certificate b planning notice

Unravelling the red tape of Town Planning

Ownership and the Planning Process

We are often asked about ownership issues and the planning process. I was asked recently about ownership and a party being able to implement a planning consent without being the owner of a site. My response ownership is everything and trumps planning permission.

Can I apply for planning permission on someone else’s land?

Quite simply yes!  In the Town Planning anyone can apply for planning permission for land they do not control, for instance I can apply to build something in a neighbour’s garden, but if my neighbour didn’t want me to build the approved development, I can’t.

Who is an owner?

An owner is anyone with a freehold interest or leasehold interest (the unexpired terms of which is not less than 7 years).  This may not be the applicant or developer of a proposed scheme.  There can be multiple owners of a site, the correct notice must be served on every one!

Which certificate do I need to sign?

When applying for planning permission the owner of the site must be informed, if they are not the applicant.  There are a number of ownership certificates on a planning application form which can be signed to show ownership:

Certificate A – signed by the applicant declaring that they own all of the land covered by the planning application.

Certificate B – if the applicant is not the owner or sole owner of the site or any part of the development is outside of land in the applicants ownership (even foundations or overhanging of guttering), notice should be served on any other land owner – in the form of a Notice No.1 . Verbal notification is not sufficient.

Certificate C – If the applicant knows the name of some but not all the land owners, Notice No. 1 is served on all known owners. In the case of unknown owners, the applicant must advertise the application in the local newspaper. This is in the form of a Notice No. 2 .

Certificate D – is signed if owners cannot be traced and the applicant should advertise the application in the local newspaper (Notice No. 2).

An application will not be valid unless the relevant certificate has been completed.

What happens if I do not serve the correct notice?

If a local planning authority determines an application and grants planning permission and the correct certificate has not be served, then the permission granted may be invalid and will be at risk that the High Court would quash the permission if any person aggrieved by the grant of the permission brought judicial review proceedings.  Even if the decision were quashed this would not prevent the applicant from re-applying with the correct ownership certificate completed and a similar decision being given by the Council.

If a certificate is inaccurate, a correct certificate will need to be signed and/or served before the application is decided.

As a word of warning, it is an offence to complete a false or misleading certificate, either knowingly or recklessly, with a maximum fine of up to £5,000.

How can I be sure of who owns a site?

To avoid problems, we recommend looking into land ownership and get land registry records to support your application.

Things to be aware of…

• A Notice No. 1 must be served a minimum of 21 days before the submission of an application, this also applies to press notices for unknown owners.
• You must serve notice on the correct owner, if the owner is a company which is a separate legal entity i.e. a Limited Company – notice must be served on that entity, not an individual Director.
• If development is to be built on your land make sure that guttering, foundations etc do not overhang land not within your ownership if any part of the development encroaches onto other land you must serve notice on the owner.
• A copy of a served notice or press must also be sent with the application to the local authority.

If you need any advice or assistance about ownership issues and the planning process, please don’t hesitate to contact us . You can also check out our extensive range of FREE ebooks and practical guides , which may be of some help.

Take a look at an article we were asked to be involved with: Row over plans for new homes in Biddenham (bedfordtoday.co.uk)

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Serving the Right Certificate

You might not think much about the section of an application form that deals with Ownership Certificates (which you are legally required to complete, by the way), but it’s important that you complete this correctly to ensure you’ve ‘served’ the right notice and informed the right people. You don’t need to own a site to submit a planning application, but you must inform the persons who do, or those who have an interest in your proposals. If you get this wrong, the worst case scenario would be an invalid planning permission. To lessen the chances of this, let’s look at this in a bit more detail.

What’s an Owner?

This might seem like a simple one, but the ‘owner’ is not necessarily the same as the ‘applicant’. An owner is someone who owns a site through a freehold interes t or has an unexpired lease that still has at least seven years left to run.

There can be more than one owner of a site (e.g. landlords, property management companies, head lesses, sub tenants or agricultural tenants) and there can also be unknown owners; i.e. there’s no record of any ownership on Land Registry documents.

So, check your deeds and Land Registry records in the first instance. Local Planning Authorities (LPA’s) generally view Land Registry records as the definitive confirmation of ownership and site boundaries; if someone queries your information or there’s a dispute over ownership, make sure you have these to rely on. It’s  your legal responsibility to resolve this, not the LPA’s.

Which Certificate?

There are four types of Certificate which can accompany an application. You can only submit one, so think carefully about which one is relevant to your situation when you are completing the forms:

Certificate A – complete this if you own the site.

