Lawful development certificate · London Borough of Ealing
Lawful development certificate in Ealing, from £695 fixed
Ealing's Article 4 directions vary by estate: Bedford Park has lost the right to extend a house at all, Churchfields only the right to enlarge its roof, and the Garden Estates control windows, doors and chimneys. Whether a lawful development certificate is possible depends on your street, so we check it first.
Householder application fee, paid to your council at submission.
Plus the Planning Portal's own charge if the application goes through the Portal: up to £149 including VAT, depending on the application type, and some types have none (source).
Get this fee in writingor email hello@fixedfeeplans.co.uk
No obligation. Nothing is sent until you ask; your enquiry comes to us and nowhere else.
Fixed fee, in writing
Tell us about your project
Send the postcode and what you want to build, and add photos or old plans if you have them. We reply with the fee in writing and the payment stages set out in full.
What Ealing Council asks of a lawful development certificate
From the council's Article 4 Directions in conservation areas (council page) (adopted current page, read 25 October 2026).
- In Bedford Park, Ealing's Article 4 direction removes the rights to enlarge, improve or alter a house, to alter or add to its roof, to add a porch, and to put up outbuildings, pools or hard surfaces within the curtilage. (source, checked 25 October 2026)
- In the Brentham Garden Estate and Hanger Hill Garden Estate the directions bring replacement windows and doors, front porch alterations, new roof materials and chimney changes under control, along with garages, front boundaries and painting previously unpainted surfaces. (source, checked 25 October 2026)
- In Churchfields (Half Acre Road) the direction covers only enlargement of a house by an addition or alteration to its roof, while in the Hanger Hill (Haymills) Estate it covers front elevations, rooflights and roofing materials, front porches and side or rear outbuildings. (source, checked 25 October 2026)
- Ealing's page on certificates says a lawful development certificate can be used to be certain that a proposal does not require planning permission, or that an existing use is lawful. (source, checked 25 October 2026)
What Ealing lawful development certificate drawings have to show
In Ealing the answer depends on the estate. A rear extension in Churchfields can still be confirmed by certificate, because only roof enlargements are controlled there, but the same extension in Bedford Park cannot, because its direction removes the right to enlarge a house at all. We check the address against the conservation area maps before we decide which application to draw for.
Where a certificate is the right route, the drawings set the proposal against the permitted development limits: existing and proposed plans and elevations, the depth and height of an extension from the original rear wall, and for a loft the roof volume. Where a direction applies, the same survey feeds a householder planning application drawn to the council's SPD4 guidance instead.
Ealing: 946 householder decisions
What it costs in Ealing
- Certificate of lawfulness: from £545 drawings + £150 survey (£695 total), plus £274 to Ealing Council.
- Half the equivalent planning fee for a proposed use certificate.
Lawful development certificate across London · Ealing planning rules · every price
Answers
Ealing lawful development certificate questions
Can I get a lawful development certificate for an extension in Bedford Park, Ealing?
Do I need permission to replace windows in the Brentham Garden Estate, Ealing?
Why apply for a lawful development certificate in Ealing?
Start with £150
Your fixed fee is already on this page.
Tell us the postcode and what you want to build. We confirm the fee in writing and book the survey.