How long does planning permission last in England?

Three years is the usual starting point

You find an approval for the extension you have wanted for years. The plans look right, the council record says approved, and the decision is nearly three years old. Before booking a builder, open the decision notice. The approval status tells you that permission was granted. It does not establish whether you can still use it today.

For an ordinary full planning permission, the usual condition requires development to begin within three years of the permission date. A different period may be specified, and other consent routes have different requirements. Camden’s explanation of the steps after approval states the familiar three-year rule with that important qualification: check the condition.

Do not confuse this with how long an application takes to decide. That is a separate period, covered in our decision timing guide. Receipt, validation, committee and decision dates can all appear on the same record. The commencement requirement normally points to the grant of permission, not the day you uploaded your application.

The useful first task is therefore modest: identify the permission, copy its time condition exactly, and record the relevant date. Then read the rest of the notice. A deadline on its own cannot tell you whether the steps needed to make a lawful start are achievable.

Find the notice that actually grants permission

A committee resolution to approve may come before a formal grant. For some applications, the decision follows completion of a legal agreement or other outstanding work. An officer’s recommendation is also different from an issued permission. If your documents include several apparent approval dates, locate the formal notice and establish what each earlier milestone represents.

Find the approved plan references too. A project can accumulate an original permission, a later amendment, approvals of condition details and a completely separate replacement application. Those records may share an address and similar proposal wording. They should not be blended into one imaginary permission that combines the most convenient parts of each.

Make a simple family tree of the records: original reference, later reference, what changed, and which notice or plans it affects. If an amendment has a later date, do not assume it automatically restarts the commencement period. Ask your adviser to identify the operative permission and conditions. An approval of materials, for example, is not itself a fresh permission for the whole extension.

Our application documents guide provides a reading order when the register is crowded. Start with the formal decisions and approved drawing references, then use the reports and correspondence to understand the history. That usually saves time compared with opening every PDF in upload order.

Outline permission has more than one clock

Outline permission establishes an approved development framework while leaving specified reserved matters for later approval. It is not the same as having every detail approved and ready to build. The time conditions need to be read alongside the reserved matters that remain outstanding.

The usual outline arrangement requires applications for reserved matters within three years of the outline grant and commencement within two years of the final reserved matters approval. The actual notice can specify different periods. The Planning Portal’s outline consent explanation describes this sequence. Larger or phased projects need particular care because several approvals may be involved.

Picture a fictional plot advertised as “planning approved”. The seller sends an outline notice, but the layout, appearance and landscaping remain reserved. A buyer who treats its date as an ordinary full permission expiry misses the work still required. They need the outline conditions, the status of reserved matters and a realistic programme for obtaining the missing approvals.

Put each deadline on its own line and identify whether it concerns submission, approval or starting development. Those verbs matter. An application for details submitted on time does not mean those details are already approved, and one approved reserved matter may not complete the set. Ask for the status of every outstanding matter before relying on a headline date.

Starting work has a legal meaning

A builder arriving on site is not a complete answer to whether permission has been implemented. Planning legislation uses the concept of a material operation comprised in the permitted development. The connection between the operation, the authorised scheme and its conditions matters. The legal assessment can be fact-sensitive, particularly where only a small amount of work has occurred.

Do not use clearing a garden, ordering windows, erecting temporary fencing or paying a deposit as automatic proof that the permission has been preserved. Those activities may be part of preparing a project, but preparation and lawful commencement are different questions. Equally, the right assessment cannot be reduced to the size of a hole in the ground without examining what it was for and whether the necessary conditions had been met.

If expiry is approaching, ask a planning professional to review the proposed commencement works against the permission before carrying them out. Give them the approved plans, condition decisions and intended sequence. A vague request to “keep planning alive” is less useful than a drawing identifying the exact operation and a list of the approvals already obtained.

This is why a universal date calculator would be misleading. Software can help organise dates from a notice. It cannot infer from a photograph or calendar entry that the development was lawfully commenced. Treat that conclusion as something to establish with evidence and appropriate advice.

