Check the approvals, licences and risks
before you refurbish, alter or extend
your London property
Planning a flat refurbishment, house alteration, loft, basement or extension? Enter your property address to see early flags for Licence to Alter, planning permission, listed building consent, party wall matters, conservation-area limits, structural works and build-cost risks — before you call builders or commit to drawings.
Checks may flagLicence to Alter · Planning Permission · Listed Building Consent · Party Wall · Structural Works · Conservation Area
The check is free. When you need the work done, we point you at one of two independent practices — Hampstead Architecture and Planning (ARB-registered architects) for design and consent, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors (RICS-regulated · Firm Reg. 923064) for condition, party wall and leasehold matters. This is an early-stage property check, not a guarantee of consent.
WORKS START
What your property may need before works start
Enter the exact property address and we flag the approvals, licences and risks that people often miss before calling builders — from Licence to Alter and listed building consent to party wall, planning, structural and cost issues.
Licence to Alter & leasehold consent
Flat or leasehold property? We flag where freeholder consent, a Licence to Alter or lease checks may be needed before works start.
Planning permission & permitted development
Whether the works may fall under permitted development, need a planning application, or need further checks before you rely on either route.
Listed building & conservation risk
Whether the property is listed, in a conservation area, or affected by restrictions where even internal or small external changes may need consent.
Party wall & neighbour matters
Whether shared walls, boundaries, excavations or structural works may trigger party wall notices before building work can start.
Structural works & building control
Flags where removing walls, forming openings, lofts, basements or structural changes may need structural calculations or building control approval.
Nearby decisions — where to read them
What neighbours got approved or refused is not in any national feed: every borough publishes it on its own planning register. We point you at the right register rather than pretend to have scraped it.
Build-cost & feasibility risks
An early cost range and warning signs such as awkward access, basements, drainage, listed details or unusual site constraints.
Suggested next steps
Which professional the result actually calls for — an architect for design and consent, a chartered surveyor for condition, party wall or leasehold process — before you spend more.
MAY NEED
From a free property check to the right next step
Three steps, none of them paid. Check the address, read what actually applies to it, then take it to the practice that does that kind of work — architects for design and consent, chartered surveyors for condition, neighbours and leasehold process.
Check the exact address
Resolve the property to its UPRN and check it against official constraint geometry: conservation area, Article 4, listed status, plus sold prices and indicative build-cost ranges for the works you have in mind.
Run a free check →Understand what applies
Each flag is labelled with its source, its confidence and what it changes: whether permitted development survives, whether the lease or the freeholder is in the way, whether the excavation is notifiable. Where a dataset is thin, we say so rather than guess.
How the check is built →Talk to the right practice
Design, drawings and getting consent go to Hampstead Architecture and Planning (ARB-registered architects). Condition, defects, party wall notices and leasehold process go to Hampstead Chartered Surveyors (RICS-regulated · Firm Reg. 923064). Bigger jobs need both — an extension is designed and applied for by the architects while the surveyors serve the party wall notices.
Enquire with the architects →Enquire with the surveyors →Professional services, when you need them
Most problems happen because owners call builders first. The check helps you work out which professional the job really needs — an architect for the design and the application, a chartered surveyor for condition, party wall notices and leasehold process — before works begin.
Licence to Alter
Renovating a leasehold flat? Your lease may require written freeholder consent first, and the freeholder wants a drawn, specified scheme to consent to. Hampstead Architecture prepare Licence to Alter packages.
Ask the architects →Listed building consent
Own or buying a listedLegally protected building — consent needed for most changes, inside and out.Full definition → property? Internal and external changes may need listed building consent if they affect the building's character.
Read the guide →Planning permission / lawful development
Extensions, roof works, external changes or a change of use: the route may be a full application, prior approval or a lawful development certificate. Hampstead Architecture handle applications, pre-application advice and appeals.
Ask the architects →Party wall matters
Working near shared wallsA wall shared with your neighbour — legal notices required before working on or near it.Full definition →, boundaries or neighbouring structures? Notices may be needed before work starts.
Read the guide →Internal alterations & building regs
Removing walls, forming openings, lofts or basements need drawings and a building-regulations route (with a structural engineer's calculations alongside). Hampstead Architecture produce the technical package.
