Ownership certificate - planning application validity

RE: Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-05-25T22:29:01Z

By now I suspect this application will have run its course and it would be interesting to know the outcome. Of course, plannning permission runs with the land not a person or company so does it matter? On a slightly different tack, I was involved in an Ombudsman case some years ago. The Complainant argued that the Council had approved an invalid application - the ownership certificate and plan had allegedly identified land that was not owned wholly by the applicant, but was partly owned (again allegedly) by the Complainant. There was a long running dispute. The Ombudsman took the view that the purpose of the Certificates was to ensure that owners of land subject to the plannning application were aware of it and could make appropriate representations. In this case the Ombudsman felt that the (alleged) owner of the land was obviously aware of the application and had indeed made objections so there was not an issue. The phrase used has stuck with me: "it is not the duty of the local planning authority to underetake a forensic examination of land ownership".

RE: Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-05-19T12:00:17Z

Have the courts recently looked at whether an LPA is, in all cases, stuck with an application that it has validated in error, do you know? The discrepancy between what is said about applications for planning permission and prior approval strikes me as odd, that's all. On the one hand it is held that an application for planning permission not accompanied by everything required by order (in this case the DMPO) is rendered valid simply because the LPA accepts it as such in error. Whilst on the other, it is held that an application for prior approval is not valid if it does not include all the information required by Order (in this case the GPDO), regardless of whether the LPA accepts it as valid in error. I can, of course see that if the LPA fails to invoke a local requirement and certifies an application as valid it should not be allowed to make the application invalid to correct its error. But could it be/has it been argued that but if the applicant didn't supply an application meeting the national requirements then there was never a valid application at all, regardless of what the LPA has said on the subject?

RE: Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-02-03T12:28:07Z

I would second Graham's advice and add that I think the courts and planning inspectors take the view that if an application has unfortunately been accepted as valid incorrectly then you're stuck with that, but they also tend to be fairly relaxed about personal owners and corporate owners (if the company is itself owned by the same person as named). But raise your concerns ASAP with your local council and see what they say.

RE: Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-02-03T11:26:28Z

If the applicant and Certificate A are different legal persons then I would say the Certificate is definitely incorrect. Whether to invalidate a running application will be up to the LPA. In my experience the approach taken to this issue varies between authorities. I think that I would raise the concerns with your LPA and proceed from there.

RE: Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-02-01T14:04:01Z

My neighbour bought the house next door at auction. He now wants to turn it into a large HMO. He submitted the planning application to the council but only gave his name. The house is actually owned by his limited company of which he is the director. The company name is on the title deeds. He filed in ownership certificate A with his name. No mention at all of the company. Is the application still valid?

Ownership certificate - planning application validity

2025-02-01T14:00:14Z

Ownership certificate - planning application validity