What each bill covers
The council's bill is the smaller one. For a certificate covering proposed work to a house, the fee is half the normal planning fee, which is £274 for a householder scheme. If the work is to a listed building, the same table shows no fee.
Our bill is for the evidence an officer needs to say yes: a measured survey, existing and proposed plans and elevations, and a statement showing the scheme meets each limit of the permitted development class. From £775 inc survey, that is a fixed figure.
What a certificate actually gives you
Permitted development is your right under the Order; a certificate is the council confirming it in writing. Nothing forces you to apply. The owner who does is usually thinking ahead to a sale, when a buyer's solicitor may ask whether the extension, the loft or the outbuilding was lawfully built.
The council has a legal target of eight weeks to decide a certificate application, so you know early whether the scheme stands.
Where permitted development stops
Check the limits before you spend. Householder rights do not apply to flats or to buildings containing flats. A single-storey rear extension is limited to 3 or 4 metres in depth and four metres in height, a side extension to half the width of the original house, and eaves near the boundary to three metres.
Conservation areas and other article 2(3) land lose the right to side extensions, cladding and rear extensions of more than one storey. The government's technical guidance is dated 2019 and the Order has been amended since, so we work from the Order, not the leaflet.
How it compares with planning permission
If a scheme sits inside the limits, a certificate costs less than an application and tests only whether the work is lawful, not whether the design is good. If it sits outside, we tell you in the free check and draw for planning permission instead.
Some work needs neither. We say so when that is true, rather than sell you a document you do not need.
Getting started
Send the address and the work you plan. See our page on permitted development and Lawful Development Certificates for the sheets we produce.
The figures, with sources
£274
Council charge for a certificate covering proposed householder work: half the planning fee.
Source: Ribble Valley Borough Council, national fee table from 1 April 2026, checked 17 Oct 2026
£0
Council charge for a certificate for proposed works to a listed building.
Source: Ribble Valley Borough Council, national fee table from 1 April 2026, checked 17 Oct 2026
8 weeks
Period within which the council must decide a certificate application.
Source: Development Management Procedure Order 2015, article 39, checked 15 Oct 2026
3 m / 4 m
Depth limits for a single-storey rear extension as permitted development, attached and detached.
Source: General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A, checked 15 Oct 2026
Half
Widest a single-storey side extension may be, relative to the original house.
Source: General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A.1(j), checked 15 Oct 2026
Art. 2(1)
Flats and buildings containing flats are outside householder permitted development.
Source: General Permitted Development Order 2015, article 2, checked 15 Oct 2026
Sept 2019
Date of the government's householder technical guidance, older than later changes to the Order.
Source: MHCLG, Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance, checked 15 Oct 2026
Questions
Is a Lawful Development Certificate the same as planning permission?
No. Permission allows work the rules would otherwise stop. A certificate confirms that the work needs no permission because it falls inside the permitted development limits.
Do I have to get one?
No, but it is the paper a buyer's solicitor may ask for. Getting it before you build avoids arguing the point after.
What if the council refuses the certificate?
We tell you in the free check if the scheme looks outside the limits, so a refusal is unlikely. If one comes, we redraw free and can take you to planning permission.
Does the survey have to be done by you?
No. If you supply accurate measured drawings the price falls by the survey fee, and we check them on site first.
The fee for permitted development drawings and lawful development certificate
Permitted development drawings and Lawful Development Certificate
from £775
inc survey (£575 if you supply measured drawings). No VAT to add.
Get a fixed quote from £775What you get
- Our survey of the property, done on site and included
- Existing and proposed plans and elevations
- A statement showing the work meets each class limit
- The application made to the council for you
- Redraws at no charge if the officer asks
