Section 192 certificates: confirm works before you build

A section 192 certificate proposed works application asks the council one question: if I did this, would it be lawful? Not whether it is a good idea, not whether neighbours would mind. Only whether the described operations or use would require planning permission, and if not, why not. Get a certificate and the council is bound by it for the works as described. That is the whole point of applying before you build rather than after.

What the certificate does and does not do

Section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets anyone who wants to know whether a proposed use of buildings or land, or proposed operations, would be lawful apply to the local planning authority for a certificate to that effect. The authority must grant it if it is satisfied, on the information given, that the use or operations would be lawful.

Lawful here has a narrow meaning. It covers the case where no permission is needed because the works are not development under section 55, the case where permitted development rights under the General Permitted Development Order cover them, and the case where an existing permission already authorises them.

What it does not do is give you permission. If the answer is that permission is needed, the certificate is refused and you are no worse off, other than the fee and the time. Planning merits play no part in the decision. An officer who thinks your dormer is ugly must still grant the certificate if the dormer falls inside Class B.

The information the application must contain

This is where most refusals come from, and they are avoidable. The authority decides on the information you provide, so a thin application gets a refusal on evidence rather than on law.

• A site location plan at a recognised scale with the application site edged red and any other land in the same ownership edged blue.
• Existing and proposed drawings to scale, with every dimension that a permitted development class turns on marked on them: height to eaves, height to ridge, depth beyond the original rear wall, distance to boundaries, and the area of the curtilage already covered by buildings.
• A written description of the proposal that matches the drawings exactly, because the certificate will be issued in the terms you describe.
• Photographs of the existing building and its surroundings, dated.
• Where the argument depends on the original dwellinghouse as built or as it stood on 1 July 1948, whatever evidence you have for that: historic plans, aerial imagery, earlier decision notices.
• The correct ownership certificate, and notice served where you are not the sole owner, which our guide to ownership certificates A to D sets out in full.

One drafting discipline helps more than anything else. Write the description as if it were the certificate, then check each limitation in the relevant class against your own drawings. If a dimension is close to a limit, say so and show the measurement rather than leaving the officer to scale it off.

How the authority decides it

The burden of proof sits with the applicant. There is no presumption either way, and the standard is the balance of probabilities.

The decision is taken on the facts and the law as they stand when the certificate is issued, which is why a pending Article 4 direction matters. A direction that takes effect before determination will defeat an application that would otherwise have succeeded.

Consultation is lighter than for a planning application. There is no statutory requirement to publicise a section 192 application in the way an application for permission is publicised, because neighbours' views are irrelevant to a question of law. Some authorities notify anyway. Their responses carry no weight unless they contain factual evidence that contradicts yours.

Fee, period and what happens if nothing happens

The fee for a proposed-use certificate is set as a proportion of the fee for the equivalent planning application, while a certificate for something already built or already happening under section 191 is charged at the full equivalent rate. Amounts are indexed each April, so check the current fee schedule before you submit and look at whether any fee exemption or reduction applies.

The determination period is eight weeks from validation. Unlike a planning application, there is no deemed refusal if the authority says nothing, so the appeal right is triggered by the expiry of the period as well as by a refusal.

Expect requests for further information. Answer them in writing and keep the correspondence, because an appeal is decided on the material before the authority.

Appealing a refusal

The appeal goes to the Secretary of State under section 195 and is handled by the Planning Inspectorate. It is a rehearing, so you can put in better evidence than the council saw, and in practice that is often what wins it.

Two points of strategy. First, a refusal that turns on a single measurement is usually cheaper to fix by amending the scheme and reapplying than by appealing. Second, where the authority has refused on a point of legal interpretation, the appeal is worth taking, because inspectors deal with GPDO construction constantly and councils vary in how they read the limitations.

The time limit for a section 195 appeal is six months from the decision notice or from the end of the determination period. Written representations suit almost all of these cases.

Why this beats an informal view

Duty planners give informal advice in good faith. It binds nobody. Staff change, interpretations shift, and a new officer responding to a neighbour complaint three years later is not obliged to honour an email from a colleague who has left.

A certificate is a formal determination. It can be revoked under section 193(7) only where it was obtained by a false statement, by withholding a material fact or by failing to disclose material information. Short of that, it stands.

Lenders and buyers understand this too. A certificate on file removes the awkward enquiry about whether the garage conversion was ever authorised, and it does so more cleanly than an indemnity policy.

The limits once it is granted

The certificate covers what you described, at the scale you drew, on the land you edged red. Build it 300mm deeper and the certificate does not cover what you built.

It also says nothing about other consents. Building regulations approval, listed building consent, Party Wall Act notices, a highway licence for a crossover, protected species licensing. All separate, all still required where they apply. A bat roost in the loft does not become lawful to disturb because a certificate says the dormer is permitted development.

And a certificate does not survive a material change in the facts. If the original dwellinghouse is extended again under a later permission, the headroom you relied on for Class A has moved.

Where the honest answer is that permission is needed, the next step is an application supported by a Planning Statement that sets the proposal against the adopted local plan. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents your project is likely to need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning 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.