Appealing a refused planning application in London
A refused householder application can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate for up to 12 weeks from the date on the decision letter. If an enforcement notice reached you before the refusal, you have only 28 days. Check the date on your letter first, because the clock runs from it, not from the day you read it.
Prefer to talk it through?
Check the date on the decision letter
The deadline for a householder appeal is 12 weeks from the date printed on the decision letter, as GOV.UK explains. Count from that date even if the letter arrived days later.
One exception catches people out. If the council served an enforcement notice before it refused the application, the appeal window shrinks to 28 days from the date on the decision letter. If you have an enforcement notice anywhere in the picture, read our planning enforcement guide before doing anything else.
Appeal, amend or reapply
A refusal gives you three realistic routes. You can appeal the decision as it stands, you can amend the design and submit a new application, or you can do both at once if the deadline is close. The right choice depends on why the council refused.
Read the reasons for refusal line by line. If the council objected to something the drawings can fix, such as a height, a depth or a window position, a revised application can be the faster route. If you think the council applied the policy wrongly to a scheme that is already sound, an appeal puts that argument in front of an independent inspector.
Either way, the drawings carry the case. Our planning drawings service covers revised plans, elevations and sections prepared against the refusal reasons.
Across the 33 London councils, 7,337 householder appeals were decided between 2021 and 2026, and 40% of them were allowed (our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database, released 1 Oct 2026).
What the London appeal record shows
Across the 33 London councils, 7,337 householder appeals were decided between 2021 and 2026, and 40% of them were allowed (our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database, released 1 Oct 2026). Counting every type of appeal, not only householder ones, 33% were allowed.
Those are past results across the whole capital. They do not forecast your site, and each appeal turns on its own facts, its own policies and its own neighbours. Their use is narrower: they show that a refusal is not always the last word.
What to put in front of the inspector
An appeal is judged largely on the documents. The inspector sees the plans the council refused, the officer report and your written statement, so the plans must be accurate and match the description of the development.
If the original drawings contained errors, or measurements the council questioned, a fresh measured building survey can settle the point. Keep the grounds of appeal tied to the reasons for refusal, and leave out new design changes: an appeal tests the scheme that was refused, so a changed scheme belongs in a new application.
Timing the next application
A council has 8 weeks to decide an application that is not major development, counted from the day after it receives a valid application (DMPO 2015, article 34). Our guide to how long planning permission takes explains how that period can be extended by agreement.
If you are weighing a new application against an appeal, the step-by-step guide to getting planning permission in London shows where each route fits in the process.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 12 weeks | GOV.UK, Appeal a householder planning decision: you can appeal up to 12 weeks from the date on the decision letter (source wording: "you can appeal for up to 12 weeks from the date on the decision letter") | www.gov.uk |
| 28 days | GOV.UK, Appeal a householder planning decision: if an enforcement notice was received before the application was refused, the appeal deadline is 28 days (source wording: "you have 28 days from the date on your decision letter to appeal") | www.gov.uk |
| 7,337 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 40% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 33% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 8 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(b): decision period for an application that is not major development (source wording: "8 weeks beginning with the day immediately following that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |