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A Section 106 agreement is a legally binding planning obligation made under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in England. It is attached to land, not merely to the developer who signed it, and can require works or payments, restrict how land is used, require a specified use, or impose affordable-housing and other development-related conditions.
For a homebuyer, the important question is not whether a development has a Section 106 agreement in general, but what the particular deed says about the plot or home you are buying. Ask your conveyancer to check the agreement, any variation or discharge, the title plan and the local authority’s planning and local-land-charges records before you commit to the purchase. This guide concerns England; the English regime should not be treated as a UK-wide rule.
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“Section 106 agreement” is the common name for a planning obligation under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Government guidance describes planning obligations as legal obligations used to make a development acceptable in planning terms. They are legally binding and can run with the land, so a later owner may be affected even though they did not negotiate the original deed.
The obligation is normally recorded in a deed involving the landowner or developer and the local planning authority. Other people with an interest in the land can be involved. The Planning Inspectorate’s good-practice guidance says that people can bind their own interests and successors in title; normally all affected interests, including freeholders, leaseholders and mortgagees, need to sign. The deed must be dated and executed as a deed by all parties.
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That is why a sales brochure or a general statement that “Section 106 has been dealt with” is not enough. The land covered, the parties, the exact promise, the beneficiary, the amount and the trigger for performance all come from the particular deed and related documents.
What can the obligation require?
Section 106 is flexible. The statutory categories summarised in government guidance include restrictions on development or land use, required operations or activities on, under or over land, a requirement to use land in a specified way, and payment of money to the authority. A single development can contain several different obligations.
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Restrictions on development or use
A deed may prevent a specified use, limit further development, or control when and how part of a site can be occupied. The wording and the defined land determine whether a restriction affects your house, a shared area, a wider estate or land retained by someone else.
Works and operations
The obligation can require work or an operation to be carried out. Examples can include site-related infrastructure or other measures needed to mitigate the development’s effects. The deed should identify what must be done, by whom, and the relevant trigger or deadline.
Affordable housing and resale conditions
Planning guidance identifies affordable housing as a common subject of planning obligations. Depending on the deed and the tenure, a home may be subject to conditions about who can occupy it, how it can be sold, or how a resale is handled. Do not assume that two homes on the same estate have identical terms: the defined land and the wording for each phase or parcel control what applies.
Payments to the authority
A deed may require money to be paid to the local authority, often when a specified event occurs. The amount, indexation, payment date, permitted use of the money and any conditions should be read from the document itself. A payment attached to one trigger is not automatically due at another stage.
Why the deed and the land plan matter
A Section 106 document usually identifies the land and the parties and sets out precise requirements and triggers. It may cover a whole development, a phase, a parcel or a particular interest in the land. The plan attached to the deed is therefore as important as the written clauses.
Ask your conveyancer to compare the plan with the property’s title plan and the physical plot. A house can be inside the area shown on a plan, outside it, or affected indirectly through estate land or shared infrastructure. The answer cannot safely be inferred from the development’s name or from another buyer’s paperwork.
How to check a property before buying
Use the following process with your conveyancer. It is designed to identify the obligation, establish whether your property is within its scope and turn technical clauses into practical consequences.
- Ask for the complete document set. Request every Section 106 deed affecting the development or relevant parcel, plus any unilateral undertaking, deed of variation, deed of discharge, supplemental deed or other document that changes the original obligation.
- Confirm the parties and interests. Check the landowner, developer, planning authority and any other signatories. Ask whether freeholders, leaseholders, mortgagees or successors in title have obligations connected with the property.
- Match the plan to the title. Have the conveyancer confirm that the property, garden, parking space, access, estate land or other relevant area falls inside or outside the land identified in the deed.
- List each obligation in plain English. For every clause, record whether it is a restriction, a required work or use, an affordable-housing or resale condition, or a payment. Note who must comply and who receives the benefit.
- Identify every trigger. Triggers can be linked to events in the development or to a transaction. Ask what event starts the duty, whether it has happened, and whether a future owner could become responsible.
- Check the public records. Local authorities keep copies of planning obligations and modifications and make them available through the planning register. Planning obligations are also entered on the local land charges register. Ask which records and documents have actually been searched for this property.
- Ask about compliance evidence. Where the deed requires a payment, work or approval before occupation or another milestone, ask for evidence that the requirement was met, varied or discharged. If the evidence is missing, obtain legal advice before exchange.
- Get the practical effect confirmed in writing. Ask the conveyancer to explain any restriction on use, occupation, letting, alterations, resale, mortgageability or future payment in a written report, rather than relying on a verbal summary.
Search access and local authority practices vary. The relevant records are a starting point, but they do not replace review of the deed, plans and title together.
Questions a homebuyer should ask the conveyancer
- Is there a Section 106 agreement, unilateral undertaking, variation or discharge affecting this property or its estate land?
- Which exact plan and parcel does the obligation cover, and does the house, flat, parking space or garden fall within it?
- Does the obligation restrict use, occupation, alterations, letting or resale?
- Is the property affordable housing or otherwise subject to eligibility, nomination or resale conditions?
- Are any payments due on purchase, occupation, sale or another defined event?
- Has each required payment, work, transfer or approval been completed, and what document proves that?
- Does a future buyer or mortgage lender need to give consent or comply with a clause?
- Has the local authority agreed any variation, partial discharge or full discharge?
- Which planning-register and local-land-charges entries were checked, and do they match the deed supplied by the seller?
