Building regulations approval
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1. When you need approval
You must check if you need approval before you construct or change buildings in certain ways.
You do not need to get approval yourself if you use someone registered with a competent person scheme.
Find out about the rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Building regulations approval is different from planning permission. You might need both.
Work covered by building regulations
The Building Regulations 2010 cover the construction and extension of buildings.
You might also need building regulations approval for many alteration projects, including if you plan to:
- replace fuse boxes and connected electrics
- install a bathroom that will involve plumbing
- change electrics near a bath or shower
- put in a fixed air-conditioning system
- replace windows and doors
- replace roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs
- install or replace a heating system
- add extra radiators to a heating system
You could need approval, or to follow special rules, for works not listed here - so always research your particular project.
Check with a building control body if you cannot decide if you need approval.
You do not need advance approval for emergency repairs to your boiler or heating system, but there are rules you must follow.
Penalties and problems
The person doing the work could be prosecuted and fined if they do not comply with building regulations.
Your local authority could make you pay for faulty work to be fixed.
Without approval you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you want to sell your home.
2. When you do not need approval
You do not need to apply for approval yourself if the work is not covered by building regulations, or if it’s carried out by someone who’s registered with a competent person scheme.
Work that does not need approval
You do not need building regulations approval for some exempt projects, including:
- most repairs, replacements and maintenance work (except heating systems, oil tanks, fuse boxes and glazing units)
- new power and lighting points, or changes to existing circuits (except around baths and showers)
- like-for-like replacements of baths, toilets, basins and sinks
Find out more about common projects and check when you do and do not need approval.
Check with a building control body if you’re still not sure what to do.
Hire a ‘competent person’
If your project needs approval but you’d rather not apply yourself, you can hire a tradesperson registered with a competent person scheme instead.
You must meet safety and energy efficiency standards even if you do not need formal approval.
3. Use a competent person scheme
Competent person schemes are a way for tradespeople to prove their ability to carry out certain work to required standards, instead of you applying for building regulations approval.
Benefits of a registered tradesperson
An installer (eg of windows or boilers) who’s registered with a scheme can self-certify that their work complies with buildings standards and can deal with building control issues, like objections.
If needed, they’ll tell your local authority about work on your behalf. They’ll also give you a certificate within 8 weeks of completion which can be used as evidence of compliance - it will also show up in solicitors’ searches if you come to sell your home.
Competent person schemes have insurance-backed warranties and complaints procedures if there’s a problem with the work.
Find a ‘competent person’
Search the Competent Persons Register to find a tradesperson, or check that they belong to a scheme.
Search the Electrical Competent Person Register if you’re looking for an electrician to work on your home.
You may have to correct the work or pay a fine if building regulations are not followed.
4. How to apply
Contact a ‘building control body’ (BCB) to check the building regulations or apply for approval.
There are different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Where to apply
There are 2 types of BCB. It’s up to you which you use.
Local authority BCBs
You can apply for approval from your council.
Private BCBs
You can apply through a private approved inspector.
They’ll tell your local authority about the work. This is called giving an ‘initial notice’.
Choose a type of application
You must decide on the type of application for your planned build, extension or alteration work.
Full plans
This is the most thorough option. You can expect a decision within 5 weeks, or 2 months with your consent.
You’ll get a completion certificate within 8 weeks of completion of the building work as long as it complies.
Building notice
This type of application is only for smaller projects. You can start work 2 days after your notice has been submitted to your BCB. You do not get formal approval like you do with full plans.
Regularisation
You can apply for ‘regularisation’ - retrospective approval for work already carried out without consent - from a local authority BCB only.
Only work carried out after 11 November 1985 can be approved in this way.
You might need to make alterations before your BCB can agree the work complies and give you a regularisation certificate.
You may have to correct the work or pay a fine if building regulations are not followed.
Fees and costs
Local authority BCBs base their fees on the costs of their work, like site inspections.
What you’ll pay depends on the:
- type of work involved
- number of dwellings in the building
- total floor area, eg in the case of extensions
Private BCBs negotiate their fees directly with you.
You might not have to pay a fee for works carried out solely for a person with a disability.
5. Appeals and determinations
You can appeal if you think your project should not have to comply with building regulations.
Ask for a ‘determination’ if you’re refused building regulations approval and you think the building control body (BCB) decision is unfair.
If you think you should not have to comply
Ask your local authority to ignore or relax one or more of the building regulations if you think your project shouldn’t have to comply with them.
If the local authority still says you have to comply, you can appeal to government. You have a month to make the appeal.
Find out about making an appeal.
You cannot ask a private BCB to ignore or relax the building regulations. You’ll have to ask your local authority BCB instead.
If the BCB refuses building regulations approval
You can ask for a ‘determination’ - a decision by government - if a BCB says your plans do not comply but you believe they do. Find out about asking for a determination.
How to appeal or get a determination
You’ll need to read the guidance and fill in a form.
You’ll have to pay a fee when you ask for a determination unless your building work is for disabled people. You don’t have to pay a fee to appeal.