Read pre-commencement conditions before arranging a start

Some conditions require details to be approved before development begins. Others apply before a particular phase, before occupation, or throughout the use of the building. Their wording can create a sequence that needs to be reflected in the construction programme.

Read the full requirement and reason, then identify the evidence needed to satisfy it. A drainage strategy may require design work; a materials submission may need samples; an archaeological requirement may involve a specialist. A submitted discharge application is not the same as an issued approval. The government’s planning conditions guidance explains the framework.

Failure to comply with a relevant pre-commencement condition can affect whether works amount to a lawful implementation. The consequences depend on the condition and circumstances, so do not assume that every omission has the same legal effect. Equally, do not accept “we can sort the paperwork afterwards” without having the actual requirement assessed.

Build a condition tracker using our guide to discharging planning conditions. Add the condition number, required action, trigger, responsible person, submission reference and approval evidence. Then compare the tracker with the proposed start date. If a necessary approval is missing, resolve that gap while there is still time to choose a sensible route.

A worked example: a permission nearing its anniversary

Imagine a fictional household, Ben and Amira, with permission for a side extension. Their notice requires development to begin before the end of a three-year period. With several months left, they ask for quotations and discover that drainage details must be approved before work starts. The cheapest contractor can begin quickly, but the drainage design has not yet been prepared.

Their first useful step is to work backwards from the deadline with their designer. They list the survey work, drainage submission, expected decision process and construction preparation. They also check whether their revised kitchen layout changes any approved external details. That exposes two independent tasks which a simple countdown would have hidden.

Suppose the drainage approval arrives, but a later quotation assumes a different foundation arrangement. They ask the relevant professionals to confirm what operation is intended, whether it accords with the permitted scheme and what evidence should be kept. They do not rely on the phrase “foundations started” as a substitute for that review.

The example has no guaranteed outcome; it illustrates a better sequence. Read the permission early, identify dependencies, settle design changes and record what happens. A calm review several months ahead offers more options than a conversation with an excavator operator on the final afternoon.

Evidence of commencement should explain what happened

If you expect to rely on an earlier start, collect evidence that connects a date to an identifiable operation within the approved scheme. A photograph with no location context, an undated sketch and a bank transfer labelled “building” each leave different questions unanswered.

Useful material may include contemporaneous photographs, contractor records, survey information, inspection notes, invoices and correspondence. Their relevance depends on what they show. An inspection record might support the date and location of works without settling the planning effect of a condition. A payment might show a commercial transaction without proving the work was completed on the date stated.

Arrange the material in a chronology and annotate a plan with the locations of the works. Keep original files where available. Explain later reconstruction of events separately from records made at the time. If someone gives a statement, ask them to distinguish direct observation from assumptions based on what another person said.

Where formal confirmation of the planning position is needed, discuss whether a lawful development certificate is appropriate. That requires a precise description and supporting evidence. It is not simply a letter asking the council to rubber-stamp a start date. The application must address the legal question arising from the particular permission and works.

Does permission last forever once work starts?

Lawful commencement within the required period generally means that an ordinary commencement condition no longer causes the permission to lapse merely because its anniversary passes. It does not remove the remaining conditions, approve departures from the plans or settle every issue that can arise on a partly built site.

Read for any particular completion, temporary-use or phasing requirements. England also has a completion notice procedure for certain unfinished development, explained in the government’s post-permission guidance. Avoid translating “started in time” into an unconditional promise that any version of the project can be completed whenever the owner chooses.

Long pauses create practical problems too. A partially built structure may need a fresh condition survey. Technical standards and construction information may need review. Suppliers may no longer offer the approved material, and site conditions may have changed. Those issues do not all have the same planning consequence, but they should be identified before a contractor assumes the old package is ready to resume.

If other permissions have since been implemented on the land, obtain advice about how the schemes interact. A development history is not a menu from which unrelated approvals can always be combined. Show the adviser the whole sequence, including work carried out under later decisions, rather than only the permission you hope to use.