Ask the architects →Condition, defects & party wall
Buying, or worried about damp, movement or a neighbour's excavation? Hampstead Chartered Surveyors (RICS-regulated · Firm Reg. 923064) carry out building surveys, defect diagnosis, technical due diligence and party wall work.
Ask the surveyors →06
A property check for the decisions before works start
One page for a confirmed London property address: early flags for approvals, licences, listed/conservation risk, party wall matters, structural works and indicative build-cost range — each clearly labelled and linked to its source where available, with the borough's own planning register named for the decisions no national feed carries.
42 Pond Street
Full planningA formal application your council must approve before you build.Full definition → required — not PDWork you can do WITHOUT a full planning application.Full definition →.
Property sits inside Hampstead Conservation Area (Sub-Area 3). Permitted development rights are modified. Recent approvals on this street suggest a 3m single-storey rear in matching stock brick is within policy.
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All 33 London boroughs
Coverage across all 33 London boroughs using official constraint datasets where available. Borough pages help you understand local conservation areas, Article 4 directions, planning patterns and property-risk context — but the best starting point is still the exact property address.
Camden
Westminster
Kensington and Chelsea
Hackney
Islington
Wandsworth
Greenwich
Richmond upon Thames
Croydon
Barnet
Conservation-area and Article 4 counts: planning.data.gov.uk · Open Government Licence
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Common London property works
Different works trigger different checks. A flat refurbishment, wall removal, loft, basement, garden room or extension may need different approvals, licences, structural input or neighbour notices before work starts.
Flat refurbishment
Leasehold flat works may need freeholder consent, a Licence to Alter, building-control checks, structural input or listed-building consent before works start.
Internal alterations
Removing walls, forming openings or changing layouts may need structural calculations, building control approval, lease/freeholder checks or listed-building consent before works start.
Loft conversion
May be permitted development for some houses, but flats, conservation areas, Article 4 directions and listed buildings can change the route.
Rear extension
May fall under permitted development for some houses, but conservation areas, flats, listed buildings and design constraints may require a full application.
Basement dig
Often needs planning, structural design, drainage checks, party wall notices and careful feasibility review.
Garden room
May be permitted development if limits are met, but use, height, location, services, listed status and conservation constraints can change the route.
All project guides — permitted-development limits, costs and approval odds →
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What neighbours got approved — or refused
Recent decisions on streets like yours are the best available guide to what a council will actually accept. There is no reliable national feed of them: every London borough publishes decisions on its own public planning register, in its own format. Reading that register for a specific address is manual work — and it is work both practices do as a matter of course.
- Hampstead Architecture read the register when they build the planning case: which rear-extension depths, roof forms and materials this officer team has approved on comparable properties, and what drew a refusal.
- Hampstead Chartered Surveyors read it on due-diligence and party wall jobs: whether a neighbour already has consent to excavate, what has been refused next door, and what that means for the property you are buying or living beside.
- Either way it is judgement, not a lookup — which of those decisions is genuinely comparable to your property is the part that takes a professional.
Nearby decisions are context, never a prediction: a neighbour's approval does not bind your council, and where there are no comparable decisions nearby the honest answer is to say so. This free check does not scrape the registers — the borough pages tell you which register to search and link to it.
COUNCIL PUBLIC REGISTERS · NO AUTOMATED FEED, NO PLACEHOLDER DATA
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Methodology & confidence
Planning Permission Checker is deterministic, not chatbot-first. A rules engine checks official datasets against the property's UPRNThe unique official ID number for your property.Full definition →. The language model only turns the results into a plain-English summary. It does not invent a constraint, price or approval.
Every claim carries a confidence tier. Where the data is thin or missing, we say so — and where the next step needs professional judgement, we hand you to a named regulated practice rather than a chatbot: Hampstead Architecture for design and consent, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors for condition, party wall and leasehold matters.
Structured data present, matched to UPRN
Your property sits inside (or outside) the authoritative dataset boundary. Cited to planning.data.gov.uk or Historic England. Good enough for early feasibility — verify before drawings, purchase, submission or works.
Partial coverage — directional, not definitive
The dataset is incomplete for this borough, or the boundary is approximate. Use for exploration; verify before submission. We flag this every time.
