Planning searches in conveyancing — what an €85 search covers, and what it cannot see

Between contract and closing, a purchaser's solicitor orders a planning search. It is a line on the outlay schedule — about €85 at the business rate for Dublin City and County from a law searcher, somewhat more when itemised to a client — and it is the document on which the solicitor's advice about the planning status of the property rests. It is also narrower than most buyers assume. This guide explains what the search is, what the certificate of compliance adds, and what neither shows about the days and weeks around completion.

The register the search reads

Section 7 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires every planning authority to keep a register of the land in its area, recording applications and decisions, conditions, enforcement notices, s.5 declarations, protected structures and a good deal else. The register is public and free to inspect. A planning search is a law searcher's report of what the register holds against a property — in Dublin, back to 1 October 1964, when the first Planning Act came into force, which is why "since 1964" is the conveyancing shorthand for "every alteration that ever needed permission".

A search from a Dublin law searcher typically lists, for the address and folio:

• every planning application, with reference, date, description and decision;
• conditions attached to grants, where the searcher has retrieved the decision;
• enforcement notices and warning letters on the register;
• s.5 declarations on whether works were exempt;
• whether the property is a protected structure or in an Architectural Conservation Area;
• for newer estates, the parent permission and its conditions, including any condition removing exempted-development rights.

The Law Society's Conveyancing Committee practice note is candid that "there are no current guidelines setting out what a planning search should cover", that registers "vary widely" — some still handwritten — and that results differ by searcher and by council. Two searches on the same house can come back different.

What the certificate of compliance adds

The search shows what was permitted. It does not show what was built. For that, the vendor supplies an architect's or engineer's opinion (often called a certificate) of compliance: a professional statement that the works on the ground comply with the permission and its conditions, or that they were exempted development. For works since March 2014 the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations add a second layer — the BCMS record, with the Commencement Notice, the assigned certifier's undertaking and the Certificate of Compliance on Completion — which the search does not retrieve either.

Where the vendor cannot produce an opinion for an alteration, the transaction slows: a retention application before sale, a statutory declaration that the works are older than seven years and enforcement is statute-barred, or a price adjustment. The retention guide covers those routes.

What the search cannot see

Three things are outside the search's frame because they are outside the council's register, or because they happen after the searcher's visit.

A live appeal. A permission the purchaser is relying on — for a rear extension, or for the estate's parent scheme — may be under appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The appeal sits on the Commission's file, not the council's register, and the council's entry says "decision" until the Commission's decision is returned. A grant on appeal can carry different conditions; a refusal on appeal removes the permission entirely.

An open window next door. The search is about the property; the buyer's question is often about the field behind it. An application within 100 m that is inside its five-week observation window on the day of closing is an opportunity the purchaser inherits and, if nobody tells them, loses.

A commencement notice. Whether a permission has been acted on — the question for the five-year expiry, and for whether the site behind the house is about to become a building site — is on the Building Control Management System, not the planning register.

And, since July 2026, the Class 3A notification. A garden dwelling built under the new exemption is lawful only if the council was notified 14 days before works began. The notification is not a register entry; the purchaser's solicitor has to ask the vendor for the acknowledgement.

What PlanSight does and does not replace

It is worth being direct. Our address report assembles the live layer — applications, decisions, appeals and commencements within a radius, each with its deadline and its source link — and it informs the search. It is not a statutory planning search: it does not read the paper register, it does not carry a law searcher's bond, and the Law Society's guidance governs what a solicitor must obtain. Order the search; use the report to know what to ask about before you close.

A checklist for the buyer's side

1. Order the planning search against the address and the folio, and read the conditions on any grant, not just the decision.
2. Get the opinion of compliance for every alteration since 1964 — extensions, attic conversions, garden buildings, changes of use.
3. For works since 2014, get the BCMS documents: Commencement Notice and Certificate of Compliance on Completion, or confirmation that the works were outside the certification regime.
4. Check the parent permission on an estate for conditions removing exempted-development rights — they turn a lawful 30 m² garden room into unauthorised development.
5. Check the surroundings: live applications and open windows within a few hundred metres, appeals against nearby grants, commencement notices on adjacent sites, the RZLT map and the zoning of the land behind the house.
6. Ask about anything built since July 2026 in the garden and for the Class 3A notification acknowledgement if it is a dwelling.

Frequently asked questions

What does a planning search show?

The entries on the council's planning register against the property since 1964: applications, decisions and conditions, enforcement notices, s.5 declarations, and protected-structure or conservation-area status. It does not show what was actually built, whether an appeal is live, or commencement notices.

How much is a planning search in Ireland?

Law searchers publish about €85 for Dublin City and County at the business rate; as an outlay on a purchase it is usually shown at €90 to a few hundred euro depending on what is bundled.

What is a certificate of compliance with planning?

An architect's or engineer's opinion that the works on the property comply with the planning permission and its conditions, or were exempted development. Vendors supply it; purchasers' solicitors and lenders require it.

Do I need a planning search for an apartment?

Yes. The search is against the development's parent permission and any subsequent applications; the management company's compliance documents cover the block.

Can PlanSight replace the planning search?

No. It informs the search — it shows what is live and moving around the address — but a statutory planning search from a law searcher remains what the Law Society's guidance requires.