A Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) is a legal document stating the lawfulness of past, present or future building use, operations, or other matters. If granted by the Local Planning Authority (LPA), the certificate signifies that enforcement action cannot be carried out against the development referred to in the certificate. However, the certificate will not protect from enforcement action by the planning authority if the specified use is then changed ‘materially’ without a planning application for it.

A successful application for an LDC is not a replacement for planning permission. Planning permission must still be acquired separately for any development or use which is not covered by an LDC.

An application for a Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) should be used to establish whether

• An existing use of land, or some operational development, or some activity in breach of a planning condition, is lawful. 

• A proposed use of buildings or other land, or some operations proposed to be carried out in, on, over, or under land, would be lawful.

The use of a land is deemed lawful if:

• No enforcement action can be taken against the changes, whether this is a result of not requiring planning permission or because the time for enforcement has expired.
• The requirements of any current enforcement notice are not being violated.

Examples of when an application for an LDC should be made:

• If there is a question as to whether a proposal for permitted development is legal.
• When planning enforcement action is taken by the Local Planning Authority and the owner believes it is immune from action because the time limit for taking enforcement action has passed.
• When an owner discovers, during a sale of the land, that planning permission has never been granted, and needs to show a prospective purchaser that no enforcement action can be taken by the LPA.

An application for an LDC is also sometimes used in cases involving intensification of use where the precise nature of the existing use is difficult to describe, such as:

• Secondary uses
• Mixed uses
• Intensification
• Sub-division of the planning unit