Selling part of a holding: certificates and notices
Ownership certificates A to D turn on who owned the land twenty-one days before submission. Selling a field, a verge or a splay changes the answer, and agricultural tenants need their own notice.
Selling part of a farm changes which ownership certificate a planning application needs, and the agricultural holdings certificate planning requirement is the part that most often gets it wrong. Section 65 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 require every application to carry a certificate stating who owned the land twenty-one days before it was submitted, and whether any of it is part of an agricultural holding. Get that wrong and the permission is vulnerable, whatever its merits.
Why ownership certificates exist
The system rests on the idea that people with an interest in land should know when someone applies to develop it. An applicant does not have to own the land, so without a notification requirement a landowner could learn of a permission over their own field only when the diggers arrived.
The certificate is the mechanism. It is a declaration by the applicant about the ownership position on a stated date, and it tells the authority whether notice has been served, and on whom. The obligation sits on the applicant, not on the council, and the council is entitled to take the certificate at face value.
"Owner" has a specific meaning here. It covers the freehold owner and any lessee whose lease has at least seven years left to run. A licensee, a grazing agreement holder, an option holder or a purchaser under an uncompleted contract is generally not an owner for this purpose, though each may need to be considered for other reasons.
Choosing between certificates A to D
| Certificate | When it applies |
|---|---|
| A | The applicant owns the whole of the application site and there is no agricultural tenant |
| B | Others own part or all of the site, and the applicant has served notice on each of them |
| C | The applicant has served notice on those owners it could identify, could not trace the rest despite reasonable steps, and has published a notice in a local newspaper |
| D | The applicant could trace none of the owners, has taken reasonable steps, and has published a notice in a local newspaper |
Certificate B is the one most sales create. Sell off a field with a hedge boundary and the red line for a later application may cross into land you no longer own, or include a ransom strip, an access verge or a splay retained by the buyer.
Certificates C and D are rarer and they carry a burden of showing what steps were taken. Keep the record: the title searches, the enquiries made, the letters returned undelivered and the newspaper page with its date.
Notice has to be served within the twenty-one days before the application is made, and the newspaper notice for certificates C and D falls within the period the Order prescribes. Check the current wording rather than relying on a remembered figure, since the procedural detail has been amended over time.
When an agricultural holdings notice is required
Separately from ownership, the certificate must state whether any part of the application site is, or is part of, an agricultural holding. Where it is, notice must be given to every tenant of that holding.
The technical point people miss is the definition. An agricultural holding in this context takes its meaning from the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, which governs the older form of agricultural tenancy. A farm business tenancy granted under the Agricultural Tenancies Act 1995 is a different creature, and on a strict reading it is not an agricultural holding for the purposes of the certificate.
The practical advice is to serve anyway. Notifying a farm business tenant costs a letter and removes an argument. Failing to notify an Agricultural Holdings Act tenant because nobody checked which regime the tenancy sat under is a real risk on land that has been let for decades.
Where the land carries residential occupation alongside the agricultural use, check the arrangements on the ground as well as the titles. Structures such as mobile homes and caravans on agricultural land often come with occupation agreements that nobody has looked at since they were signed.
Serving notice on tenants and their timing
The notice is a prescribed form. It identifies the applicant, describes the proposed development, gives the address where the application can be inspected, and states the period within which representations may be made.
Serve it properly. Personal service or post to the last known address both work, and a recorded delivery receipt is worth the extra cost. Keep a copy of every notice with the date it was served, because the certificate asserts a fact you may later have to prove.
Two timing traps. The twenty-one day window runs backwards from the date the application is made, so a notice served three months earlier does not satisfy the requirement and has to be repeated. And where an application is withdrawn and resubmitted, the notices have to be served again in relation to the new application.
Consequences of an incorrect certificate
Issuing a certificate that is false or misleading, knowingly or recklessly, is a criminal offence under section 65. That is the headline, and prosecutions are rare.
The practical consequences are what matter on a transaction. A permission granted on a defective certificate can be challenged, and an owner who was never notified is exactly the person with standing to bring that challenge. Even where the risk of a successful claim is low, a buyer's solicitor who spots the defect will raise it, and a lender may decline to proceed until it is resolved.
Where an error is found after submission, tell the council, serve the notices properly and ask for the certificate to be corrected before determination. That is much cheaper than dealing with it after a decision is issued.
Options, easements and undisclosed interests
Options and conditional contracts do not make the holder an owner for certificate purposes, though the option agreement itself often requires the developer to notify or to obtain consent. Read it.
Easements, rights of way, restrictive covenants and rights to light are private rights. Planning permission does not override any of them, and the decision notice will usually carry an informative saying so. A permission for an access across a strip you do not own is worth nothing until the rights are secured.
Unregistered land still exists, particularly on older farms, and verge and track ownership is frequently unclear. Where a boundary or an access strip cannot be resolved from the register, a certificate C may be the honest answer rather than an optimistic certificate A.
Checking before submission
- Obtain official copies of the register and title plan for every title within and adjoining the red line, and compare them against the application drawing.
- Check for registered leases of more than seven years, and for notices and restrictions that hint at unregistered interests.
- Ask the landowner directly about tenancies, licences, grazing agreements and sporting rights, and record the answers.
- Establish which statute governs each agricultural tenancy, and serve notice on every agricultural occupier whatever the answer.
- Keep the notices, receipts and newspaper page in the application file.
Where the red line can be drawn to avoid land in other ownership without weakening the scheme, do that instead. It is usually simpler than notifying, though it is not always possible where access or drainage crosses retained land, and the same access questions arise when replacing a rural building rather than converting it.
A Planning Statement should record the ownership position and the notices served, and where best and most versatile land is involved an Agricultural Land Classification survey may be needed alongside. PlanScope drafts both from your site details. Enter your postcode to see what a rural application 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.
Frequently asked questions
Who counts as an owner for a planning ownership certificate?
The freehold owner and any lessee whose lease has at least seven years left to run. Licensees, grazing agreement holders, option holders and purchasers under uncompleted contracts are generally not owners for this purpose. Check the register for leases over seven years, and for notices and restrictions that suggest interests not shown on the title plan.
When do I need certificate B rather than A?
Whenever any part of the application site is owned by someone other than the applicant. That happens easily after a sale, where the red line crosses a retained verge, a visibility splay, an access strip or a drainage route. Certificate B requires notice to have been served on each of those owners within the twenty-one days before submission.
Does a farm business tenant need an agricultural holdings notice?
Strictly, an agricultural holding takes its meaning from the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986, so a farm business tenancy under the 1995 Act is arguably outside the requirement. The practical answer is to serve notice anyway. It costs a letter and removes an argument, whereas missing a 1986 Act tenant on long-let land is a genuine risk.
What happens if the certificate is wrong?
Issuing a false or misleading certificate knowingly or recklessly is an offence under section 65 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. More commonly the problem surfaces on a sale, when a buyer's solicitor notices that an owner was never notified. Correct it before determination by serving proper notices and asking for the certificate to be amended.
Does planning permission override a right of way or a covenant?
No. Easements, rights of way, restrictive covenants and rights to light are private law matters unaffected by a grant of planning permission, and decision notices usually carry an informative saying so. A permission for an access across land you do not control is worth nothing until the necessary rights have been acquired.
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.