Certificate B – complete this if you, and other people that you know, own or have an interest in the site. You’ll have to serve notice on these other parties.

Certificate C – complete this if other people own the site but you’re not sure of all their names and addresses. You’ll have to serve notice on the owners that you do know, but also publish a notice in the local paper to notify the others that you don’t.

Certificate D – complete this one if you don’t own the site and you don’t know the names and addresses of any other owners and there is no record of anyone else owning the site. This is usually done when there is unregistered land within the application site boundaries. As with Certificate C this also requires the publishing of a notice in a local paper before you submit your application.  

There are a few instances where it’s easy to get caught out…

• If your red-line plan even slightly encroaches over or under someone else’s land – roof eaves, gutters, foundations etc, then you should serve notice on them;
• If you have entered into a legal option or agreement to develop on someone else’s land but don’t actually own it then you will have to serve notice on them unless you agree to submit the application as joint applicants;
• If the owner of the land is a Limited Company and you as a Director or shareholder of that company separately submit an application, you must serve notice on the Limited Company (it’s a separate legal entity). So this will not be a Certificate A scenario;
• If the applicant is a lessee, then the correct notice needs to be served on the freehold owner and any other head lesses (remember the seven-year lease rule). This should be done 21 days before the application is submitted. Conversely, if the applicant is the freeholder but the site also has lesses that have a minimum unexpired seven-year lease, then this is also not a Certificate A scenario and an alternative notice must be served, again 21 days pre-submission;
• If the applicant, be it an individual or a business, is the owner of the site but uses an alternative business or trading name, then ensure that the application form references both. So for example you could use either ‘Joe Bloggs’ trading as ‘Joe Blogs Inc’ or ‘JB Limited’ on behalf of ‘Joe Blogs Limited’.

Arrghhh Mistakes!

No process is perfect and mistakes can easily happen with the completion of the Certificates. But don’t worry, there is  generally a solution.

If you realise that a mistake has been made during the course of an application, let the case officer know as quickly as possible – it’s down to their discretion as to how this is dealt with. The worst-case scenario is that the LPA de-registers the application and you have to re-start the process entirely, serving the correct notice. Best-case is that the case officer delays determination of the application whilst you serve the appropriate notice, possibly involving a three-six week stall. If this is a Certificate B scenario then you should only be looking at a further 21 days consultation period, but this might stretch to six weeks if you have to issue Certificate C or D (21 days for the notice in the local paper, 21 days for the LPA consultation period).

Be aware that as the LPA has to publicise a new notice this may give objectors another opportunity to object to an application, although they can be a bit more circumspect in terms of how they publicise this, given that it’s only a  procedural issue.

The nightmare outcome is if an LPA determines an application that has relied upon the wrong Certificate. This would result in an invalid permission that would be at real risk of being quashed through a Judicial Review, if spotted by an aggrieved third party.

Things to remember…

• Check your site ownership as early as possible. Identify what, if anything, needs to be done in terms of tracking down and notifying other potential landowners.
• If there are any discrepancies in land ownership that the Land Registry can’t clarify, get your solicitors to investigate and explore the potential to register the land in your name.
• Formally serve a written notice on owners and other people with an interest in the site. You can’t just tell them verbally, it must be by letter or email. Provide them with a copy of the Certificate at a minimum, and offer to supply a copy of the application package. Ideally, this should be done 21 days before submission.
• If you have to rely on Certificates C or D, you must advertise for any landowners of the site via a newspaper publication for 21 days prior to submission of your application. You will need to provide the LPA with a copy of this notice and the publication, so make sure these are to hand as you assemble your submission.
• Finally – if you know you’ve made a mistake, inform your case officer asap. They’re more likely to help if you’re honest from the outset, and it saves everyone time and costs in the long-run if the application can get back on track and remain valid.

Certificates for planning applications

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• Planning and building development
• Planning applications
• Making a planning application
• Supporting information for planning applications

Certificates of ownership and agricultural holdings must be sent with all planning applications.

The information below provides further details about:

• each type of certificate
• what type of certificate should be included with your application
• how to submit them to us
• where further information can be found.

What are certificates of ownership and agricultural holdings?

There are two types of certificates that should be sent with all applications:

• applications for the approval of reserved matters
• removal or variation of conditions
• consent to work on a tree subject to a Tree Preservation Order
• advertisement consent.
• this certificate states whether or not the site includes an agricultural holding.

What certificate should I include with my application?

