How LDC Express works

1. Qualify in 5 minutes You answer a short questionnaire about your property and the project. Our pre-validation checks every clause of GPDO Part 1 Classes A, B and E against your measurements — the same rules the council's planning officer will check. If your project fails the test, we tell you before you pay. No charge.
2. Pay £349 + £264 council fee You pay through Stripe — our £349 service fee and the £264 statutory council filing fee as separate line items. UK VAT is added to our fee at checkout. Important: the £264 council fee is paid to the council at filing and is not recoverable from us if the council later refuses.
3. We draft within 48 hours Using your answers plus six site photos you upload from your dashboard, we draft the full s.192 bundle: completed 1APP form, site location plan, block plan, elevations, Statement of Truth with clause-by-clause proof of compliance. You review and approve every document before we file.
4. Council decides within 8 weeks We submit through the Planning Portal, pay the £264 fee on your behalf, and monitor the case. The council has 8 statutory weeks to decide. Most decide within that window; some councils run longer. We keep you updated throughout.
5. Certificate or refund If the council grants the certificate, we deliver the signed PDF to your dashboard and notify your conveyancer. If they refuse, we refund our £349 service fee within 14 working days. The £264 council filing fee has already been paid to the council at submission and is not recoverable from us — this is a statutory fee the council keeps whether they approve or refuse.

What we handle so you don't have to

• The 1APP form and all nine supporting document types councils expect in a well-prepared s.192 bundle.
• Statement of Truth drafted to the structural standard Inspectors look for — introduction, proposal description with exact dimensions, clause-by-clause compliance walkthrough, declaration.
• Planning Portal submission, fee payment, case-officer correspondence, any request for additional information within the 8-week window.
• Direct dashboard link to your conveyancer so they can track the application without needing to ping you.

What you'll need to hand

• Your address and postcode.
• Exact measurements for the project (rear depth, height, volume or footprint depending on class).
• Six photographs: front elevation from the street, rear elevation, both side elevations, curtilage showing any existing outbuildings, boundary fences.
• A rough idea of when the house was built and whether it has had any previous extensions — this is what "original dwelling" means for the 50% curtilage rule.