When you obtain householder planning permission for an outbuilding, that permission normally carries a three-year implementation period. This means the development must be lawfully commenced within three years of the decision date. If the works have not begun within that time, the permission expires and a fresh planning application would be required.

A Lawful Development Certificate, however, works differently. It’s important to remember that an LDC isn’t a permission, it’s an agreement that a proposed development is lawful.

The certificate simply confirms that a proposal falls within permitted development rights under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 (as amended).

As such, an LDC is only valid on the day it’s issued. If the law changes, the LDC doesn’t necessarily stand. However, unlike a planning permission the LDC provides certainty for as long as the Order hasn’t changed (which it hasn’t materially for ten years in respect to outbuildings), and for as long as no other material matters have changed.