Permits and licences: applications, renewals and reminders

New applications

Most permit applications fail the first check for the same reasons: a missing certificate, an expired insurance document, an unsigned declaration, or a plan without measurements. An AI worker can compare each application against the checklist for that permit type and report:

• which required documents are present, missing or out of date (for example, a certificate of currency whose expiry date has passed);
• whether names, addresses and business details match across the form and attachments;
• what the applicant still needs to provide, as a draft email for the officer to approve.

The officer then reviews a complete file instead of opening each attachment to find the gap.

Renewals and reminders

Renewals are where registers drift. Expiry dates sit in a spreadsheet, and reminders depend on someone remembering to check it. An AI worker can watch the register and, at the intervals you set, draft renewal reminders to permit holders and follow up on those who haven't renewed. It can also tell officers in Teams which permits lapse this week. The Everything lists follow-ups and scheduling among its capabilities, and keeps persistent rules you give it, such as "remind 60 days and 14 days before expiry".

Renewal reminders go to the public, so an officer should approve the wording once and review what is sent. The Everything says it asks before anything important goes out. Confirm during a trial how that applies to routine reminders.

Keeping the register accurate

The register is the record. Keep it in a SharePoint list or Excel workbook your team already uses, not inside the AI. The AI updates it from incoming applications, payments recorded in your systems and officers' decisions, and notes each change. That way, if you stop using the tool, the register stays where it always was. The Everything's pricing page says that if you cancel, "everything stays where it always was — in your Microsoft account".

A register that the AI maintains can also answer questions in Teams: "which food premises are due for inspection this month" or "which event permits are still waiting on insurance".

What stays with a person

• Granting, refusing or conditioning a permit or licence.
• Suspension, cancellation and any enforcement action.
• Inspections and their findings.
• Fee waivers and exceptions to policy.

Development consent is covered separately on the development applications page. Requests from residents that aren't applications are on customer requests.

Where this fits

This approach suits a council or agency that runs permits through email, forms and spreadsheets in Microsoft 365. If your permits live in a dedicated licensing or property system, the register should stay there. An AI worker would be limited to the correspondence around it unless an integration exists. Ask the vendor about any system not on its published integrations list. Before using AI on applicant details, read what to check before you start.

Questions people ask