Apply for a Lawful Development Certificate

Use this service to confirm that changes you have made or want to make to a property are lawful and do not need planning permission. 

Before you start

You will need:

  • A desktop or laptop computer. Some parts of the service may be more difficult to use on mobile devices or tablets. Do not use a shared computer.
  • Plans and drawings to support your application in PDF, JPG or PNG format. The service will tell you what documents you need
  • A credit or debit card to pay any planning fee.

Plans and drawings 

For most projects, we cannot process your application without drawings. We need these to fully understand and assess your project. Your application is likely to be delayed if you do not provide them.

Photographs alone are very unlikely to be enough to assess your application.

Each drawing should:

  • Be drawn to scale. Usually 1:100 or 1:50 at A3 or A4 size.
  • Show a linear scale bar.
  • Show a unique drawing reference number.
  • Show the direction of North (if it is a plan).
  • Show a clear label, for example ‘existing roof plan’.
  • Be provided in PDF, JPG or PNG format only.

If you need help to prepare drawings, you may need to speak to an architect or architectural designer.

Things to note

You will be able to save and return to your application at any time.

Some projects are not included in this service yet. 

This includes:

  • large scale projects
  • applications about breaching a planning condition
  • applications for properties without a postcode or address
  • applications affecting multiple properties
  • dropped kerbs
  • some mixed use projects (such as a conversion from use as one purpose into several new purposes) 
  • change of uses from office to residential

If you want to apply for any of these type of projects please use the Planning Portal.

If you are unsure whether you can use this service, you can contact us.

If your application contains sensitive information or special category data, we recommend that you contact us before submitting your application.

Only you will be able to see your application. At the moment, you cannot give access to a third party, for example inviting someone to complete the application or pay the fee. 

Start your application

Find out more about Lambeth’s innovative digital planning services, and ways you can get involved, on our project page.

Help us improve this service

This service is in development, so you may encounter bugs and issues. We really appreciate any feedback you can give us. This is fed back directly to the team developing this service.

Use the feedback button 

We welcome all feedback - positive and negative.  Use the feedback button (found at the top and bottom of each page) to record comments or report issues as you go along. 

Complete our surveys

After you have sent your application we will invite you to complete a short survey sharing your thoughts. You will also be invited to participate in a short research interview, if you can spare the time. 

For more information, contact us at digitalplanning@lambeth.gov.uk.