Terms of service

Plain-English summary first, formal terms below. If anything is unclear, email hello@ldc-express.co.uk before you buy.

Plain-English summary

• We prepare and file Lawful Development Certificate applications for UK householders. We are not a law firm. We don't give legal advice.
• You pay £349 (plus UK VAT) service fee and £264 council filing fee at checkout. Total £613 (£682.80 inc. VAT for UK customers).
• If the council refuses your certificate, we refund the £349 service fee in full. The £264 council filing fee is paid to the council at submission and is not recoverable from us — the council keeps this fee regardless of decision.
• The £264 council fee is non-refundable once paid to the council. We don't mark it up; we pass it through at cost.
• We can't refund if you gave us materially inaccurate information at intake — e.g. undisclosed listed status, Article 4, or existing enforcement action.
• You own all the drawings and documents we produce. You can use them elsewhere if you want.

1. Service scope

LDC Express prepares and files Section 191 and Section 192 Lawful Development Certificate applications with English local planning authorities. We cover all English councils, for householder properties under GPDO Schedule 2 Part 1 Classes A, B, and E only.

2. Not legal advice

LDC Express is not a law firm, not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and does not provide legal advice. Information on this site and communications through the service are provided for general information only. If you need legal advice on a sale, purchase, dispute, enforcement action, or planning-consultant-level advocacy on a complex case, you should consult a qualified solicitor or chartered planner.

3. Pricing and payment

Our service fee is £349 exclusive of UK VAT. The council filing fee is £264 (statutory, not set by us). Both are charged at checkout via Stripe as separate line items. Your bank will see two adjacent transactions or one itemised receipt depending on your card issuer.

4. Refund guarantee

If the local planning authority refuses your certificate, we will refund the £349 service fee in full within 14 working days of the refusal decision. The £264 statutory council filing fee is paid by us to the council on your behalf at the time of submission. The council retains this fee whether they approve or refuse your application, as a matter of statute, and we have no ability to recover it. This exclusion from the refund is disclosed on our homepage, pricing page, checkout, and in this agreement.

The refund guarantee does not apply where:

• You materially misrepresented information at the intake stage (undisclosed listed status, Article 4 direction, existing enforcement action, material inaccuracies in measurements).
• You did not respond to requests from us or the case officer within 10 working days, resulting in the refusal.
• You changed the project materially after we filed and the refusal relates to the changed project.

The £264 council filing fee is non-refundable once paid to the council — we pass this through at cost and cannot reclaim it.

4a. Drafting-error re-file exception

If the council's decision notice cites a defect in our drafting as a reason for refusal — e.g. wrong drawing scale, missing required document type, mis-cited GPDO clause — we will, at no additional service-fee charge to you, re-draft and re-file the application with the defect corrected. Most English councils waive the re-submission fee under Regulation 9 of the Town and Country Planning (Fees) Regulations 2012 ("free-go") where a similar application is re-submitted within 12 months on the same property. Where a council does not apply the free-go rule to the re-submission, we cover the £264 fresh statutory fee ourselves so you are not charged twice.

The exception is limited to one re-file per case and applies only where the refusal reason is a drafting defect in our work, not where the refusal is on fact-and-degree grounds, council judgement, or customer-supplied information error. We determine at our discretion whether a refusal qualifies; our assessment is based on the council's written decision notice.

5. Your obligations

You agree to provide accurate information about the property and the proposed or existing development, to respond to information requests within 10 working days, and not to start works (for s.192) or make material changes to completed works (for s.191) during the application.

6. Data and confidentiality

We handle personal data under UK GDPR as set out in our Privacy Policy. Application documents become public once filed (planning applications are a public register).

7. Limitation of liability

Our liability to you in connection with the service is limited to the £349 service fee, except in cases of fraud or death/personal injury caused by our negligence, for which UK law does not permit us to exclude liability.

8. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Disputes will be heard in the English courts.

9. Changes

We may update these terms from time to time. Material changes will be notified by email to customers with active applications.

Last updated: 2026-04-16.