Questions we get asked a lot.

It's a document issued by your local council confirming that a proposed (Section 192) or already built (Section 191) development is, or would be, lawful. For permitted development works that didn't need planning permission, an LDC is the formal way to prove it. Your buyer's solicitor, mortgage lender, or insurer may ask for one to close out the question permanently.

s.192 covers a project you're about to build and want certainty is lawful before you start. s.191 covers something already built (by you or a previous owner) that you need to prove was lawful retrospectively. An s.191 certificate can be granted on either of two arguments: the work was permitted development when it was built (no waiting period needed, and usually the stronger case), or it has been in place long enough to be immune from enforcement. Since 25 April 2024 that immunity period is 10 years in England; work substantially completed before that date keeps the old 4-year period. More on the 2024 change here. We handle both.

Class A: single-storey rear or side extension within size limits (3m attached / 4m detached rear projection, 4m height, 50% curtilage cap shared with any existing outbuildings).

Class B: loft conversion or roof alteration within volume limits (40m³ terraced / 50m³ other), dormers not facing a highway.

Class E: outbuildings genuinely incidental to the house (garden office, gym, workshop). WC allowed, shower / kitchen / bedroom not. The intake form walks you through every test and tells you immediately if you're outside.

No architect's drawings. You need one document we can't produce for you: an OS-licensed site location plan at 1:1250 with your property outlined in red, which you buy from an Ordnance Survey accredited supplier (search "OS location plan 1:1250" and pick any of them) for about £10. We tell you exactly where to get it and check it before we file. Everything else — the Statement of Truth, the application form, the cover letter — we draft from your answers and six photographs.

Indemnity insurance pays out if the council actually tries to enforce against the unauthorised work. That's rare, but the question doesn't go away. When you come to sell again, the next buyer's solicitor asks the same question, and you'll need the same indemnity or an actual LDC. Indemnity is a plaster; an LDC is a cure. One thing to settle before you choose, though: you can't do both in that order, because applying for a certificate normally ends the indemnity option. See our honest comparison.

Yes, usually, and this is the thing most people aren't told. Almost every planning indemnity policy carries a condition that the owner has never approached the council about the work. Applying for a certificate tells the council. So from the moment we file, indemnity is normally off the table, and it stays off if the council refuses.

That's an easy trade when the case is strong. A certificate is permanent and transfers with the house; indemnity is a patch you buy again at every sale. It's a harder trade when the case is uncertain. If your application rests only on the work having been in place a long time, rather than on it having been permitted development when it was built, and you're mid-sale with indemnity still on the table, a refusal would leave you worse off than doing nothing: down the council fee, roughly eight weeks, and the insurance option. Our refund covers our fee. It doesn't cover that.

So the intake form asks. If you're in that specific position, we won't take the case, and we'll tell you to talk to a planning solicitor or your conveyancer about indemnity first. Everyone else sees the trade-off written out on the payment step and confirms they understand it before paying.

The council has 8 weeks by statute. Most councils decide within that window. We monitor the case throughout and keep you updated on progress in your dashboard.

You get your £349 service fee back in fulli. The council's statutory fee (£274/£548 for an extension or loft, £136/£272 for an outbuilding (proposed/retrospective)) is paid to the council at submission and the council keeps it whether they approve or refuse, so it isn't something we can refund. You keep everything we drafted and the evidence file, and you can use them to pursue full planning permission or an appeal. What you probably can't do is fall back on indemnity insurance: the council now knows about the work, and nearly every policy requires that it doesn't. That's why we screen out the cases where losing the insurance option would leave you worse off than doing nothing.

You have a 14-day right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Because you ask us at checkout to start straight away, you pay for any drafting done before you cancel, and once the council fee has been paid to the council it can't be recovered. Cancel before we've started drafting and you get everything back, council fee included. Email hello@ldcexpress.co.uk with your case reference. Full detail in the Terms.

Yes. Your dashboard has a direct share link you can send your conveyancer or estate agent so they can see the application progress and eventually download the signed certificate without pinging you. We'll also email them the certificate on completion if you'd like.

We cover every council in England. The GPDO rules and the statutory fee are national, and we file directly with each council's planning team by email, so wherever your property is, the process is the same. Enter your postcode in the intake form and we auto-detect your local planning authority.

The only restrictions are property type (houses only, no flats), designation (no listed buildings, conservation areas, or Article 4 zones), and project type (Classes A, B and E only).

We don't cover those. Conservation areas, National Parks, AONBs, World Heritage Sites, and Article 4 Direction zones all sit on "article 2(3) land" with restricted permitted development rights, which makes LDC outcomes much harder to predict, and would mean we couldn't keep the refund guarantee honest. The intake form screens for this upfront.

Yes. You can apply direct to your council, through the Planning Portal or by email, and the statutory fee is the same. What we sell is the bit between "I need an LDC" and "it's done right": GPDO interpretation, precise Statement of Truth wording (the #1 reason DIY applications get refused is imprecise description), a correctly assembled application that validates first time, and the 8 week case monitoring.

No. LDC Express is not a law firm, and nothing on this site is legal advice. We prepare and file planning applications, that's a paperwork service, not a legal service. If you need legal advice on a sale or dispute, talk to a solicitor.