The expensive S106 mistake in 2026 is not failing to find the agreement. It is reading a number the deed did not state.

A per-dwelling education rate printed as the scheme total. A CIL cell that says £0 because the charging schedule was not retrieved. A highways ceiling added to a rate as if both were sums owed. Each of those looks like diligence. Each of them is a figure you cannot defend, because it is not in the source.

This is a UK England guide for brokers and developers who have the deed, or can get it, and need the position that goes into the appraisal — not a combined total of unlike amounts. If you still need to find the agreement on the planning register, start with How to Check Section 106 and CIL on a Development Site. This piece is what to do once it is in your hands.

The working extract is the S106 Analyser: PDF in, labeled rows out, as a pasteable block.

What “risk” means here

It does not mean a score, a likelihood, or a recommendation to proceed. It means: can you source every figure you are about to put in the appraisal, and can you say what kind of figure it is?

Three failures show up in credit files more often than a missing PDF.

A rate treated as a total. The deed says £2,736 per open-market dwelling with two or more bedrooms. The appendix says £2,736. On a 160-dwelling scheme that is not the liability. The rate is a fact; the multiplication is an assumption about qualifying units.

Unknown treated as zero. If the local authority’s CIL position is not retrieved, the honest cell is “not assessed,” with the reason. £0 is a determined amount — no CIL, or a charging authority that does not charge. Those are different claims.

Unlike amounts added together. A stated sum, a per-unit rate, and a “not to exceed” ceiling are not the same kind of number. Adding them produces a total the deed does not owe. Label each row: basis, trigger, cap. If nothing is a stated sum, there is no combined total.

Those three are the 2026 assessment. The rest is finding the clause so a credit analyst can check you in seconds.

Read the deed the way a credit file is read

Work the schedules, not the recitals.

For each financial obligation write down four things, in the deed’s own terms:

1. The figure as stated — the pounds, or the rate, or the formula in prose.
2. The basis — stated sum, per-unit rate, ceiling, or not yet determined.
3. The trigger — commencement, occupation, a unit threshold, or not stated.
4. Indexation — the series and the base date, if the deed names them.

Do not convert a rate into a scheme total unless the deed itself multiplies it, and even then keep the rate on the row. Do not fill a blank with £0.

Non-financial obligations (affordable housing mix, highways works, occupation gates) belong on the same list. They are not cash on day one. They still bind the programme.

CIL is a separate instrument. Check whether the authority charges CIL at all, then the schedule in force at permission, then any relief notices. If you cannot complete that chain, say so. Do not complete the cell with a zero.

Extract it, don’t retype it

Retyping schedules into a spreadsheet is how a rate becomes a total. Upload the PDF to the S106 Analyser. It returns labeled rows — basis, trigger, cap — and a pasteable block for the appraisal or covering email. Unlike amounts are not added together. A missing basis is recorded as unknown, not silently treated as a stated sum.

That block is what the loan is decided on. A full evidence pack remains optional if you need planning history, comps and viability on the same record. It is not required to get the S106 rows out of the deed.

What a lender can verify

A credit analyst does not need you to have totalled the deed. They need to see each obligation next to the clause it came from, in units the deed used. If the education contribution is a per-dwelling rate, the file should say so. If CIL is not assessed, the file should say so. Silence, or a round number with no basis, is what generates the further-information request.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as checking CIL and S106 on the planning register?

No. That is the earlier guide: where the documents live. This piece is how not to mis-state what they contain.

Can I add the rows into one planning-obligations total?

Only the rows that are stated sums. A rate is not money; a ceiling is not owed. If the analyser shows “no combined total,” that is the assessment.

Does this cover title extents or site selection?

No. This is the deed and the charging schedule. Title polygons and demographic layers are a different job, and not what this tool does.