What sale-agreed buyers should check on the planning register before contracts are signed

On 12 September 2026, 348 planning applications across the seven Greater Dublin councils are inside their five-week observation window, out of 11,409 received in the last 12 months. Any one of them might be the site behind the house you have just gone sale agreed on. Between sale agreed and contracts you have four to eight weeks, and the register can be read in an evening. These are the nine checks, in the order that catches the expensive problems first.

1. The house's own history

Search the address and read every entry back to 1964. You are looking for three things: a permission for what is there, a retention application (which means something was built without one), and a permission that was granted and never built. The certificate of compliance the vendor's architect produces will name the permission it relies on; check that the reference matches the register and that the drawings on the council's file show the house you walked through.

A grant with conditions still to be complied with — a development contribution unpaid, a landscaping scheme never submitted — passes to you. The council's file shows compliance submissions as separate entries.

2. The neighbours' live applications

This is the check the law searcher's report cannot do, because it is a search of one address. Draw a circle. Every application within 100 m that is still open, and every one decided in the last four weeks, is a change to the house's outlook or value that you can still act on. Inside the five-week window you can make an observation for €20 under article 29 of the 2001 Regulations; after it, only the applicant and those who made a submission can appeal.

Our reading: a vendor who has not mentioned the 40-unit scheme behind the garden has usually not read the notice either. Check the site notices on the walk from the car as well as the register.

3. Appeals and the eight-week judicial review clock

A decision on the register is not the end. For four weeks after it, the applicant or anyone who made a submission can appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála (formerly An Bord Pleanála) for €220, and an appeal takes four months at the median in the cases we hold. For eight weeks after the final decision, section 50 of the 2000 Act allows a judicial review. The deadlines page lists every decision in the area still inside those windows.

4. Commencement notices

A permission granted five years ago that was never commenced has expired under section 40. One commenced last month, with a notice on the Building Control Management System, is a building site next door for the next two years. Our commencements layer matches BCMS notices to permissions for the four Dublin councils; the four councils together posted 3,381 notices in the last 12 months.

5. The seven-year rule

Section 157 of the 2000 Act bars enforcement action more than seven years after the unauthorised works were carried out. It does not make the works lawful, and a buyer's solicitor will still ask for the compliance opinion; it does mean the council will not serve a notice. For works older than seven years the practical route is the exemption opinion or a retention application, and the retention guide sets out the odds.

6. RZLT, flood, conservation

Three flags, each with its own guide. Residential Zoned Land Tax rarely touches a house — a dwelling liable to LPT is excluded — but a large garden or an adjoining plot on the same folio can be on the map, at 3% of market value a year. Flood risk is on the OPW's floodinfo.ie and our report flags whether the pin sits in a mapped extent. Protected structure or ACA status removes the ordinary exemptions and is on the development plan; a section 57 declaration on the file is worth money.

7. Part 8 schemes and transport corridors

Councils build without applying to themselves, under Part 8 of the 2001 Regulations, and their schemes — a housing scheme on the green, a cycle lane on the road — appear as consultations, not applications. BusConnects corridors, MetroLink and DART+ go through the Commission directly. The consultation feed and the map's corridor layers are where these show; the register is silent.

8. What the vendor must answer

The Law Society's pre-contract enquiries ask the vendor whether the property has flooded, whether any notice has been served, and whether all works were carried out with permission. Ask them early and in writing. A vendor who answers "not to my knowledge" to the flooding question is answering a different question from "no".

9. What the €85 search then adds

Order the law searcher's planning search anyway. It is the document the lender wants, it covers the enforcement register you cannot see online, and it is written by someone who has read the file. The planning search guide covers what it returns and misses.

Frequently asked questions

What planning checks should I do before signing contracts?

Read the register for the house and for the 100 m around it, check open observation and appeal windows, look for commencement notices next door, confirm the certificate of compliance matches the register, and check the RZLT, flood and protected-structure flags. Then order the law searcher's planning search.

Can I object to a neighbour's application after going sale agreed?

Yes, if the five-week window is open — you do not need to own the house to make an observation, and the fee is €20. After the council decides, only the applicant and those who made a submission can appeal.

How long do I have to appeal a planning decision near a house I am buying?

Four weeks from the council's decision, to An Coimisiún Pleanála, for €220 — and only if you or the vendor made a submission during the application. A judicial review must be brought within eight weeks of the final decision.

Does a planning search show what neighbours are building?

No. The law searcher's search is by address. Neighbouring applications need a radius search of the register, which the Explorer does for any pin.

The planning search guide covers what the €85 search returns; the observation guide covers the five weeks. Run the radius check in the Explorer around any address, open the deadlines page, or see the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown place page for windows open today.

Figures from the register on 12 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); law checked 12 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.