Variance and discrepancy checks
How to verify the planning permission history behind a listing
"Recently extended" and "scope to extend, subject to the usual consents" are two of the most common phrases in UK listings, and neither is evidence of anything. Both are checkable in about twenty minutes.
Where the planning record actually lives
- Your local planning authority's register. Every application, decision notice and condition for the address. Search the council's planning portal by postcode or address; most hold scanned documents back at least twenty years.
- [planning.data.gov.uk](https://www.planning.data.gov.uk/). National datasets for designations that constrain what can be done: conservation areas, listed buildings, article 4 directions, flood zones, green belt and more.
- [Historic England's National Heritage List](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/). The authoritative record for listed buildings and scheduled monuments in England.
The search, step by step
- Identify the planning authority for the postcode — usually the district or borough council, occasionally a national park authority.
- Search their register by full address, then again by postcode, then again by street. Address formats in council systems are inconsistent, so one search is rarely enough.
- For each result, open the decision notice. Note whether it was granted, refused or withdrawn, and read the conditions.
- Check national designations on planning.data.gov.uk for the coordinates. A conservation area or an article 4 direction removes permitted development rights that the agent may be assuming you have.
- Compare the record to what you can see in the photographs and floor plan.
No application does not mean no permission
Permitted development rights allow many rear extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings without a planning application. What you want is either a matching application, a lawful development certificate, or a plausible permitted development route. Your conveyancer will ask the seller for the paperwork; you are just finding out early whether there is a question to ask.
What to flag
- Visible alteration, no application, and a designation such as a conservation area or listed status that would have required consent.
- A refused application for the very thing the listing calls "scope to extend".
- Conditions attached to a granted permission that the current use appears to breach — for example an occupancy or parking condition.
- Building regulations approval missing for structural work. Planning and building control are separate consents; both matter to a lender.
Where consent is missing, the practical remedies are a lawful development certificate, a regularisation application, or indemnity insurance — and each has a cost and a timescale. That cost is a legitimate, evidenced negotiation point rather than a reason to walk away automatically.
None of this is legal advice, and planning enforcement rules on time limits and immunity change; your conveyancer is the person who confirms the position on the property you actually buy.
Frequently asked questions
- How far back do council planning registers go online?
- It varies by authority. Many go back to the late 1990s online, with earlier records available on request. An absence of online records for an older alteration is common.
- Does a conservation area stop me extending?
- Not necessarily, but it removes or restricts permitted development rights, so work that would be automatic elsewhere needs an application and can be refused.
Sources
Check a property before you offer
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Related guides
The complete guide to cross-checking a UK property listing against public records
A step-by-step method for testing every claim in a Rightmove or Zoopla listing against EPC, planning, flood and Land Registry records before you make an offer.
Unlisted flood risk: how to check official maps before you offer
How to check Environment Agency flood risk and statutory flood zones for a UK property, and what a flood designation means for insurance and mortgage lending.
How to evaluate any UK address for free using open data APIs
The official UK open data APIs that let you check EPC, sold prices, planning designations, flood risk and crime for any address — with endpoints and licensing notes.