No building regulations approval? What's the solution?

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No building regulations approval - picture of dog

When a property is up for sale and building work has been carried out on it, the seller will need a form of certification to say that the works have been inspected and that they comply with the building regulations.

At least, that seems to be the current view of many engaged in the conveyancing of properties.

Is building regulations approval really needed?

There are a number of snags with this:

  • Some works don’t need building regulations approval
  • Some could have been done before the regulations changed to include them
  • Others may have been carried out prior to the early 90s, before Certificates of Completion were introduced

Therefore, some works might not have needed approval, some did need approval but have no certificate and, in the worst case, they did need approval but no-one has applied for it!

In all these cases, there will be no documentation to show that the project is compliant with the building regulations.

Routes to building regulations approval

From the 11th November 1985 onwards, there have been two routes to gaining building regulations approval for building work. 

1. Through the local authority.

2. Through a private company, approved by the Secretary of State to carry out such work and issue approvals. Such companies are known as “Approved Inspectors”.

There are differences in the documentation issued, dependent on which route you take.

The key documents are those that are issued to state that the building works have been approved, inspected and passed. Where the work has been undertaken with the council's approval, the document is a “Building Regulations Certificate of Completion” and if an Approved Inspector is used, the document is a “Building Regulations Final Certificate”.

What happens if there is no approval, when there should be?

If building regulations approval and certification should have been obtained for building works and no such approval exists, there are potential consequences. Under the provisions of Section 36(6), Building Act 1984, the council can seek a High Court injunction to require the alteration or removal of work that doesn't comply.

Such an action can be expensive for a buyer. To add to the expense, the costs of either remedying the building or removing the offending work can be high.

Therefore, some have considered it wise to purchase indemnity insurance to cover such costs, should they arise.

The purchase of an insurance indemnity policy may cover the issue for one sale, but it doesn't remove the problem with the property.

What about the next time the property is sold?

The same situation exists, the same delays may occur, the same threat of action by the local authority remains, no progress has been made, the vicious circle continues.

Is this in the best interests of the home owner?

The way forward? Regularisation.

The clear way to break the vicious circle is to obtain regularisation certificate - this is the process by which a retrospective building regulations application can be made.

There are, however, some drawbacks with this:

1. The regularisation process cannot be used for work that was carried out prior to the 11th November 1985.

2. The process is a double-edged sword as what might have been thought to have been a simple lack of paperwork may turn out to be much more complex and expensive to rectify. When the remedial work is not undertaken, a Certificate of Regularisation will not be issued.

Some other issues to take into consideration are that building regulations regularisation can only be obtained from the relevant local authority as private sector Approved Inspectors aren't authorised to undertake this work. Further, the council will charge for the service they provide, and the charge will be higher than the one they would have raised at the time the application should have been made. (This is done deliberately as an incentive to applicants to make submissions in a timely manner.)

Nevertheless, only by making a regularisation application can the applicant find out definitively what is non-compliant with their building works.

How does this affect the sale of your property?

Knowing that approval can be given retrospectively might be enough for a buyer to take on the property. Then again it might not.

Whichever, it will be the owner’s responsibility to undertake the works to achieve building regulations compliance and it's important to know that this can be made a requirement before your sale can go through.

Completion certificates for work done before 2013

Update 20 November 2020. We've had many queries on work done years previously as you can see from the comments below. Here's some further information for those in that position:

Prior to 2013 there was no requirement for local authorities to issue completion certificates in all cases. Some authorities adopted a procedure to issue completions before this date, but not all, and the earlier the date the less likely it is that completion certificates would be available.  Consequently it may not be possible to provide a completion certificate for work carried out  before 2013.  Although there are provisions within the regulations for a local authority to accept applications to regularise work carried out without approval, there is no obligation on a local authority to accept such application. Also  the greater the length of time since work was completed, the less likely this would provide a satisfactory solution.

Conveyancing solicitors have increasingly demanded completion certificates, which was part of the reason for their introduction into regulation in 2013, unfortunately their demands do not take account when building work was completed. Provision of some form of indemnity policy is often promoted as an alternative, however this is usually only to cover legal action by the local authority for contravention of building regulations. A surveyors report indicating the current status of the property in relation to building regulations applicable at the time the work was carried out may be more beneficial to future occupiers.

Homeowner?

Read more on Front Door

 

More on this topic

Further information on home improvements can be found on LABC's Front Door website.

Every care was taken to ensure the information was correct at the time of publication. Any written guidance provided does not replace the user’s professional judgement. It is the responsibility of the dutyholder or person carrying out the work to ensure compliance with relevant building regulations or applicable technical standards.