The type of certificate of ownership that you should include with your application will depend on your situation:

• if you are the sole owner of the property, complete Certificate A. "Sole owner" means a person with a freehold or leasehold interest which has at least seven years unexpired
• if you are not the sole owner of the property or if any part of the development goes outside land in your ownership, even if it is only the foundations or a party wall, complete Certificate B. For example, if you are making an application for works to a flat in a block or to a shop which has flats above, it is likely that you are not the sole owner and you will need to sign Certificate B and let the other owners know in writing, using the wording in Notice 1 excluding applications for householder development (PDF, 117KB)
• if you do not know the names of all of the owners of the property you will need to complete Certificate C and fill out Notice 2 excluding applications for householder development (PDF, 116KB)
• if you cannot trace any of the owners you will need to complete Certificate D and fill out Notice 2 excluding applications for householder development (PDF, 116KB)
• if your application is a householder planning application and you need to complete either Certificate B or C, you must use the Householder Development Notice (PDF, 80KB).

On all application types - sign and date section A of the agricultural holdings certificate.

How do I submit certificates?

If you apply for planning permission online using the Planning Portal , you will be given the opportunity to upload your certificates. This is after you have completed the relevant application forms.

Before uploading any files, please read our  guidance notes for submitting electronic files with planning applications (PDF) .

If you choose to submit a paper-based application instead, you will need to provide:

4 copies of the statement 4 copies of the relevant application forms.

Where can I find out further information?

For further information on preparing and submitting certificates, please contact the planning advice and information service .

Householder planning applications

Online planning, building control and licensing – 10-12 may.

Between 8:45pm, Friday 10 May and 10pm, Sunday 12 May , our online planning, building control and licensing records will be unavailable due to essential maintenance work. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Certificates and declarations

You must provide an ownership certificate for every application form.

Certificates

Certificate A is used when the applicant is the sole owner of the property. This is the most common type of certificate, and is also appropriate if a spouse or partner is named on the mortgage agreement.

The certificate must be signed by either the applicant or the agent, and then dated.

Certificate B is used when the applicant either:

• is a part-owner of the land
• is applying for works for a house they have not yet purchased
• has owned the house for fewer than 21 days

In these cases, the law requires you to let the other relevant parties – other owners or seller – know you are submitting an application.

If you would like a pre-written notice – called 'Notice under Article 11' – that you can give to the other owners, you can use the Planning Portal: household development notice .

Certificates C and D are less commonly used. They are for cases in which the applicant is not the sole owner of the property and the relevant owners cannot be identified. You should use:

• Certificate C – if you have notified some but not all of the owners
• Certificate D – if you cannot notify any of the other owners

Since you cannot serve notice on the owners directly, the Notice under Article 11 must be published in the area's local newspaper no more than 21 days before the application is submitted.

Declaration

This is needed for all applications – it certifies that the information you have submitted is accurate. Either the applicant or the agent must sign and date the declaration.

Next page: contact details and site visits .

How can we make this page easier to use?

Help: Certificate of ownership

Land ownership certificate.

Legally you have to fill in one of the land-ownership certificates as part of your application or appeal. If you do not, we will not process your application or appeal.

You must tick the box to ‘certify’ this application.

Certificate A If you are the only owner of the land or buildings to which the application relates, please fill in Certificate A. Do not use this certificate if you are not the only owner.

Certificate B If you are not the only owner of the land or buildings to which the application or appeal relates, but you know who some or all of the owners are, please fill in Certificate B. At the same time, legally you must serve a Notice 1 on the owners, which you will need to fill in. You must also send a copy of the notice with the application to the planning authority. Do not use this certificate if you do not know who all the owners are.

Certificate C If you are not the only owner of the land or buildings which the application or appeal relates to, and you do not know who all of the owners are, please fill in Certificate C. At the same time, legally you must serve a Notice 1 on the owners (which you will need to fill in) and publish Notice 2 in a local newspaper. You must also send a copy of the notices with the application to the planning authority. However, the planning authority may prefer to publish the notice on your behalf. As a result, you should contact them before filling in this certificate.

Certificate E If you do not own all of the land the application relates to and have not been able to find out who owns it, you should fill in Certificate D. If you do not know the owner, the notice needs to be published in a local newspaper. A copy of the notice must be sent with the application. However, the planning authority may prefer to publish the notice on your behalf. As a result, you should contact them before filling in this section.

• If you knowingly or recklessly make a statement within your response which is false or misleading, you may be found guilty of an offence.
• An ‘owner’ is defined as "any person who, for any part of the land, is the owner or is the lessee under a lease which has at least seven years left to run".