A MUST-READ FOR LANDOWNERS - 2024 Enforcement Changes

Landowners, be aware!

You may have the potential to be impacted by new regulations. It may be that some works have been undertaken on sites that you own which do not benefit from a formal planning permission. If so, this may be of interest to you.

Currently, if a building was constructed more than four years ago (or a building was changed to a single dwelling house) more than four years ago, the building (or the dwelling house) would benefit from immunity after that four-year period, no enforcement action could be taken and a Certificate of Lawful Development could be sought.

However, on 25 April 2024, this is going to change and the four-year time limit for bringing enforcement action against operational development (and changes of use to a single dwelling house) will be extended to a ten-year period.

But don’t panic! There are transitional provisions which mean that the new regulations will not apply where the operational development (or change of use to a dwelling) was substantially completed before 25 April 2024. In these circumstances, the four-year rule will still apply.

If you think there is development on your land which may have required planning permission that has yet to be regularised, it may be prudent for you to gather as much evidence as possible to demonstrate that those works were substantially completed before 25 April 2024 - so there can be no doubt in the future as to when the works were substantially completed. We envisage that there will be much debate over this date in relation to future Certificate applications/enforcement action and any evidence that you gather now will be extremely helpful to you in making future arguments if required.