This article was updated on 21 March 2022

Comments

Conservatory

Submitted 4 years 1 month ago

I had a conservatory built but as we have a shared drive the gable end of the conservatory are brick. Thus my wall area is over 25%. I did not get building regs as the builder never said I needed it and when I double checked with my local authority website their guidance didnt mention anything about brick walls being less than 25%. I'm looking to sell but am worried I'm going to be stuck.

Reply to conservatory

Submitted 4 years 1 month ago

Hi there,

Thanks very much for your question. In general terms, there is no longer a percentage of the wall area that needs to be glazed - a figure of 50% is often used from previous guidance. We'd advise you to contact your local building control team for free, specific advice on your project. To find their details, please enter your postcode in the search on the top right of this website.

Regards

LABC

Building certificate considered to invalid

Submitted 4 years ago

We had a loft conversion some years ago for which a building control certificate was issued. We later found problems with the build in that it did not meet BRs for insulation.
Much later it was found that there are structural issues with this as well. We took legal action against the builder concerned but nothing is resolved as yet.
The current position is that several inspections have been performed by approved building inspectors all of which found non compliance with various BRs. Non of these reports were accepted by the builder and ultimately the court ruled that a single joint expert be appointed and that he should report back to the court. Again his findings are very similar to other reports we have had, however it makes the statement that in his view the building control certificate ( issued by a company not the local authority) is invalid.
We are now being recommended to have a structural expert look at various aspects of the build.
My questions are:
1,Given that the inspection was performed by an accepted expert witness Buildings surveyor we expected he would be able to advise on all aspects of the build and if not should he not have told us before hand as the structural items had been picked up and commented on by other building inspectors and were in his briefing documents with photographs . His inspection was over £3,000 and by the time he answered questions over £4,000 apparently the high cost was due to the complexity of the case which we accepted.
2, Given that the Building Completion Certificate has now been judged to be invalid by an expert witness appointed by the court. How do I get a new certificate issued after the rectification works have been completed.
According to the builder I have to use the original firm but I don''t want to do this as I have no faith in them.
Currently we are stuck and want to move on rectify and sell this house please advise how we can get a valid certificate issued. This certificate was issued more that 6 years ago so cannot bring a case against the firm that issued the original certificate.
This is quite urgent.

Reply to building certificate considered to be invalid

Submitted 4 years ago

Hi there,
Thank you for your query, I am sorry that you are experiencing problems with your loft conversion.

The questions that you raise appear to be more from a legal, rather than a building control perspective. Either an insurance indemnity policy or a regularisation application to your local authority building control section may be an appropriate way forward but as there are questions over the validity of the original Approved Inspector Final Certificate, I can only recommend that you seek appropriate legal advice in this regard.

I’m sorry we can’t help further.

Kind regards

Martin
LABC

Internal wall removed

Submitted 4 years ago

Removed internal wall in bungalow kitchen to join up with dining room it's not a supporting wall , we put in a universal beam , we took photos of this , it was 5 yrs ago . House now ready for completion of sale and buyers surveyor has asked for certificates, which we don't have , what can we do so not to lose the sale or for it to drag on

Reply to internal wall removed

Submitted 4 years ago

Hi there,

thanks for your question. You should contact your local authority building control team and apply for a regularisation certificate. You can use the search on the top right of this website to find the contact details of your local authority.

Kind regards

LABC

Loft occasional room

Submitted 4 years ago

Bought a 3/4 bed house last year with a loft described as occasional room. It has fixed stairs up to the room. When I have been looking at building regulations in paperwork it says the porch that is in the house approved but then where it says internal alterations ( which I assume is the loft) in 2001 says File not resolved-File to Microfilming . What does this mean?

Reply to loft occasional room

Submitted 4 years ago

Hi there,

Thanks for submitting your query. We are afraid that we are unable to confirm what was meant by this statement on the paperwork that was issued.

Please contact your local authority building control team for clarification. You can input your postcode in the search bar at the top right of our website, which will give you the details of your local team.

Kind regards

LABC

Side Extension with no completion certificate

Submitted 4 years ago

Hi, we had a single storey side extension built in 2001/02 and now that we are in the process of selling the property the purchasers solicitors have asked for a completion certificate for the extension. Having checked through all my paperwork I can find confirmation that the plans were approved and the status of the work if I check on the local authority building control website is “building work started” but nothing else.
Having read a number of posts on this site is the only way forward to contact the building control dept of my local authority to obtain a regularisation certificate. Will this solve the problem?

Reply to side extension with no completion certificate

Submitted 4 years ago

Hi there,

Thanks very much for your question.

In this instance we would suggest you contact your local authority building control team to see if a Regularisation Certificate is in fact required.

If you do not have your local authority’s contact details, you can input your postcode in the search bar at the top right of our website. You will then be provided with their details.

Kind regards

LABC

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