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Section 196A: Rights to enter without warrant.

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 · 1990 c. 8View on legislation.gov.uk

Part VII: Enforcement

Any person duly authorised in writing by a local planning authority may at any reasonable hour enter any land—

to ascertain whether there is or has been any breach of planning control on the land or any other land;
to determine whether any of the powers conferred on a local planning authority by this Part should be exercised in relation to the land or any other land;
to determine how any such power should be exercised in relation to the land or any other land;
to ascertain whether there has been compliance with any requirement imposed as a result of any such power having been exercised in relation to the land or any other land,

if there are reasonable grounds for entering for the purpose in question.

Any person duly authorised in writing by the Secretary of State may at any reasonable hour enter any land to determine whether an enforcement notice should be issued in relation to the land or any other land, if there are reasonable grounds for entering for that purpose.

The Secretary of State shall not so authorise any person without consulting the local planning authority.

Admission to any building used as a dwellinghouse shall not be demanded as of right by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) unless twenty-four hours' notice of the intended entry has been given to the occupier of the building.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.