Having an application submitted costs £195 with us, for portal submission and agent service through to the decision. The council's £548 householder fee is separate and paid to the council.
On this page
Submitting is the easy part. The service is the work after it: validation queries, officer questions and the decision notice, handled so you do not have to translate planning language.
What does the agent handle?
The submission itself, the council's first check that the application is valid, and any request for more information. A valid application needs the form, the national information requirements, the correct fee and any local requirements (MHCLG). Until it is valid, the clock does not start.
After validation come officer queries: a dimension, a neighbour's comment, a request to move a window. We answer them and tell you what each means for your design.
How long does a decision take?
Eight weeks is the standard period for householder decisions. Across London, 15,451 of 16,549 householder decisions (prior approvals excluded) from July 2025 to June 2026 were made within eight weeks, and 20,556 of 23,967 were granted (MHCLG live table PS2). These are London-wide counts, not a forecast for your borough.
What stays with you?
You pay the council fee, you sign the declarations, and you decide whether to accept changes an officer suggests. We do not promise an outcome. If the pack is not yet prepared, the application pack comes first, and the full set of sheets is in our planning drawings post.
Frequently asked questions
Is submission included in the full planning service? Yes, in the £645 drawings + £150 survey (£795 total) service.
What if the council refuses? The council fee is not refunded. We talk through a revised scheme or the appeal route.
Do I need an agent at all? No. Anyone can apply. The agent handles the correspondence.
Do you deal with conditions afterwards? That is a separate service, covered in our conditions post.
If the application goes through the Planning Portal, the Portal adds its own service charge: nothing, £99 or £149 including VAT, depending on the application type and complexity, paid to the Portal at submission and not normally refunded with a council fee (Ashford Borough Council, Planning Portal service charges, 11 September 2026). It is not ours and not the council's. Other submission routes exist; where your council accepts one without a charge, we can use it.
