A retrospective planning application asks the authority to grant permission for development already carried out without it, and is decided on the same planning merits as an application made before the work: the fact that the building stands is neither a reason to grant nor a reason to refuse. What is the time limit for retrospective planning permission is really two questions, when an application can be made, which is at any time, and when an authority can no longer enforce against the breach, which is the planning permission enforcement period and the planning enforcement time limits set in the Act. This page sets out how a retrospective application is run, how the enforcement time limits bear on it, and what the file keeps.
The application is decided on its merits, and it carries the same fee
A retrospective application is submitted on the same forms with the same fee for the type and the same surveys the validation checklist asks for, and the authority decides it as if the development were proposed; what it may not do is treat the breach as a reason in itself. The cost of planning application sheet on this site costs it like any other, and the sunk share is the whole of it, because the development exists whatever is decided. Where the authority has already served an enforcement notice, a retrospective application may be barred and the route is the appeal against the notice instead.
The enforcement time limits, and why they are read from the guidance on the day
An authority may take enforcement action within the time limits the Act sets from the date the breach was substantially completed or the use began, and the limits changed in England for breaches after the 2024 commencement of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act's provisions; Wales keeps its own. After the limit has passed the development is lawful through the passage of time and a certificate of lawfulness, not a retrospective application, is the route to prove it. The limits are stated in the guidance cited below, which is where an applicant reads them on the day; this hub publishes no figure of its own.
What the file keeps when the work came first
The date the development was substantially completed or the use began is the fact every retrospective question turns on, and the evidence for it, dated photographs, invoices, council tax records, is the file. Consentvia Pro keeps the retrospective application with that date and its evidence, the fee and the clock read from the sheets, any enforcement notice and its appeal, and the decision, so the question of whether to apply retrospectively or to certify lawfulness is answered from a record rather than a recollection.
Questions people ask about retrospective planning application
Is a retrospective planning application more likely to be refused?
No more than the same scheme proposed in advance: the authority decides it on its merits and may not penalise the breach through the decision. It may, separately, take enforcement action if the application is refused.
What is the time limit for retrospective planning permission?
There is no limit on applying; the limits are on enforcement. After the enforcement period for that kind of breach has passed the development is lawful and a certificate of lawfulness is the route, not a retrospective application. The guidance cited below states the periods for England and Wales.
Can I apply retrospectively after an enforcement notice is served?
In England an authority may decline to determine a retrospective application once an enforcement notice is in force, and the route becomes the appeal against the notice. The guidance on enforcement sets out when that applies.
Sources
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Ensuring effective enforcement: the time limits for enforcement action and the retrospective application
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Determining a planning application: statutory periods, extensions of time, non-determination
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Lawful development certificates: the certificate of lawfulness for existing and proposed use or development