The Community Infrastructure Levy, usually shortened to CIL, is a planning charge that local authorities in England and Wales impose on new development to help fund local infrastructure like roads, schools, flood defences, and parks. You have to pay CIL if your project creates a new dwelling of any size, or adds 100 square metres or more of floor space, and no exemption applies. Rates are set locally and can run from under £100 to more than £400 per square metre depending on where you build and what you build.1GOV.UK. Community Infrastructure Levy
What Triggers a CIL Charge
CIL is charged on development that creates net additional floor space of 100 square metres or more, measured by gross internal area. That measurement is everything inside the external walls: hallways, storage, mezzanines, and internal partitions all count. A new house or flat is potentially liable even if it comes in under the 100-square-metre threshold.1GOV.UK. Community Infrastructure Levy
Not every square metre gets charged. If you are demolishing or replacing an existing building that has been in lawful use for at least six continuous months within the three years before planning permission is granted, that existing floor space is deducted from the chargeable amount. A building that has sat empty for the whole of the three-year window before permission gets no deduction at all.2GOV.UK. Community Infrastructure Levy Manual – Appendix 1: Examples This is where a lot of developers slip up. If you are converting or extending an older property, check the use history before assuming you will get any credit for the existing footprint.
How Much You Pay
Every charging authority publishes a Charging Schedule setting the rate per square metre for different types of development in its area. Rates vary a lot. Residential development in one district might be charged at £125 per square metre while a neighbouring council charges less than half that. Commercial rates are often lower than residential ones, and some uses, such as industrial buildings, may carry a zero rate. Check your local authority’s current schedule before budgeting.3Planning Portal. About the Community Infrastructure Levy
The published rates are not the figures you actually pay. They are adjusted each year using the BCIS All-in Tender Price Index, which tracks construction cost inflation. For 2026, that index is 400. Authorities apply it by dividing the current year’s figure by the figure at the time their schedule was adopted, then multiplying by the original rate. So a scheme adopted years ago will produce a higher bill today than the headline rate suggests, even if the schedule has not been formally reviewed.4BCIS. RICS Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Index
Exemptions and Relief
Several categories of development can reduce or wipe out CIL liability. Every one has strict procedural requirements, and the shared rule is this: you must have the exemption approved before you start work. Commence first, and the relief is lost or a surcharge applies.
Self-Build Exemption
If you are building or commissioning a home for yourself, Regulation 54A gives a full exemption. To qualify, you must assume liability, submit Form 7 before starting work, and declare that you intend to occupy the dwelling as your sole or main residence for the three-year clawback period. That period runs from the date the compliance certificate is issued for the completed dwelling, not from the date you move in.5Planning Portal. Community Infrastructure Levy Form 7 – Self Build Exemption Claim Form Part 1
Selling the home, letting it out, or failing to submit the required completion paperwork within six months of the compliance certificate are all disqualifying events. If any of those happens inside the three-year clawback period, the full CIL that would have been payable becomes due at once.6Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2014 Residential annexes and extensions have their own separate exemptions with their own procedures.
Social Housing Relief
Regulation 49 gives mandatory relief for development that qualifies as social housing. That covers dwellings let under secure tenancies by a local housing authority, shared ownership homes meeting certain rent and premium caps, and dwellings let by registered providers at rents controlled by the Regulator of Social Housing or capped at no more than 80% of market rent. The qualifying conditions are detailed and vary by tenancy type, so if you are delivering affordable housing, check each dwelling against the six conditions in the regulation early.7Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 – Regulation 49
Charitable Relief
Under Regulation 43, a charitable institution with a material interest in the land is exempt from CIL if the development will be used wholly or mainly for charitable purposes. The charity must claim using Form 10, and the collecting authority must notify its decision before work begins. Start development before that notification arrives and the exemption is lost.8Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 Discretionary charitable relief for investment properties is a separate route that depends on whether your local authority has chosen to make it available.
