First, breathe. Then find two things on the letter: the date it was sent, and the date it wants something back. Write both down. Everything else follows from those two dates.
Councils send them in roughly this order. Most people only ever get the first two. Some get all five. Each is a different document with different rules, so find yours before you do anything else.
What it is: the council has had a complaint, found a listing, or noticed something on a visit, and wants to know who owns the property, who lives there and what it is used for. Some councils send an informal questionnaire. Some send a formal notice under section 330 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, asking for details of everyone with an interest in the property, with 21 days to reply and an offence for not doing so.
What it is not: a finding that anything is wrong. Nobody has decided anything yet.
Why it matters: your reply is the first thing on the file. Officers read it against what they already have. A vague or defensive reply starts the case badly. A late one starts it worse.
What it is: formal questions under section 171C. The council thinks a breach of planning control may have happened and wants facts: when a use began, who occupies, how many nights, which platforms, what the arrangements are. You have 21 days from the day it was served.
Two offences sit behind it: not replying in time, and giving a reply that is false or misleading. Both can be prosecuted on their own, whatever happens to the main case.
Why it matters: the answers are evidence. They fill the gaps in the council's case, and they decide whether the next step is a notice, a prosecution, or nothing at all.
What it is: the council says there has been a breach, says what you must do about it, and gives you a period to do it. The notice takes effect on a date at least 28 days after it was served. If you want to appeal, your appeal must reach the Planning Inspectorate before that date. After it, the notice stands.
Once it has taken effect, failing to comply is an offence. The fine is unlimited, and the court is told to take account of any money made from the breach.
Why it matters: there are seven grounds of appeal and most people only know about one. Reading the notice properly, before the deadline, is the whole game.
What it is: used where a condition on a planning permission has not been kept, including conditions that limit short lets. At least 28 days to comply. There is no appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, which is one reason councils like them. In England, failing to comply is an offence with an unlimited fine.
In July 2025 a Barnet landlord was fined £75,000, with £5,400 costs, for failing to comply with one, after two flats were let for at least 220 nights in ten months.
What it is: the council is considering a prosecution and wants to put its evidence to you under Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Attendance is usually voluntary. Silence can be commented on later. What you say is evidence.
What to do: get a solicitor. Then get the planning side of the file read by someone who knows how the officer prepared it, because the questions will come from that file.
Why it matters: this is where the planning evidence decides the outcome. Dates, tenancies, nights, immunity. If the council's case is weaker than the letter sounds, this is where that is found.
Before a council writes to you it usually holds some of this: a complaint, often from a neighbour or a managing agent; your listing, with its reviews and calendar; council tax and electoral records; one or more visits; photographs; and in short let cases, data from the platforms or from your agent.
It will not tell you which. The letter is written to find out what you will say.
Send me the letter and anything that came with it. Within two working days you get, in writing:
Fixed fee, £250, by email. If it then needs a reply to a contravention notice or questionnaire, that is £450, prepared with you and submitted inside the 21 days. If it is heading towards an interview under caution, planning support alongside your solicitor is from £750. Full fee list.
I spent over nine years in local government planning, most of it in enforcement at Westminster and Camden, writing letters like the one you are holding. I know what sits behind them.
I am not a solicitor and I do not give legal advice. If the letter mentions prosecution, an interview under caution, or a court, you need one.
What I bring is the other half: the planning evidence, the dates, the nights, the immunity question, and an honest reading of how strong the council's case really is. Solicitors send me the planning side of their files, and I work alongside yours.
I'll reply within one working day to let you know whether I can help. Planning advice, not legal advice.