Can you start without first submitting an application?

Even if we believe your project is likely to be considered permitted development, it is always strongly recommended that no work commences until all of the necessary planning and building regulations approvals are secured. Doing so would be at your own risk!

If you build an outbuilding without submitting any kind of planning application on the assumption that it is permitted development and get it wrong there is a very real risk that you could get an enforcement and have to take it down again. It is most commonly minor developments that land people with enforcements because they didn’t think they would need any kind of planning approval.

Unfortunately, there are never any guarantees with planning permission and in fact nobody can even guarantee that something will be permitted development. The reason is that ultimately the planning authority makes the decision.

On a daily basis we receive enquiries from clients who have received planning enforcements and been given 28 days to secure planning permission or demolish their development, which is a very costly and stressful situation. 99% of these cases are clients who were sure their development was permitted.

Sometimes it could have been permitted with a few minor changes to the design. Sometimes it was permitted at the time of the build but the planning authority have later imposed constraints that removed their permitted development rights so they then need retrospective planning permission. Sometimes it was never going to be permitted development.

If you do receive an enforcement, you would be given 28 days to secure retrospective planning approval or put the property back to its original state. Unfortunately, retrospective planning applications are always a matter of urgency and are often more complicated. For this reason, they are usually more expensive than other planning applications.

In addition, as with any type of planning application there is never any guarantee of gaining planning approval. Once submitted the planning authority has 8 weeks to assess and reach a decision at which point, they will approve or reject the application.

If construction has not started and the planning authority requests minor design changes in order to approve the application, this is easily done. If construction has finished there is no option to amend the design so, the decision will only be based on what was built which may limit the likelihood of success.

If you would like to find out what is required for your outbuilding, the likelihood of success or the costs associated with applying for planning permission please contact us to speak with one of our expert planning consultants today.

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