Borough-specific manual review needed
Listed-building points, basement impact zones, TPO extents — these need a human checking the council register. We'll tell you what to look for.
Resolve to UPRN
OS Places API turns your typed address into a canonical UPRN and coordinate pair — the same identifier every dataset uses.
Run structured queries
UPRN and point queries against planning.data.gov.uk, EPC and Land Registry. Results are typed, sourced, and timestamped.
Score & classify
Each constraint is scored by coverage quality, and build costs come out as low / expected / high bands from calibrated per-square-metre tables — never a single number.
Write & cite
The LLM drafts the plain-English summary and the likely route. Every paragraph carries its source link. You can always click through.
TRUST IT
Why you can trust it
The check runs on official datasets, and the guidance around it is reviewed by a chartered surveyor. It is a clear first step before you spend money — not a substitute for formal professional advice, which is why the site's only next step is a named practice rather than a product.
Reviewed by a chartered surveyor
The guidance is reviewed for accuracy by Savas Bulduk MRICS, Director of Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy (RICS-regulated · Firm Reg. 923064). Written by Planning Permission Checker Editorial, reviewed by a chartered surveyor before publication.
Nothing to sell you
The check is free and there is no report to buy, so nothing in the result is tilted towards an upsell. When work is genuinely needed we name the practice that does it — and we publish no fees for either, because their fees are theirs to quote.
London residential knowledge
London property works are shaped by borough rules, conservation areas, leasehold controls, neighbouring properties and local planning patterns — not generic national advice.
Transparent methodology
Every figure is labelled, every confidence level is shown, and where data runs out we say so. See the methodology →
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Two practices, two different jobs
The check itself is free and there is nothing to buy. What most people actually need next is a professional — and the mistake is calling the wrong one. Design, drawings and getting consent are an architect's work. Condition, defects, party wall notices and leasehold process are a chartered surveyor's. A rear extension typically needs both: the architects design it and apply for it, the surveyors serve the party wall notices on the neighbours.
Who to talk to next
Both practices work from the same building on Finchley Road, and both take enquiries directly — there is no form on this page and no middleman.
The architect's door: designing the scheme and getting it consented — drawings, the planning application and the building-regulations package.
- Residential design for extensions, lofts, basements and conversions
- Planning applications, pre-application advice and appeals
- Lawful development certificates
- Building-regulations and technical design drawings
- Conservation-area design and listed building consent applications
The chartered-surveyor door: professional judgement on condition, risk, party wall matters and leasehold process.
- Building surveys, RICS home surveys and defect diagnosis
- Party wall matters and awards
- Technical due diligence before a purchase
- Leasehold and major-works advisory (Section 20)
- Dilapidations and building pathology
Both practices are independent and separately regulated — Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy is an RICS-regulated firm (Firm Reg. 923064); Hampstead Architecture and Planning are ARB-registered architects. We publish no fees for their work: each quotes directly for the job in front of them. Your enquiry goes to the practice you choose — we never pass your details to builders or other third parties.
Or start from what you're planning
Pick the line that matches your situation and you go straight to the practice that does that work.
PLANNING PERMISSION CHECKER IS A FREE TOOL. IT IS NOT A SURVEYING OR ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE, CARRIES NO REGULATORY REGISTRATION OF ITS OWN, AND EARNS NOTHING FROM YOUR CHECK. THE REGULATED WORK IS DONE BY THE TWO INDEPENDENT PRACTICES NAMED ABOVE.
Common questions
Is this formal planning advice?
Does it cost anything?
Where does the data come from?
How accurate are the build-cost ranges?
Which London boroughs do you cover?
Is this just ChatGPT with a planning prompt?
How is this different from a £10 AI planning report?
Do you sell my data?
Should I call a builder first?
Check the property before you commit.
An early-stage feasibility and risk-screening tool. This free check is based on available planning and property data, with the guidance reviewed for accuracy by a chartered surveyor. It is not a planning decision, not a valuation and not a guarantee of consent, and Planning Permission Checker is not itself a surveying or architectural practice. Depending on the property, formal advice may be needed from an architect, chartered surveyor, solicitor, structural engineer, party wall surveyor or other specialist — enquiries from this site go directly to Hampstead Architecture and Planning or Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy, and your data is not passed to builders or other third parties without your consent.