a short email is proof if it is queried later.

Check the current fees regulations rather than an older summary. The regulations have been amended several times since 2012, including the December 2023 changes, and application fees have been indexed annually since April 2025. Our note on planning fee exemptions and reductions covers the other cases where nothing is payable.

Then deal with the reason for refusal properly. The exemption saves you a fee, and a resubmission that does not answer the officer's objection wastes eight weeks, which is worth far more. Read the officer's report, address each reason in a short covering statement, and if the refusal turned on policy rather than detail, a Planning Statement setting out the policy case is usually the document that changes the outcome. Where the first application was never determined at all, our note on appealing non-determination sets out the alternative.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, and the availability of the exemption in your case should be confirmed with your local planning authority before you submit. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.