Homeowners in Brent, London, should think twice before changing their properties, as there’s been 6,345 enforcement actions in the borough between 2000 and 2025.
Other areas with lots of enforcement actions across England and Wales are Birmingham (5,895) and Westminster (4,808), analysis from The Property Buying Company shows.
The number of enforcement actions in 2025 has increased by nearly 25% from 2022, with 10,016 issued compared to 7,591.
Jonny Christie, co-founder of The Property Buying Company, said: “It’s interesting to see several local planning authorities outside of London issuing some of the highest numbers of planning permission enforcement actions, including the likes of Birmingham, Cornwall and Newcastle-Under-Lyme.
“If you’re looking to build something new, make a major change to your building, such as building an extension, or changing the use of your building, you will most likely need planning permission.
“To find out if you need planning permission, contact your local planning authority through your local council on the gov.uk website.
“This will help to ensure that you are compliant with the law and help to prevent spending time and money to undo any unapproved changes that have been made.”
In terms of the type of enforcement actions, the highest number was for enforcement notices, standing at 118,213 between 2000 and 2025.
An enforcement notice is issued by a local planning authority when there has been a breach of planning control, such as unauthorised building works which need to be reverted.
Some 117,865 cases are for planning contravention notices, meaning a tool used by local planning authorities to request information, typically when there has been a complaint about works being carried out without permission.
The third most common enforcement action is a breach of condition notice, with 23,233 being issued between 2000 and 2025. These are issued by local planning authorities when a condition attached to approved planning permission is not being met.
