What you need to know about Retrospective planning  

What is retrospective panning permission? 

Firstly, retrospective planning permission is the granting of approval after construction or changes of us have been undertaken. Just because you have made changes to your property doesn’t mean planning permission will automatically be granted. The application will be treated the same as any other application.  

Why some people might not apply for planning –  

  • Planning takes too long –  

 Usually when people are ready to make changes to their home, they already have costs from contractors and are financially ready. An application can take between 8-10 weeks to get validated. And if your council are experiencing delays, you could be waiting even longer.  

So, with prices of materials and labour increasing all the time, people want to get the work done while it is still in their price range.  

  • Are un aware of the rules  

To someone who has completely no idea how the construction world works it could be an easy mistake to make.     

  • Thought no one would notice 

People are willing to build on to their property without planning permission because they think they would get away with it. But if the council find out they would need to apply for retrospective planning.  

The commonest reason property owners apply for planning permission after the work is completed is because they have been approached by the local authority. They will then be asked to disclose the work done on their house. The authority’s may have noticed the changes themselves, or someone may have told them.  

What if retrospective planning is refused?  

If the application is refused you have the opportunity to try and appeal. However, if the appeal gets rejected, the local authority can issue an enforcement notice. This means you have to put everything back to how it was before it was extended.  

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