How long does a Certificate of Lawfulness take?

Submitted a Certificate of Lawfulness application for an existing rear extension 8 weeks ago. The council acknowledged receipt but since then — silence.

I know the statutory deadline is 8 weeks for a CLU, but I've heard some councils just ignore that. What happens if they don't decide in time? Can I just assume it's lawful and move on, or do I need to chase them?

Also, is there any point escalating before the 8 weeks is actually up? Don't want to annoy the case officer if it's still within time.

If they don't decide within 8 weeks, you can technically appeal on the grounds of non-determination. But honestly, most people just chase the case officer first. A polite email asking for an update usually gets things moving.

The risk of assuming it's lawful is that if they later decide it isn't, you're in a much worse position than if you'd waited.

We had a CLU take 14 weeks. I emailed the case officer at week 9 and they admitted they'd lost the file in their system. Got it approved 2 days later.

My advice: chase at week 9. By then you're past the deadline and they can't really complain about you being impatient.

There's also the option of a Certificate of Existing Lawful Use (CELU) rather than a CLU, depending on how long the extension has been there. If it's been there 4+ years, a CELU is stronger because the enforcement period has expired.

Just to clarify — the 8 week deadline is for the council to issue a decision OR a request for further information. If they ask for more info, the clock stops until you provide it.

We had a CLU that took 11 weeks because they asked for extra photos half way through. Wasn't a big deal but worth bearing in mind.