Validation checks whether your planning application contains the required information and fee so the council can consider it. A valid application can still be refused. An invalid application usually needs missing or corrected documents before it can proceed.
This checklist covers homeowner planning applications in England. Start by confirming the application route: changing a flat, creating another dwelling and extending a house are not interchangeable submissions.
Separate national requirements from the local list
For an ordinary householder planning application, assemble the correct application form, a site identification plan, drawings that describe the proposal, the appropriate ownership certificate and any required notices, and the correct fee. Complete the form's declarations and supporting information rather than uploading drawings alone.
Article 7 of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 requires identified drawing scales and north on plans. It also sets out biodiversity gain information requirements. Householder applications are exempt from mandatory biodiversity net gain, but identify the exemption and give its reason in the application. An exemption is not a reason to leave the relevant question unanswered.
Local requirements depend on the site and proposal. Under article 34(6), information used as a local validation requirement must appear on a list published or republished in the two years before submission. It must also be reasonable for the development's nature and scale, and concern something reasonably considered material to the decision. Do not commission every report named in a council's list.
Check ownership before signing
The government's ownership certificate guidance distinguishes:
- Certificate A: sole ownership, with no agricultural tenants.
- Certificate B: other owners or agricultural tenants exist and all their names and addresses are known.
- Certificate C: some are known, but others cannot be identified after the required enquiries.
- Certificate D: none of the other owners or agricultural tenants can be identified after the required enquiries.
An owner includes a freeholder or someone with at least seven years remaining on a lease. Complete the agricultural declaration even for a residential site.
Article 13 looks at ownership and agricultural tenancy on the day 21 days before the application date. Serve the prescribed notice on known other owners and agricultural tenants. Where reasonable enquiries cannot establish everyone's details, newspaper publication is required as well. That ownership reference date is not a blanket instruction to wait 21 days after serving notice before submitting.
Article 14 requires certification that the notice requirements have been met. Keep copies and service details. A friendly conversation with a neighbour does not replace a required notice. Check joint ownership and any access land included in the application before choosing Certificate A.
Make the drawings agree
Use a location plan with the application site edged red and other nearby or adjoining land you own edged blue, following the government's plan guidance. Include all land needed for the proposal.
Then check the pack as one description of the work:
- Can someone distinguish the existing house from the proposed extension?
- Do floor plans, elevations and roof information show matching dimensions and openings?
- Are boundaries, access, relevant trees and neighbouring buildings clear?
- Where levels matter, can the reader understand the extension's height relative to the garden and neighbours?
- Does every drawing have a recognisable number, revision and scale?
These are practical coordination checks. Select drawing content and scales against the council's published guidance; a sketch labelled “not to scale” is not a substitute for a required scaled drawing.
Add reports only where the trigger applies
A Design and Access Statement is not compulsory for every house extension. Article 9 covers major development and specified development in conservation areas or World Heritage Sites, including new dwellings and buildings creating at least 100 square metres of floorspace, subject to exceptions. Listed building consent has separate statement requirements.
Heritage information is a different question. A modest extension affecting a heritage asset or its setting may need an assessment even where no Design and Access Statement is required. Check the applicable local trigger. Apply the same approach to trees, ecology, flood risk and other supporting evidence: establish what the proposal affects, then agree an appropriate scope.
Worked example: a homeowner document pack
This is a hypothetical preparation exercise, not a validated application. Assume a single-storey rear extension to one unlisted house, outside a conservation area, with a sloping garden and a neighbour's mature tree close to the proposed works. The homeowner alone owns the application land and there are no agricultural tenants.
| Pack item | What the homeowner checks |
|---|---|
| Householder form | Address, proposal description and declarations match the drawings. |
| Ownership | Certificate A is appropriate after checking the whole application boundary. |
| Location and site plans | Boundary, access, extension position and nearby tree are clearly identified. |
| Existing and proposed drawings | Floor plans, elevations and roof information describe one consistent scheme. |
| Site section | The slope, proposed floor level and relationship with adjoining land are understandable. |
| Tree evidence | The council's local trigger is checked before commissioning a survey or protection information. |
| Fee and biodiversity information | Correct fee or exemption evidence; householder biodiversity gain exemption recorded. |
| Submission index | Each document has a filename and current revision; superseded drawings are removed. |
The garden slope and tree prevent this from being a generic “form plus floor plan” submission. They do not establish that permission will be granted or refused. Keep drawing and report costs separate from council charges using our application cost guide.
Ealing and Bristol: check the live instructions
Ealing's application page links national requirements and conditional supporting information. Our check did not establish a separate current downloadable local checklist. Confirm the applicable local requirements rather than relying on an assumed Ealing PDF. See our Ealing planning guide.
Bristol's linked local list is labelled September 2024. It distinguishes report triggers and contains householder tree guidance. The month alone does not establish its exact publication or republication date for the two-year test in September 2026. Confirm the current position through Bristol's application page. See our Bristol planning guide.
If the council says something is missing
Reply against each item in the invalidity letter, identifying the replacement document or explaining why the requirement does not apply. For disputed local information requests, article 12 provides a formal validation dispute procedure. It does not waive national requirements.
A lawful development certificate has separate evidence requirements under article 39. Prior approval depends on the particular permitted development route. Do not reuse this householder pack without checking the applicable procedure. Start a property check if the route is still unclear.
Sources and review
Government guidance, statutory provisions and the council sources linked above were checked on 8 September 2026 with automated research assistance. The Ealing checklist gap and Bristol publication-date uncertainty are stated explicitly. This source check does not certify an individual application as valid.