A planning enforcement notice is a formal legal notice issued by a local authority under the Planning and Development Act 2000 requiring a property owner or occupier to take specific steps to remedy an unauthorised development, such as stopping works, altering a structure, or removing it entirely. Failing to comply with an enforcement notice is a criminal offence and can lead to prosecution.
An enforcement notice is a statutory instrument that a planning authority can issue once it has established, usually following a warning letter and investigation, that unauthorised development has taken place. It sets out the specific steps required to remedy the breach, which might include ceasing an unauthorised use, altering a structure to comply with an existing permission, removing an unauthorised structure altogether, or restoring land to its condition before the unauthorised works.
The notice will specify a period within which the required steps must be carried out, and it is served on the owner and/or occupier of the land, as well as, where relevant, any other person carrying out the development. An enforcement notice is a serious legal document; it is not merely advisory, and ignoring it or failing to comply within the specified period is an offence under the Planning and Development Act 2000, which can result in prosecution in the District Court, fines, and orders requiring compliance.
Receiving an enforcement notice does not necessarily mean the end of the road for a development. In many cases the notice will allow the option of applying for retention permission as an alternative to carrying out the specified remedial works, giving the owner a chance to have the development formally assessed and potentially permitted. If retention is refused, the requirement to comply with the enforcement notice generally resumes.