Transferring a permission and a change of applicant

You cannot transfer a planning permission to a new owner, because there is nothing to transfer. Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes a permission a benefit of the land and of everyone for the time being interested in it, so a buyer acquires it automatically on completion. There is no form, no fee and no notification requirement. What does need action is the levy paperwork, any obligations in a section 106 agreement, and the conditions the seller has left undischarged.

Why a permission attaches to the land rather than the person

A permission is granted in respect of land, not to an applicant. The applicant does not even have to own the site, which is why the application form asks for an ownership certificate and notice to be served on owners rather than proof of title.

Two consequences matter commercially.

A permission survives every change of ownership until it is implemented or expires, and it cannot be surrendered by agreement in any reliable way. A seller who says they will withdraw a permission as part of a deal is promising something they cannot deliver.

And a buyer inherits everything attached to it. The conditions, the obligations, any breach already committed, and the clock. Development must normally begin within three years of the grant, and a permission that was never lawfully begun within its period is gone.

Personal permissions and when they are imposed

The exception to all of this is a permission limited by condition to a named person or to the occupier of a particular property. National guidance treats personal permissions as rare and advises against them in most circumstances, and they appear in a narrow set of situations.

A business use within a residential curtilage, allowed because the particular applicant's operation is small, is the commonest. A temporary use allowed on the strength of a specific operator's management arrangements is another. Occupancy conditions tied to agricultural or rural workers operate on a related principle, restricting who may live in a dwelling rather than who may carry out development.

Read the conditions before assuming a permission is transferable. A condition stating that the use shall be carried on only by the occupier of the dwelling, or only by the named applicant, means the permission ends when they leave, and it reduces the value of the property accordingly.

Where a personal condition is a problem, the route is an application under section 73 to vary or remove it, which reopens the planning merits of the use.

Obligations that bind successors in title

Section 106 obligations are a different mechanism from conditions. They are planning obligations entered into by deed, they are registered as local land charges, and where drafted as covenants running with the land they bind successors in title.

Three questions to answer before exchange.

What has already been triggered. Obligations are usually tied to events: implementation, occupation of a stated number of units, or a date. Some will have been performed, some will be outstanding, and the agreement itself does not tell you which.

What is still payable. Financial contributions with index linking provisions grow, and the index and base date are in the deed.

Whether the obligation can be varied. Agreements can be varied by deed with the authority's agreement, and in some circumstances modified or discharged under the statutory procedure after five years, which our note on varying a section 106 agreement after permission covers.

Ask the authority for a statement of what it considers outstanding. It is not bound by its answer, and it is useful anyway.

Telling the council about a change of ownership

There is no statutory duty to notify the local planning authority that the land has changed hands after permission is granted. The permission does not need to be reissued and the authority will not amend it.

Four practical reasons to write anyway.

The case officer's file will show the previous owner's agent, and correspondence about condition discharge will go to them. A short letter identifying the new owner and the contact for all future correspondence prevents a discharge approval disappearing into a former agent's inbox.

Any subsequent application, whether a section 73, a section 96A or a discharge of conditions, requires a correct ownership certificate as at the date of that application. Getting that wrong invalidates the application, as our note on ownership certificates A to D explains.

Where an application is still pending rather than determined, tell the authority before the decision is issued so that the notice is issued in the right name and the certificates are updated.

And where you intend to engage with the officer at all, the case file is the starting point, and obtaining it is a separate exercise set out in our note on getting consultee responses and the officer's case file.

The levy forms that actually need action

Community Infrastructure Levy administration is where changes of ownership cause real financial damage, because the liability sits with whoever has assumed it and the reliefs are lost by procedural failure.

If the seller has already served the levy notice required before works begin and started development, establish what was done and when. A material operation under section 56 of the 1990 Act implements the permission and starts the levy clock, and a trench dug to implement a permission before expiry is a common and deliberate act whose consequences the buyer inherits.

Conditions inherited with the site

Divide the conditions into three groups when you read the notice.

Those requiring approval before development begins. Check the authority's register for discharge applications and their outcomes, and treat an undischarged condition of this kind as a reason the site cannot lawfully be started.

Those requiring approval before occupation or before a stated event. These are programme items, and they are usually negotiable as to timing.

Those requiring ongoing compliance. Hours of use, management plans, landscape maintenance for a period of years, restrictions on further plant or extensions. These bind the use indefinitely and are the ones a purchaser's solicitor least often asks about.

A breach committed by the seller does not stay with the seller. Where landscaping required within the first planting season was never planted, the authority can act against the current owner.

Due diligence on a permission before purchase

Ask for all of the following, and read them rather than filing them.

1. The decision notice, with every condition legible, and the approved drawings at the revisions the notice lists.
2. Any section 73, section 96A or non material amendment decisions issued since.
3. The section 106 agreement with its plans, and any deeds of variation.
4. Every condition discharge application and approval, with references and dates.
5. The levy liability notice, the assumption of liability, the notice served before works began, relief claims and any demand notices.
6. Evidence of implementation if the permission is close to expiry: dated photographs, a building control inspection record, an invoice for the work.
7. The planning history of the site and any enforcement notices, breach of condition notices or stop notices.
8. A local land charges search, which will reveal registered obligations and some enforcement matters.

Where the planning case for the site is still being made out, the applicant's own Planning Statement repays reading alongside the officer report, because it shows which policies the permission depended on and therefore which arguments a future variation will need to revisit.

One honest uncertainty. Whether a permission has been lawfully implemented is a question of fact and degree, and advice on it differs between practitioners. Where value turns on it, get a certificate of lawfulness rather than an opinion, because a Lawful Development Certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful.

If you are assessing a site and want to see which supporting documents a further application would need, enter the postcode on PlanScope and work through the constraints first.

This is general guidance, not legal advice, so 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.