Supported living (C3b)
Prove your supported living home is lawful.
A family house where up to six residents live as one household and receive care needs no planning permission. A Lawful Development Certificate is how you prove it, and councils test the evidence closely. We check the house before you commit and prepare the certificate so it stands up. For investors, owners and care providers across Greater London.
Who it is for
For investors buying a house for supported living, owners letting a house to a care provider, and providers who need the planning position confirmed for a lender, a commissioner or a buyer.
What you get
Everything the council needs to see.
One price, one point of contact, and the council handled for you.
A check before you commit
The house’s lawful history, its layout and how the home will run, with a straight answer on whether it is likely to stand up as C3(b).
The right certificate
Proposed use before the home opens, or existing use if it is already running. Choosing the wrong one is a common reason for refusal.
The evidence, set out properly
Who lives there, the care they receive and who provides it, and how the household runs day to day, in the form an officer can certify.
Through to the decision
The application submitted and every question from the council answered until it decides.
Licensing is a separate question. We check at the same time whether the house also needs an HMO licence, so one application does not undermine the other.
On the record
What 139 council decisions show.
We reviewed 139 C3(b) certificate decisions made by London councils. About one in four of the decided applications was refused. Very few were refused because the law was against them. Almost all failed on the evidence: how the home runs, too many people in the house, a layout that reads like an HMO, or a history that contradicts the claim.
We act for owners and operators who intend to run homes properly, and we tell you plainly if a scheme does not genuinely fit C3(b).
Price and time
What it costs and how long it takes.
A clear price in writing before any work starts.
Supported living certificate
From £1,800The price depends on whether the use is proposed or already running, and on the house. We confirm a fixed price with your quote.
The council’s fee is half the equivalent planning application fee, paid by you directly, and is not part of our fee.
Councils aim to decide certificate applications within eight weeks.
Prices include VAT.
FAQs
Supported living questions.
Do I need planning permission to use a house for supported living?
Not if it falls within Class C3(b): no more than six residents living together as a single household and receiving care. Moving a family house into C3(b) is a change within the same use class, so it is not development. A Lawful Development Certificate confirms the position.
Does an Article 4 direction stop a C3(b) home?
No. Article 4 directions remove permitted development rights, such as turning a house into a small HMO. A move from a family house into C3(b) is not development at all, so Article 4 does not apply.
Do staff count towards the six-resident limit?
Staff who live at the house can. Councils have refused certificates where residents and live-in staff together came to more than six. Staff who work shifts and live elsewhere are not residents.
Does a C3(b) home need an HMO licence?
It can. Planning and housing law define “household” differently, so unrelated residents can be one household for planning and separate households for licensing. It depends on how the house is managed and by whom, and some arrangements are exempt.
Our guides
Do you need planning permission for C3(b) supported living?
Buying a house for supported living: what to check before you exchange
Often needed alongside
Buying or converting a house for supported living?
Send us the address before you commit. We review every enquiry and come back within 24 hours.