Terms & conditions

Planning Permission Guarantee

The headline terms of the Planning Permission Guarantee are described below. The full contractual terms are set out in Section 15 of our Terms of Service — those are the binding terms; this page summarises them in plain English. For any specific question please call us on 0333 041 1702 or email gemma@arkiplan.co.uk.

The offer

The Planning Permission Guarantee is included automatically on every Premium package, however you pay, and on any Essentials or Standard package paid in full up-front. If a pre-application or planning application that we prepared and submitted for you is refused, or gets a negative outcome from the council, you may choose between two remedies:

• Option A: 50% fees refund. We refund 50% of your Arkiplan fees. Council fees are not refunded.
• Option B: Continue at no extra cost. We keep amending the design and submitting further pre-applications or planning applications for you, at no extra design or professional cost, as many times as reasonably required, until a similar scheme is approved or you decide to stop. Most clients prefer this option, because the goal is approval rather than a refund.

What's covered

The guarantee applies to:

• Pre-Application Submissions
• Lawful Development Certificate Applications
• Householder Planning Applications
• Full Planning Applications

...where Arkiplan prepared and submitted the application on your behalf. You pay any council fee due at each submission.

If we think a scheme has a very poor chance of approval, we may ask for a pre-application first. That pre-application is covered by the guarantee, and we won't submit the full application until its feedback has been reviewed.

What's not covered

The guarantee does not apply to:

• Schemes previously refused or withdrawn on the same plot before you engaged Arkiplan
• Applications not prepared and submitted by Arkiplan as your planning agent
• Prior Approval applications — these are subject to neighbour consultation and outside our control
• Applications for new dwellings or residential units — these need a pre-application stage and fall outside the guarantee

Where we reasonably believe a scheme was previously refused or withdrawn, you can still proceed; you just won't have the guarantee on it.

Claiming

If your application is refused and you want to claim:

1. Email gemma@arkiplan.co.uk within 60 days of the decision notice, attaching the council's refusal notice
2. Tell us whether you'd prefer Option A (50% fees refund) or Option B (free resubmission)
3. For Option A, refunds go to the original payment card within 14 working days. For Option B, your designer is back in touch within 5 working days to plan the resubmission

These plain-English terms are a summary; the binding contractual terms are in Section 15 of our Terms of Service. Last reviewed: October 2026.