Can a planning permission be revoked once work has started?

Can a planning permission be revoked once work has started?

Get a planning permission in principle, allows the beneficiary to go ahead with their project. However, the start of works does not necessarily mean that the authorisation is definitively beyond any further challenge.

In certain situations, the local authority may decide to withdraw a planning permission, even where work has already begun.

However, this option remains strictly regulated. The authorities cannot simply revoke a licence that they have themselves granted: they must comply with specific conditions, particularly regarding time limits.

The start of the works does not prevent the withdrawal of the planning permission

A planning permission is a administrative decision conferring rights. The beneficiary therefore, in principle, has the right to carry out the authorised works.

However, the article L. 424-5 of the Town and Country Planning Code allows the authorities to revoke a planning permission where two conditions are met: it must be illegal and it must be withdrawn within three months from the date of the decision.

In particular, a planning permission may be regarded as unlawful where the authorised project contravenes the rules of the Local Development Plan or certain provisions of the Planning Code.

The fact that work has since begun does not prevent the withdrawal.

A property owner may therefore have already commissioned the earthworks, the foundations or even a more advanced stage of the building work and still receive a notice of withdrawal, provided that the legal conditions are met.

There is a risk, in particular, when the works are carried out before the withdrawal period has expired.

However, once the three-month period has expired, the local authority cannot, in principle, revoke the licence itself, even if it subsequently discovers an irregularity.

In exceptional cases, fraud may allow a withdrawal after more than three months

There is one important exception where the planning permission has been obtained by fraud.

These may include, in particular, deliberately false statements or manoeuvres designed to conceal certain key aspects of the project from the authorities.

In this situation, the beneficiary cannot rely on the protection normally attached to an authorisation that creates rights.

The licence may then be withdrawn even after the three-month period has expired and even though work has already begun.

However, fraud cannot simply be presumed. It requires a finding of an intention to deceive the authorities.

Furthermore, before proceeding with the withdrawal, the administration must comply with a adversarial procedure, allowing the licence holder to submit their comments.

What happens to the building works when the planning permission is withdrawn?

The consequences of a withdrawal can be particularly significant when work has already begun.

In fact, the withdrawal means to revoke the planning permission with retroactive effect : legally speaking, the authorisation is deemed never to have existed.

Continuing the building work after the notice has been withdrawn therefore leaves the owner at risk of carrying out work without authorisation.

Depending on the situation, it may be necessary to suspend the work and consider a adjustment, in particular by submitting a new application for a licence that takes into account the reasons for the withdrawal.

It is also possible to to challenge the decision to withdraw the licence before the administrative court where it appears to be irregular, for example because the three-month time limit was not met or because the original permit was not unlawful.

Finally, administrative withdrawal must be distinguished from the an appeal lodged by a third party against the planning permission. Neighbours or other third parties with an interest in the matter generally have two months from the first day of a continuous two-month period during which the planning permission notice is displayed on the site to bring the matter before the administrative court.

Thus, Simply starting the work is not enough to make a final planning permission. Before incurring significant expenditure, it may be worth checking that the various time limits which could call the authorisation into question have expired.