Lawful Development Certificate

A Lawful Development Certificate (sometimes called a Certificate of Lawfulness) is a form issued by a local authority to a developer or landowner to confirm that no planning permission is required for a particular development. There are two main versions of this certificate. A local planning authority can grant a certificate confirming that:

(a) an existing use of land, or some operational development, or some activity being carried out in breach of a planning condition, is lawful for planning purposes under section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990; or

(b) a proposed use of buildings or other land, or some operations proposed to be carried out in, on, over or under land, would be lawful for planning purposes under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.