A historic development or change of use of a building or land without the necessary planning consent (planning breach) may be lawful, however you may receive a planning enforcement notice from the Local Authority.
If the planning breach has occurred long enough ago and you have sufficient evidence to prove the change of use, you may be able to submit a certificate of lawful existing use or development (CLEUD), to stop the enforcement action. This is a factual based planning application and will only be successful if the evidence demonstrates that on the balance of probability the change took place for the required period of time, varying between 4-10 years depending on the nature of the breach.
Assetsphere Ltd has successfully supported numerous landowners with CLEUD applications and mediated successful outcomes with numerous Local Planning authorities.