Exceptional Circumstances Relief
Where a scheme has a Section 106 agreement and paying the full levy would make the project unviable, the charging authority has discretion to grant exceptional circumstances relief. It is not automatic. The authority must be satisfied, based on an objective viability assessment, that full CIL would have an unacceptable impact on the scheme’s economics. A claim cannot be made after work has commenced.1GOV.UK. Community Infrastructure Levy Not every authority makes this relief available in its area, so confirm before relying on it in your appraisal.
The Forms and the Commencement Notice Trap
CIL paperwork starts with the planning application. The CIL Additional Information Form (Form 1) must accompany any application that could trigger liability. It captures the existing and proposed floor space figures the authority uses to calculate your bill.9Planning Portal. Download the Forms – Community Infrastructure Levy
Someone then needs to take legal responsibility for paying, by filing the Assumption of Liability Form (Form 2). If nobody does, liability defaults to the landowner. Provide accurate floor space figures. If the authority doubts your numbers it can substitute its own, and its estimate may run higher than reality. Clear site plans that distinguish retained structures from new additions, with every mezzanine and partition accounted for, keep the final bill on solid ground.9Planning Portal. Download the Forms – Community Infrastructure Levy
Before construction begins, the person who assumed liability must file a Commencement Notice (Form 6). It must reach the collecting authority before the day work actually begins. Skip it and two things happen. You lose the right to pay by instalments, so the full CIL amount becomes due on the day the authority determines work commenced. And a surcharge of 20% of the CIL due is imposed, up to a maximum of £2,500.10Planning Portal. Community Infrastructure Levy – Form 6 Commencement Notice
If you were granted an exemption or relief, the rules were softened in 2019. Starting work without a commencement notice no longer strips the exemption outright. Instead, the 2019 Amendment Regulations impose a surcharge equal to 20% of the notional chargeable amount (what would have been payable without the relief) or £2,500, whichever is lower.11Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 Better than the old regime, but a £2,500 penalty for a missed form is still expensive.
What Late Payment Costs
Once the collecting authority has your Commencement Notice, it issues a Demand Notice setting out the amount owed and the payment deadline. If the authority has an instalment policy and you kept your right to it, you can spread the bill. If not, the full amount is due when demanded.
Miss a payment deadline and interest accrues at 2.5 percentage points above the Bank of England base rate, calculated from the day after payment was due until the authority receives the money.12Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 – Regulation 87 If the debt stays unpaid, the authority can issue a warning notice of its intention to serve a CIL stop notice, giving you at least three days and no more than 28 days to pay. A stop notice halts all construction activity on the site until the debt is cleared, and continuing to build in defiance of one is an offence.13Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 – Part 9
Beyond stopping the build, the authority can apply to a magistrates’ court for a liability order, adding its reasonable legal costs to the bill, and then enforce payment by taking control of goods. In extreme cases involving an individual debtor where seizure fails, Regulation 100 permits the authority to apply for a warrant of committal to prison.13Legislation.gov.uk. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 – Part 9 That is a last resort, but the fact that it sits in the regulations shows how far enforcement can go.
Appealing a CIL Decision
Appeals are handled by the Planning Inspectorate under Regulations 117 to 119. Each type has a strict deadline running from the date of the relevant notice.
- Surcharges under Regulation 117: 28 days to appeal, on grounds that the breach did not occur, that the authority never served a liability notice, or that the surcharge was calculated incorrectly. Filing suspends the surcharge until the Inspectorate decides.
- Deemed commencement date under Regulation 118: 28 days from the date of the Demand Notice, if the authority set a commencement date you disagree with.
- CIL stop notice under Regulation 119: 60 days, on grounds that the authority failed to serve a warning notice first, or that development had not actually commenced.
Either party can apply for a costs award if the other has behaved unreasonably. If the Inspectorate itself makes a legal error, the decision can be challenged in the High Court.14GOV.UK. Appeal a Community Infrastructure Levy Notice Under Regulation 117, 118 or 119
What’s Changing
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 contains provisions for a new Infrastructure Levy that would eventually replace both CIL and Section 106 agreements in England. As of 2026, those provisions remain prospective and no commencement date has been set.15Legislation.gov.uk. Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 – Schedule 12 For any project in planning or on site today, CIL is still the system that applies.