Important: We have recently been made aware that various private Building Control Companies have been unable to continue operating as Approved Inspectors. If you are affected, find out what this means for you.
Building Control Applications
- Do I need Building Regulations approval?
- What type of application?
- How to make a Building Control application
- When can you start building work?
- What happens when works are complete?
- What if building work is carried out without an application?
- View Building Control applications
- Further guidance
- Buy a Site Plan online
- How can you make your proposal more environmentally friendly?
- Contact Building Control
What type of application is required?
There are two methods of applying for approval of building projects:
- For domestic alterations and extensions you can submit a Building Notice application giving brief details of your proposals. This should be submitted 48 hours before the work starts together with the statutory fee and any drawings and details. Please also see alternative for domestic works below
- Works to shops, offices, factories, hotels and boarding houses must be made by the Full Plans application route, so that we can consult the Fire Brigade to ensure that adequate Fire Precautions measures are provided
Alternative for domestic works
If you wish to obtain formal approval for domestic works before the work begins you can submit a Full Plans application. Decisions can take up to five weeks.
Once you have received Full Plans approval you should submit a Commencement Notice 48 hours before the work starts. The work is then inspected on site.
From 1 October 2006, The Fire Precaution Act 1971 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 as amended have been replaced by The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. This can be viewed in the attached files section below).
What is a Building Notice application?
A Building Notice application is an application under the Building Regulations giving brief details of your proposals for domestic alterations and extensions.
- The application should be submitted 48 hours before the work starts
- You may be able to start work earlier, if you check with us first, please find our contact details in the contact us page
- You should include the correct fee and any drawings with your application, please see charges and fees for information about fees
- You will be required to submit additional information with the notice, dependant upon the type of work you are carrying out
What is a Full Plans application?
Works to shops, offices, factories, hotels and boarding houses must be made by the Full Plans route, so that we can consult the Fire Brigade to ensure that adequate Fire Precautions measures are provided.
If you wish to obtain formal approval for domestic works before the work begins you can submit a Full Plans application. Decisions can take up to eight weeks. Once you have received Full Plans approval you should submit a Commencement Notice 48 hours before the work starts. The work is then inspected on site.
We require:
- Completed application form
- 2 copies of the drawings
- Structural calculations, if appropriate
- The correct charge, which we calculate using a government framework
We will:
- Deal with your application within the statutory 8 weeks, if possible sooner
- Only reject your application if there is a major contravention of the Building Regulations or insufficient information
- Apply conditions to approvals that require minor changes or additional information
What is a Regularisation Certificate?
The Building Regulations require that a property owner applies to the local authority for a regularisation certificate in respect of ‘unauthorised’ building work. This means work which was carried out on or after 11 November 1985, is over 12 months old and which should have been submitted to the Building Regulations procedures but was not. You will be charged for this regularisation service.
In assessing compliance the local authority may request the ‘opening up’ of unauthorised work. The authority will then decide if remedial work needs to be carried out, in accordance with the Building Regulations which were applicable to that work when it was originally carried out, before they can issue a regularisation certificate.
A regularisation certificate is evidence (but not conclusive evidence) that the requirements of the Building Regulations specified in the certificate have been complied with.
When can you start building works?
Once you have submitted a Building Notice application or Full Plans application, work can start on site 48 hours after notice has been given to the local authority of your intention to commence building.
Please remember that you must inform Building Control when inspection stages are reached, so that a Surveyor can inspect the works as they go along. Please see our Inspections page for further details of when inspections are required and for information on how to request an inspection.
What happens when works are complete?
When you or your builder have notified us that the work is completed, and a satisfactory final inspection has been made, we will issue a formal Certificate of Completion to show that the work complies with the Building Regulations. This can be particularly useful if the building is subsequently sold or if you are securing additional funds.
When submitted plans are approved and after completion of work on site, we will send you a Customer Satisfaction Form inviting you to comment on the service provided.
What if building work is carried out without an application?
If work is carried without a Building Regulations application enforcement action could be taken and this could also prejudice a future sale of the property.
A retrospective application may be made for unauthorised building works carried out since 1985. Applications for Regularisation Certificates may be submitted with the appropriate fee.
The submission of an application does not guarantee that a certificate will be issued. Parts of the works may need to be opened up and inspected to determine if they are adequate and remedial works may be required before a regularisation certificate can be issued.
Further guidance
More information is available from other pages on this website including:
If you require further advice you can also contact the Building Control team.
A wide range of advice about common building works projects, building regulations, and your responsibilities when carrying out building works is available from the Planning Portal, please see the external links section below for a link to the Planning Portal.
How can you make your proposal more environmentally friendly?
If you are about to submit a building control application for works to a residential property, why not consider how you could make your proposal more environmentally friendly?
Haringey Council has published a guide to Greening Your Home which provides information on how to renovate the home in an environmentally sensitive way. Positive changes could be made in many ways, from changing a light bulb or your boiler to larger scale renovation works. Please see our Green Home Improvements page for further information.
A number of the changes suggested may require building control approval, so please check with the council before you proceed.
Contact us
Address
Building Control
Level 6, River Park House
225 High Road
Wood Green
London
N22 8HQ
Tel 020 8489 5504
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