Common questions

Planning Permission and Building Regulations address different aspects of property development and are governed by separate legislation and processes

Planning Permission

• Regulates the use of land and external appearance of buildings and their impact on neighbouring properties and the surrounding area
• Covers aspects like layout, scale, design, landscape impacts and compliance with local and national planning policies.
• Planning permission is granted under the Town and Country Planning Act, through an application to your Local Authority planning department

Building Control (Building Regulations)

• Ensures the structural safety, fire protection, energy efficiency, accessibility, and overall soundness of construction.
• Applies to how buildings are constructed or altered—with standards on foundations, insulation, plumbing, electrics, ventilation, access for people with disabilities, and more
• Building Control is enforced under The Building Regulations 2010, via submission of a building notice or full plans for approval application

Before starting any work, it is important to confirm what permissions are required. Building regulations approval is different from planning permission – and you might need one or both. The responsibility for obtaining and maintaining all necessary permissions rests with the property owner. Work should not begin until confirmation has been received that the appropriate consents are in place.

Building regulations apply to most new buildings and certain alterations. They can also apply when the use of a building is changed. In general, most building work needs formal approval.

Types of work that need approval

• Erection of a new building
• Re-erection of an existing building
• Extension of a building
• Material alteration or change of use of a building
• Installation, alteration or extension of a controlled service or fitting to a building – for example a new boiler or new external window.

Examples

• Home extensions such as for a kitchen, bedroom, lounge or loft conversions
• Internal structural alterations, such as the removal of a load-bearing wall or partition
• Installation of baths, showers, WCs which involve new drainage or waste plumbing
• Installation of new heating appliances
• New chimneys or flues
• Underpinning of foundations
• Alterations that affect the building’s means of escape or fire precautions
• Altered openings for new windows in roofs or walls
• Repairing or replacing more than 25% of the surface area of a roof
• Installation of cavity wall insulation
• Access improvements for disabled people
• Replacement windows and doors
• Electric installations such as installing a new consumer unit or a new electric shower unit

Some building types and extensions are exempt from the building regulations. This means an application doesn’t need to be submitted to building control. You might still need planning permission though, so make sure you check first with your local council planning department.

The most common exempt projects are listed below. Further guidance can be found here

The fee payable for your building regulations application will depend on the type of work you are carrying out. > FEE TABLE

Domestic

Full plans application fees are split into two payments with approximately one third paid with the submission of the application and the balance invoiced to you following your first site inspection.
Building notice fees must be paid in full on submission

Commercial

Commercial applications must be submitted via a Full Plans application and paid in full on submission
If your project does not fall within the standard fee charges, please contact us for a quote (LINK TO QUOTE REQUEST)

Read more on our website LINK TO GUIDANCE

Your approval will expire if work is not started within three years of the date of deposit of your application. (The date when your application and the correct fee have been received. You will find this on your approval or acknowledgement document)

Legislation states that there is no time limit once work has started. However, we set our fees with the expectation that work will be carried out by a competent professional and completed within three years of your application being submitted.

If you stop work part way through your project, for a period of more than three years, when you resume, we reserve the right to charge an admin fee. This fee will be our admin fee at the time you start work again. Our current fee is £175 inc VAT.

Once work on site is complete you must notify us within 5 days so that we can carry out a final inspection. If you don’t contact us at this point, but approach us at a later date, we may be unable to issue your completion certificate.

We would advise that you wait until your application has been approved before starting work on site. This will reduce the risk of non-compliance with building regulations. If however, you do start work before you receive our decision, you must let us know in advance so that any necessary inspections can be carried out.

Our Registered Building Control Inspectors (RBCI), will carry out site inspections at various stages of the build to ensure that the work complies with the current building regulations.

You should agree with your builder/contractor before work starts, who will be responsible for contacting us to arrange these visits.

This can be done by

• Using the free LABC site inspection app
• Calling our business support team before 9.30am on the day you would like the inspection on 0330 0249355.
• Online via our website

The table here shows the types of inspections we would expect to carry out.

Inspections are carried out Monday-Friday 10am – 2pm

Please read our guidance here LINK

Competent Person Schemes were introduced by the Government to allow installers to self-certify their work. More information about the how the scheme works can be found here LINK

To find an installer registered with a Competent Person Scheme or check that your chosen installer is registered. Please visit www.competentperson.co.uk and enter your postcode or the name of the installer in the relevant search box.

More information can be found on our website LINK

The Government introduced electrical safety rules (Part P rules) into the building regulations for England and Wales in 2005. Part P states anyone carrying out electrical work in a home must ensure their work is designed and installed to protect people from fire and electric shocks.

Part P qualified electricians can carry out and self-certify this type of work so that a separate building regulations application is not required

What type of work does Part P apply to?

• additions or alterations to existing circuits in special locations*
• replacement of a consumer unit
• installation of a new circuit
• rewires

Find out more about special locations and where Part P applies here.

The Party Wall Act 1996 does not fall within the remit of Building Control. If you are proposing to start work covered under the Party Wall Act, you must as the owner, give adjoining owners notice of your plans.

You can read more about the Act here or you can contact a Party Wall Surveyor by visiting the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors website here.

Please view our history search page LINK

Guidance on Viewing Building Control Plans

Building control plans are subject to copyright law. This means:

• View – Plans can be viewed at the council office on a screen but cannot be copied, photographed, or printed without the written consent of the owner (the author) of the plans
• Who Can View –
  • The property owner may request to view the plans.
  • If you are an agent acting on behalf of the owner, you must provide written consent from the owner (an email is acceptable).

Important Points to Note

• Plans may not always reflect what was built on site. Changes can occur during construction due to unforeseen issues or design adjustments. This is not usually a concern if regular site inspections were carried out and any changes were agreed.
• If you need plans to check foundation depths for adding another storey, we cannot rely on the plans alone. You or your builder will need to dig a trial hole so we can inspect and confirm the depth.

How to Request a Viewing

1. Submit a written request via our contact form in the first instance.
2. Include:
   • Property address
   • Your name and contact details
   • Proof of ownership or written consent (if you are an agent)
3. We will confirm if plans are available and arrange a viewing appointment at the council office.

If you’ve carried out work without building regulation permission, you may submit a Regularisation application. Doing so allows us to consider work which has been carried out and completed. The process only applies to building work carried out after 11 November 1985.

You are under no obligation to make an application for a Regularisation Certificate. And we are under no obligation to accept it. Please see our application guidance LINK