Mortgage lenders will not lend money secured against a house with unauthorised works, so you may not be able to sell your house, or remortgage. Before lending money a lender will check our records to see if there are any unauthorised works at the property. Also, the Council, as enforcing authority for the Building Regulations, may take action through the courts.
Types of applications
We offer four types of building control applications: Building Notice (for simple projects without detailed plans), Full Plans (for complex work needing plan approval), Regularisation (for retrospective unauthorised work), and Reversion (when transferring from a private building control body to the Local Authority – us).
Building Notice ApplicationIdeal for straightforward domestic projects, such as home alterations and extensions, where the work does not involve complex structural designs, fire safety systems, or drainage complications. You may submit a Building Notice application giving brief details of your proposal, with measurements, drawings/plans (see plans checklist for more information). Your application, fee, and any required block plan must be submitted at least 48 hours before work begins. You must also notify us a minimum of 48 hours after submitting a valid application. Failure to do so may result in the work being classed as unauthorised. You may at the same time, submit a commencement notice. Important: Building Notice is not suitable for the following types of projects:
If your project falls into any of these categories, you must submit one of the following:
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Building Regulations Approval Application with Full PlansWhere any of the following types of building work are to be undertaken, the submission must be in the form of a Building Regulations Approval application:
In order to obtain formal approval before the work begins, you can submit a Building Regulations Approval application. Decisions can take up to 5 weeks but are usually given much sooner and an extension of time may be agreed. Full details covering all aspects of your proposals should be submitted for approval by way of plans (see plans checklist for more information). Your application, fee and any block plan must all be submitted at least 48 hours before the work begins. When making a Building Regulations Approval application you should enclose the Site location/block plan, proposed and existing plans, proposed and existing elevations, specification, structural calculations and other supporting documents related to your project. |
Regularisation ApplicationYou can apply for a Regularisation Certificate in accordance with Regulation 18 for retrospective approval of unauthorised building work from a Local Authority Building Control Body. Important: We’ll look at each application on its own and arrange inspections as soon as we can. There’s no set timeline, and decisions may take 12 months or more. We’re experiencing high volumes of work, but we’ll do our best to keep things moving. |
Reversion ApplicationWhat happens when an Initial Notice from a Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) or formerly an Approved Inspectors (AI) is no longer in force? You can apply for a Reversion Certificate when an Initial Notice from a Registered Building Control Approver (or previously known as Approved Inspector) is no longer in force, and the Local Authority takes over the building control process. Important: We’ll look at each application on its own and arrange inspections as soon as we can. There’s no set timeline, and decisions may take 12 months or more. We’re experiencing high volumes of work, but we’ll do our best to keep things moving. |
Supporting documents
When submitting your application, please provide digital copies of plans and supporting documents. Any posted items will be scanned and securely destroyed.
For larger projects with a high volume of plans or supporting documents, please request an upload link when submitting your application, as we cannot access third-party cloud platforms.
Fee
Once we have processed your application, we will provide you with a fee.
Once payment is made, your application will become valid, and you can start to book inspections- except for Regularisation and Reversion applications. For Regularisation and Reversion applications, once the application/fee is processed and fee received, our Registered Building Inspector will review the case and contact the applicant to arrange an inspection.
Notifications, site conditions and variations
A person who proposes to carry out building work shall not start that work unless that person has given the relevant Building Control body notice of intention to start work and at least 2 days have elapsed since the end of the day on which the notice was given (see Regulation 16).
This notification allows Building Control to schedule and conduct the necessary inspections to ensure compliance with building standards. If you have started work without this notice of intention to start work, then you must apply for a Regularisation Certificate with Local Authority ONLY.
The Notice of Commencement is an additional stage where Building Control must be notified, known as the deemed commenced stage. According to Regulation 16 (3C) of the Building Regulations 2010, it is a legal requirement to notify Building Control within five days after the work has commenced.
With both types of application, particularly for Building Notices, there may be occasions where site conditions reveal unforeseen factors which may lead to additional expenditure. It is advisable to make allowance for this in setting a budget for the project. However, for straight forward construction works necessary to satisfy Building Regulations should already have been taken account of by the builder and should not generally be subject to additional cost.
Data Protection
Persons submitting information for Building Regulations and allied purposes are advised that information you give us will be held on computer or manual record, which you have a right to see and check. The information is used by the council to fulfil its statutory obligations, may occasionally be used to obtain feedback on the building control service, and in connection with the prevention and detection of crime and fraud. The council also retain and archive a copy of the information submitted. Such archives are made available for inspection by persons with bona fide reasons, such as building owners and prospective purchasers. All legal obligations regarding copyright and so forth are observed.
Subject to the above exceptions, information is not passed to other persons or organisations. The council's obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 are explained in the leaflet "How to see your records - Your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998" available from this office and from Libraries.
Frequently asked questions relating to unauthorised works
You should make an Application for a Regularisation Certificate. This is then a legitimate application for the works, and, when any problems have been rectified, you will get a certificate to confirm that the works are legal.
There is a fee, which is related to the amount of time we need to spend dealing with your application. This is usually slightly more than the fee would have been had the application been made at the correct time, but you will be given a fee specific to your works when the application is made.
The application will need to be accompanied by plans and details describing the unauthorised works and any additional works necessary to secure compliance with the regulations. Find more detailed information in our guide to Regularisation Application forms 2016 (PDF, 120KB)
Depending on the works carried out, you may need to employ an architect or surveyor to investigate the works, to complete any drawings and specification of the works, and to assist with any remedial works required.
This will depend on how well the original works were done, but will only be the amount needed to make the works comply with the Building Regulations applicable at the time the work was carried out.
You, or your agent, will need to specify how the works have been done and you may need to expose some areas to do this. You will also need to expose the works sufficiently for us to inspect. This will usually only involve exposing sample areas rather than whole elements. If the works are all visible, then you may not need to expose anything. You should not need to take anything down unless it has been built incorrectly or it prevents other items from being corrected or inspected.
When you have made your application, the council will check the details and inspect the works, including any remedial works required.
If a Regularisation Application is made, and any remedial works are carried out correctly, it is highly unlikely that any formal action will be necessary. However, as enforcing authority, the Council will always retain the right of legal action as a last resort.