HomeownersEstate AgentsSolicitorsPlanning ConsultantsArchitectsBuying AgentsMore samplesGuidesGet your report →
Back to Planning Decoder
For homeowners

You're about to commit.
The record might say something different.

Know what's in the planning history before you buy, build or appeal. What the seller knows. What standard searches miss. Found and documented in 48 hours.

When to commission a report

Three moments when the record
is working against you.

01
Before you make an offer
Sellers are not always forthcoming about planning history. A withdrawn Certificate of Lawfulness, an unresolved enforcement notice, a title restriction from 1982 — these things affect value and your ability to develop the property. We find them before you commit. From £149.
02
Before you submit a planning application
What did the LPA refuse for your neighbours? What comparable decisions tell you about how to frame your application? We sweep the postcode cluster — 1,000+ records — so your application is informed by what has and hasn't worked nearby. Before you spend money on an architect.
03
Before you appeal a refusal
An appeal is not just about your case — it is about what the inspector finds in the wider context. Comparable approvals nearby are grounds for a successful appeal. We find them and document them before your appeal is filed.
Real case · North Wales AONB · all findings genuine · anonymised

The seller knew for 18 years.
Found in under 24 hours.

This is what the record contained. This is what standard searches missed.

Pre-purchase report · Denbighshire · £249 · under 24 hoursReal outcome
Why standard searches missed it: Denbighshire runs on a portal that blocks all automated access. Our proprietary systems queried it directly, retrieving the full postcode cluster history in minutes.

Found: A Certificate of Lawfulness withdrawal from 2007. The property's lawful dwelling status had never been confirmed. The seller had known for 18 years. Invisible to every standard search.

Also found: A 1949 National Trust covenant and a 1982 Secretary of State restriction — in the Land Registry title only. Neither on any planning portal. Both material to the purchase decision.

Outcome: Transaction renegotiated before exchange. The buyer had documented evidence. Report cost £249. Delivered in under 24 hours.

Total cost: £249 · Turnaround: under 24 hours · Information the seller had for 18 years — found before you committed.

What we find for you

Everything the standard search
is not designed to surface.

The information that levels the playing field

Withdrawn applications, unresolved enforcement notices, Land Registry title constraints, comparable decisions in your postcode cluster — retrieved from live portals using proprietary systems that standard searches cannot reach. We sweep more than 1,000 planning records in a single extraction and extract the intelligence that matters for your specific property.

No payment upfront. We confirm exactly what we'll cover, the cost, and the turnaround before you commit. From £149. Professional PDF report. 48 hours.

What we extract

Behind the portal.
Across the neighbourhood.

We don't stop at what the portal returns. We reach back into legacy systems, committee archives, title registers and enforcement records — and map the full planning landscape around the site.

🔐

Portal bypass tooling

Proprietary systems that query live portals directly — including those with DNS-level blocks, JS-rendered systems, and session-based access controls that defeat every standard tool.

📊

Full cluster & neighbourhood

Every application in the postcode cluster — approved, refused and withdrawn. Comparable precedent identified, officer wording extracted, patterns mapped across decades.

📁

Committee PDF archives

Officer reports, committee meeting minutes, vote records, conditions in full. The arguments that worked and the ones that did not. Never in a standard search.

📋

Land Registry title analysis

Full title — covenants, restrictive conditions, access rights, registered charges. The constraints portals never show but that materially affect every case.

⚠️

Enforcement records

Live enforcement notices, planning contravention notices, stop notices. Pre-merger authority records. History that portals do not always surface but that materially affects every case.

Strategic direction

We read the data and tell you what it means. Where the LPA has consistently refused and why. What the comparable consents say about a viable route. Ranked and delivered.

Get your property report

Tell us the postcode.
We'll tell you what we find.

No payment upfront. We scope the report first — what we'll cover, the cost, the turnaround. You decide.

Postcode of the property you need intelligence on.
Not required — but if you know the property name or address, telling us here means we investigate the right building first time.
The more context, the better we can scope the work.

Intelligence reports produced by Sierra21 Software Studio — the team behind Planning Decoder. Proprietary extraction systems that query planning portals at a depth standard searches cannot reach.