Types of application explained

Local Authority Building Control (LABC)

There are three types of Building Regulation applications:

See also:

Full Plans Application
(not to be confused with a planning application)

Detailed plans are required showing how the work will meet the requirements of the Building Regulations. The application will be examined by the Authority and amendments to the plans will be requested to address any shortfalls. At the end of the process the plan will either be:

approved
or approved with conditions
or rejected

The advantages of the full plans application are:

you or your builder works from approved plans, so there is less chance of work having to be corrected during construction
the fee is the same as a Building Notice

Building Notice
(only for domestic, not commercial, work)

This is an alternative to the Full Plans application. A Building Notice can be submitted without the need for detailed plans. It is generally used when the type of building work is straight forward, and the person carrying out the work is aware of the requirements of the Building Regulations. The work will be inspected as it proceeds, but you will not receive any official decision notice confirming that the proposals have been approved.

As work proceeds Building Control may ask for additional information to show compliance with the Building Regulations. This may include items such as: Structural design calculations, construction details, specification of materials.

The disadvantages of a Building Notice are:

the builder has no approved plan to work to
any work that is found not to comply must be removed or made good

Regularisation

A Regularisation is used when work has been carried out without prior notification to the Council (usually found when property is being sold). This application can be used when work has been carried out on or after 11th November 1985.

The Council's Building Control Surveyor will make an inspection of the work to assess what has been carried out. The Building Control Surveyor will advise of any work that should be opened up for inspection and also how any work that is in contravention of the technical requirements of the Building Regulations should be corrected.

For more complex proposals the Building Control Surveyor may ask you to support your allocation with a plan which shows, so far as possible, what existed before the work was executed, the current position and any proposed alterations already identified to achieve compliance.

At the end of the process (irrespective of any further proceedings the Council may take) the Council will state in writing one of the following:

the work does not comply with the Building Regulations due to certain shortcomings which will be specified
it is not possible for the Council to determine whether the work complies with the Building Regulations
the work does, in the opinion of the Council, comply with the Building Regulations (in this situation a Regularisation Certificate will be issued)