Section 106 tests: why the obligation was accepted
Before a planning obligation can be taken into account as a reason to grant permission, it must satisfy three tests in government planning policy. It must be:
| Test | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Necessary | Needed to make the development acceptable in planning terms. |
| Directly related | Connected to the development for which permission is being considered. |
| Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind | Proportionate to the development’s effects rather than an unrelated charge. |
These tests explain the planning context; they do not interpret a buyer’s deed or decide whether a particular clause affects a particular home. Your conveyancer must apply the actual wording, plan and title position.
Section 106 compared with the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy are related but distinct mechanisms. The government describes CIL as a fixed charge on new development used to fund infrastructure. Section 106 addresses impacts through terms connected with the development, such as site-specific restrictions, works, land-use requirements or payments.
| Point | Section 106 | CIL |
|---|---|---|
| Legal form | A planning obligation in a deed or unilateral undertaking. | A levy charged under the CIL regime. |
| Typical focus | Development-specific restrictions, works, uses, affordable housing and payments. | A fixed charge on new development to support infrastructure. |
| How the buyer checks it | Read the deed, plans, title and planning/local-land-charges records. | Check the development’s CIL liability, notices and payment position with the relevant authority. |
| Can both apply? | Yes. The contribution mechanisms can operate in the same area, so one should not be assumed to cancel or replace the other. | |
Ask what applies to the development you are buying. The existence of CIL does not by itself remove a Section 106 obligation, and a Section 106 deed does not prove that no CIL liability exists.
What happens if a Section 106 obligation is not complied with?
Because the obligation is legally binding and enforceable, non-compliance can be a serious property and transaction issue. The practical consequence depends on the clause: it might involve a restriction on use, an unpaid sum, an uncompleted work or a missing approval. A conveyancer should identify the relevant enforcement and transaction risk from the deed rather than speculate from the development’s age.
If you discover a possible breach, give the complete document set to a qualified residential conveyancer or property solicitor. Ask them to establish the obligation, the alleged breach, any available evidence of compliance and whether the authority has issued a formal notice or agreed a remedy. General information cannot determine whether a particular clause is enforceable against your property.
Can a Section 106 agreement be changed or removed?
Agreement between the parties
The local planning authority and the developer or other relevant parties may renegotiate a planning obligation at any time if they agree. A change should be recorded in the appropriate legal document. Do not treat an informal email, a sales-agent statement or an unrecorded promise as a variation or discharge.
Statutory application under section 106A
Where the parties cannot agree, section 106A provides an application route. For obligations entered into on or before 6 April 2010, an application can be made at any time. For later obligations, the guidance describes an application after five years from the date the obligation was entered into.
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Appeal under section 106B
If a section 106A application is refused, the guidance describes a section 106B appeal route. The existence of an appeal route does not itself alter the deed. Until a valid variation or discharge takes effect, the original obligation needs to be treated as potentially operative.
Buying a new-build or resale property with Section 106 terms
Before making an offer
Ask the seller or developer whether any planning obligation affects the home, but treat the answer as a lead rather than proof. Ask for the deed, plan and any later documents so your conveyancer can check the legal position.
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Before exchange
Make sure your written conveyancing report explains restrictions, affordable-housing or resale conditions, payments and triggers. Confirm that any required compliance evidence is available and that the title, plan and planning-register information are consistent.
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Before completion
Check that nothing has changed since the report: a new deed, variation, discharge, payment demand or authority requirement can alter the position. Ask your conveyancer whether any completion undertaking or notice is needed under the documents.
When you later sell
Keep the deed and compliance evidence with your property papers. A future buyer’s conveyancer will need to understand the same restrictions and triggers, and missing documents can delay a transaction. If the deed requires a consent, certificate or payment on resale, identify that requirement early.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Common misunderstandings
“It is just a promise made by the developer.”
No. It is a legal planning obligation that can bind land and successors in title.
“The whole estate has one identical set of rules.”
Not necessarily. Phases, parcels, tenure types and defined plans can create different obligations. Only the deed and land covered by it establish what applies to your home.
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No. For later obligations, five years is the point described for making a section 106A application when the parties cannot agree. It is not an automatic expiry period.
“CIL and Section 106 are the same charge.”
No. CIL is a fixed infrastructure levy; Section 106 contains development-related obligations in a deed. Both mechanisms can apply in the same area.
“A planning search alone answers everything.”
A search is useful, but the buyer needs the deed, plans, title and relevant register entries checked together. The clause’s trigger and defined land may not be clear from a short search result.
Where to find authoritative information
The government’s planning obligations guidance explains the purpose of Section 106 obligations, the three planning tests, the distinction from CIL, public records and routes for variation or discharge.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe Planning Inspectorate’s Planning obligations: good practice advice, first published on 21 April 2022 and updated on 5 February 2025, covers England and provides practical detail on parties, title interests, deeds, registers and modification procedures.
An example of a local-authority explanation is Eden District Council’s Section 106 planning obligation page. Local procedures and access to documents vary, so use the authority responsible for the property as well as national guidance.
When to obtain specialist advice
Use a qualified residential conveyancer or property solicitor when an agreement affects the home you are buying. Specialist review is particularly important where the deed contains affordable-housing or resale terms, a payment trigger, an unresolved compliance issue, a restriction on use, a proposed variation or a disagreement about whether the property lies within the defined land.
Provide the adviser with the full deed set, plans, title documents, search results and any correspondence from the seller, developer or local authority. Ask for a property-specific explanation of what you may do, what you must pay or maintain, and what a future sale will require.
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