Certificate of Immunity from Listing

A certificate of immunity is a legal guarantee that a building will not be listed for five years. It is aimed squarely at development risk: if a building might be eligible for listing, the possibility of it being listed part-way through a scheme can delay or sink the whole project. A certificate removes that uncertainty, but applying for one carries a real risk of its own, because refusal usually means the building gets listed instead. This page explains what the certificate does, how to apply and when it is worth the gamble.

What is a certificate of immunity?

A certificate of immunity, often shortened to COI, is issued by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport under section 6 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. It confirms that the Secretary of State does not intend to list a specified building, and it locks that position in for a fixed period.

Once issued, the certificate has two effects for five years from the date of issue:

• the Secretary of State cannot exercise the listing powers in section 1 of the Act in relation to that building
• the local planning authority cannot serve a building preservation notice on it

Those are the only two things it does. The certificate is a shield against listing and temporary listing, and nothing more.

When is a certificate of immunity useful?

The certificate exists to give certainty to owners and developers. Anyone can propose a building for listing at any time, and a building under threat can be listed at short notice, which is often called spot-listing. A proposal submitted while a scheme is being worked up can stall a project at exactly the wrong moment. A certificate of immunity closes that door for five years, which is usually long enough to obtain permission and get the work done.

It is worth considering where a building has some architectural or historic interest but has not been listed, and where the scheme depends on being able to alter or demolish it. Buying, selling and funding decisions can also turn on the answer, since a listing risk sitting over a site affects its value and deliverability.

Since 2013, an application can be made at any time. Before that change, in England you could only apply once a planning application had been made or permission granted for development involving the alteration, extension or demolition of the building. That restriction has gone, so a certificate can now be sought before professional fees are committed to a scheme.

What a certificate does not do

The protection is narrower than people often assume. A certificate of immunity does not:

• prevent the local planning authority designating a new conservation area, or extending an existing one, to include the building
• prevent the building being added to the authority’s local heritage list
• prevent the site being scheduled as an ancient monument, which is a separate regime needing scheduled monument consent
• grant planning permission, or any other consent, for the works you have in mind
• protect anything beyond the building specified in the certificate
• run for longer than five years, because it is not permanent and it is not automatically renewed

Nor does the certificate help once the five years are up. If the building is listed at that point, any works affecting its character will need listed building consent. Conservation area status and local listing are both matters for the local planning authority, and they sit entirely outside the certificate. A building with immunity from listing can still be a heritage consideration in a planning decision.

How to apply for a certificate of immunity

Applications are made to Historic England, using the same online listing application form used to propose buildings for the National Heritage List for England. Notice of the application must be given to the local planning authority for the area at the same time as the application goes in.

Historic England then carries out a full listing assessment, in practice usually including an inspection of the building inside and out, research, and consultation with interested parties. It produces an advice report with a recommendation and sends it to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, where the Secretary of State makes the decision.

The standard service is free. There is no application fee, unlike most planning applications. Historic England also offers a paid-for fast-track option through its Enhanced Advisory Services, which guarantees its advice will reach the department within an agreed timescale. Published service standards, which are not statutory deadlines, indicate Historic England aims to complete assessments within six months, with the Secretary of State aiming to decide most cases within ten working days of receiving the advice.

The risk: refusal usually means listing

This is the part that catches people out. An application for a certificate of immunity always triggers a full listing assessment of whether the building is of special architectural or historic interest. If the answer is yes, Historic England is obliged to recommend listing, so the usual outcome of a refused certificate is that the building is listed instead.

In other words, you are asking a question you may not want answered. The assessment is thorough, and it may surface reasons to list a building even where an earlier listing proposal was rejected. Applications can be withdrawn while they are being considered, but by then the research may already exist.

The practical rule of thumb is to apply only where listing would genuinely hamper a real scheme, and where you have taken proper advice on the building’s likely interest first. A certificate of immunity is a risk-management tool, not a formality.

Challenging a decision, and what happens after five years

There is no statutory right of appeal against a decision on a certificate of immunity, or against a decision to list. Unlike a planning appeal, you cannot take the merits to an inspector. There is, though, a review stage. Where the Secretary of State is minded to grant a certificate, everyone who was consulted is told and then has 28 days to ask the department to review that decision. Once that window closes the decision is formalised, and a certificate that has actually been issued cannot be challenged or revoked. A decision to list carries its own 28-day review window, running from the date of the decision letter. After that, the only route is judicial review in the courts, where the grounds are limited to the legality of the process rather than disagreement with the heritage judgement.

When the five years expire, the immunity simply ends and the building can be listed again. There is no automatic renewal. You can apply to renew a certificate once it has less than two years left to run, and the Secretary of State will not normally accept an application while two years or more remain. A renewal means a full assessment all over again, on the merits at that time, so it carries the same risk as the first application. That is why the certificate is best treated as a development window rather than a permanent settlement.

See also our guide to the types of planning application.

Relevant legislation

Certificates of immunity sit in the listed building legislation rather than the main planning Act. When checking any provision, use the “Changes to Legislation” panel on legislation.gov.uk, as later amendments are not always shown in the main text.

• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 6: certificates of immunity: who may apply, and the five-year effect
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 1: the Secretary of State’s power to list buildings, which the certificate suspends
• Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 3: building preservation notices, which cannot be served while a certificate is in force
• Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013: Schedule 17 amended section 6 so a certificate can be applied for at any time

Other Planning Application Sections

Certificate of Immunity Page Updated: 21st August 2026