Permit, sanction, or development application — what is the difference?

A development application is what is still to happen

Matthew separates the three cleanly, and the first is a process rather than a document. "A development application is the actual preparation and submission of a proposal — what is still to happen."

The permit is the outcome

The permit is what the process produces, not what you apply for. "Once that process terminates, you would have obtained a permit."

Sanctioning is for work already done

The third case reverses the sequence, and it is where buyers most often find themselves. "If the changes to the property have already occurred without planning permission, then one does not apply for a regular planning permission, but applies to sanction the changes that were carried out without the planning application."

Why the distinction matters to a buyer

If you are buying a property where work was done without permission, you are not buying into a normal application — you are buying into a sanctioning question, and the answer is not guaranteed. Whether the work is sanctionable is what decides its effect on the property's value. From the legal side, Dr. Laferla covers what happens when a property has illegal works.

Sources

• Perit Matthew James Mercieca — Yitaku Asks video (development application as the submission of a proposal; the permit as the outcome; sanctioning where the work has already been carried out)
• Development Planning Act, Chapter 552 — development permission and the regularisation of unauthorised development