Lawful development certificate drawings in Lewisham
To get a lawful development certificate in Lewisham you send the council drawings that show the existing house and exactly what you propose, so it can confirm the work is lawful without a planning application. DrawingsDirect prepares them from £645, a fixed fee. Lewisham's fee is £274 for a householder proposal.
Fixed fee from £445 drawings + £200 survey (£645 total) · all prices
Prefer to talk it through?
Three routes for one extension, and where a certificate fits
A rear extension that looks permitted can be taken through three doors. A full householder planning application asks the council to grant permission. A prior approval notification applies to a larger home extension, and the council looks only at set matters such as neighbour impact. A lawful development certificate asks the council to confirm that the work is already lawful under permitted development, and it is the only one of the three that records that conclusion in a formal document.
Which suits you depends on the depth of the extension and the designations on your land. Our guides on prior approval for a larger home extension and whether you need a certificate set the routes side by side.
What Lewisham's householder figures show
Between 2025 Q3 and 2026 Q2 Lewisham decided 578 householder applications, including prior approvals, and granted 89% of them (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Excluding prior approvals, 95% of its householder decisions were made within 8 weeks.
Certificates are a separate count. In the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 Lewisham decided 722 certificates of lawful development (our analysis of table PS1). The numbers say how the council has handled its work, and nothing about the outcome of your own submission.
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) counts 30 live conservation-area entries on the national register for Lewisham.
Drawing a loft or side return for a certificate
The council can only confirm what the sheets let it measure. For a single-storey rear extension on a house that is not detached, the limit is 3 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house (GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A.1(f)(i)), so the plans must show that original wall and the depth from it. Every sheet is drawn to an identified scale, as planning practice guidance requires.
If the project is a loft or a side return, look at our loft conversion drawings in Lewisham and side return extension drawings in Lewisham. The GPDO text is on legislation.gov.uk.
When it ends in an appeal
Our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 162 householder appeals decided for Lewisham, allowed or dismissed, for decisions 2021 to 2026, and finds 30% were allowed. Put plainly, about three householder appeals in ten succeeded, and seven in ten did not.
It is a historical record of householder appeals only, so do not read it as a forecast for a certificate submission.
Conservation areas in Lewisham, and costs
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) counts 30 live conservation-area entries on the national register for Lewisham. The register may be incomplete, so use Lewisham's own conservation area map for your address, because permitted development rights are narrower in some designated areas.
Our fixed fee starts at £645; see the pricing page. The council's fee for a proposed-use certificate is half the full fee, which for a householder project is £274, half of £548, from 1 April 2026. Any amendments Lewisham asks for are redrawn free. See the main lawful development certificate drawings page for what is included.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £645 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for Lawful Development Certificate drawings and certificate submission, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| £274 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed): certificate of lawful development for a proposed use or operation is half the full application fee; for a householder project that is half of £548 (source wording: "Half the Full Application fee"; the £274 is our arithmetic) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 3 metres | GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A.1(f)(i): a single-storey rear extension may extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by up to 3 metres, house other than detached (source wording: 3 metres) | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 578 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 89% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 95% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 162 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 30% | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| 30 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 722 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| identified scale | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 023: plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and plans must show the direction of north (source wording: "must be drawn to an identified scale") | www.gov.uk |
Questions people ask
Is a lawful development certificate the same as planning permission?
How long does Lewisham take to decide?
What does the council charge for a certificate in Lewisham?
Photographs: Chris Whippet (CC BY-SA 2.0).