Expired permission usually means a fresh planning decision

If permission was not lawfully commenced within its time limit, do not proceed on the strength of the old approval. For an ordinary expired full permission, the usual route is a fresh application. Discuss the position with the authority or your adviser before investing further in construction drawings based on the old scheme.

An earlier approval can be useful background, but it does not guarantee the outcome of a new application. Policies, site circumstances, neighbouring development and technical information may have changed. The new submission needs to address the position relevant to its determination. Copying an old planning statement without checking its assumptions can make the application weaker than it needs to be.

A condition variation is not a general mechanism for extending the original commencement time limit. Government guidance on flexible options for planning permissions explains the limits of section 73. Distinguish a change to the approved scheme from a request to revive an expired permission.

Before reapplying, ask which documents can still be used, which need updating and whether the design should be reconsidered. A previous drainage report may need review; an old tree survey may no longer describe the site. The sensible aim is a complete, current submission, with the earlier approval used as context rather than treated as a substitute for today’s assessment.

Buying a plot or house with an old approval

An estate agent’s phrase “with planning permission” is an invitation to inspect documents. Ask for the formal notice, approved drawings, condition decisions and evidence supporting any claim that development has begun. If the permission is outline, request the reserved matters records as well.

Separate three questions in your due diligence: what was granted, whether it remains capable of implementation, and whether it matches what you want to build. A valid permission for a small annex may add little practical value if your plan is an independent dwelling. A permission that looks generous on the floor plan may carry conditions affecting occupation or use.

Ask your solicitor and planning adviser to address any claimed commencement before you commit to a price based on it. If only a concrete strip or drainage run is visible, its presence does not answer all the legal questions. Obtain the relevant history and assess it against the authorised scheme. Our property history guide helps organise the initial search.

Finally, inspect the actual site. Boundaries, access, trees, levels and existing structures may differ from old plans. A discrepancy may be explainable, but it deserves explanation before you buy. Give your advisers the sales particulars as well as the official records so they can identify where the marketing description goes beyond the evidence.

Keep other deadlines separate from planning expiry

Building regulations, planning conditions, legal agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy procedures can each introduce their own actions and timing. A planning permission date should not be used as a substitute for checking those requirements. Different documents can use commencement in different contexts.

Where CIL applies, ask the collecting authority or your adviser about liability, relief and notices before starting. There can be financial consequences for failing to follow the required procedure. The government’s CIL guidance should be read for the actual project rather than reduced to an assumption that a small domestic build is automatically outside the process.

For building control, check the relevant approval, notices and inspections with the appointed building control body. For party wall matters, obtain advice before the affected work where required. These tasks may sit on the same project programme, but approval or commencement under one regime does not automatically satisfy another.

Name the owner of each task. “The architect is dealing with approvals” can hide a gap if the appointment covers planning drawings but not CIL administration or building regulations. A short responsibilities table agreed before work starts is often more useful than another long email thread in which everyone assumes somebody else has submitted the form.

Make a permission review sheet before booking work

A one-page review sheet should identify the site, authority, application reference, grant date and exact time condition. Add the approved drawing schedule, outstanding conditions and the proposed commencement operation. Leave room for the person who has checked each point and the date of that review.

Use it to organise a conversation rather than declare a legal conclusion yourself. If a date is uncertain, write “to confirm” and identify the document needed. If the claimed start is disputed, describe the evidence and the unresolved question. That gives an adviser something concrete to investigate instead of a broad request to confirm that everything is fine.

For a live project, set an early review reminder with enough time for surveys, condition submissions and design changes. For a purchase, make the review part of due diligence before relying on the permission’s value. For an abandoned scheme, establish the current position before paying to revive the design.

The date on the decision notice is only the beginning of this exercise. What makes the permission useful is a clear connection between that notice, the approved scheme, the required steps and what has actually happened on the land.

• Save the operative decision notice and approved drawing set.
• Copy the time condition without paraphrasing its trigger.
• Identify every outstanding approval needed before work.
• Obtain advice on any claimed or proposed commencement.
• Check separate building control, CIL and agreement requirements.
• Keep evidence of works with the relevant plans and dates.