Business guidance

Construction & Property

Apply for a species licence from NatureScot

If work in Scotland could disturb, harm or kill a protected species, or damage a breeding site or resting place, you need a NatureScot species licence first, even with planning permission. Scotland also makes reckless disturbance an offence, so check for protected species before you start.

Construction & Property

Apply for CIS gross payment status

Gross payment status lets a construction subcontractor be paid in full, with no Construction Industry Scheme deduction, and pay all their tax at the end of the year instead. HMRC grants it only to a UK business that passes the business, turnover and compliance tests. You apply online or on form CIS302, CIS304 or CIS305.

Construction & Property

Apply for listed building consent in Scotland

Any work that would affect the character of a listed building in Scotland, inside or out, needs listed building consent from your local planning authority, separately from planning permission. Protection covers the whole building and fixed objects, and Historic Environment Scotland is consulted on works to category A and B buildings.

Construction & Property

Apply for scheduled monument consent in Scotland

Any work that could damage, alter, repair, flood or cover a scheduled monument in Scotland needs scheduled monument consent from Historic Environment Scotland, separate from planning permission. Some minor works fall under class consents, but you should still tell Historic Environment Scotland before starting.

Construction & Property

Archaeological assessment for development in Scotland

When archaeological assessment is required for development in Scotland, how to carry out desk-based assessment and evaluation, mitigation strategies including preservation in situ and excavation, and your obligations under the Treasure Trove system.

Construction & Property

Avoid protected species offences in Scotland

Killing, injuring, taking or disturbing a protected animal or wild bird in Scotland is a crime, whether you do it deliberately or recklessly. The worst offences carry up to 5 years in prison. A licence is the lawful route when your work cannot avoid affecting a protected species.

Construction & Property

Building safety duties for contractors

If you work on a residential building in England of 18m or 7 storeys or more, the Building Safety Act applies to you whatever your size. Supply golden thread records as you work, and never change the approved design without formal change control.

Construction & Property

Calculate CIS deductions

Work out each Construction Industry Scheme deduction by taking VAT and the subcontractor's direct costs for materials, consumable stores, fuel and plant hire off the invoice, then applying the rate HMRC gave you when you verified them. If you deduct too little, HMRC can look to you for the shortfall.

Construction & Property

Claim a refund for CIS deductions

Construction Industry Scheme deductions are advance payments of your tax, not extra tax. Sole traders and partners offset them in their Self Assessment return and get a refund of any excess. Limited companies reclaim them through payroll, against PAYE and employer National Insurance, not through the Corporation Tax return.

Construction & Property

Comply with Renting Homes (Wales) Act landlord duties

Since 1 December 2022, residential landlords in Wales must use occupation contracts under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. To end a standard occupation contract without fault, you must give a Section 173 notice of at least 6 months.

Construction & Property

Ecology survey requirements for construction in Scotland

When you need ecological surveys for construction and development projects in Scotland, what types of survey are required, seasonal timing constraints, and how survey results feed into NatureScot licensing and the planning process.

Construction & Property

Engage residents of your higher-risk building

If you run an occupied higher-risk building in England, the Principal Accountable Person must prepare a residents' engagement strategy and run a complaints system. Each Accountable Person must give residents prescribed safety information and answer their requests for more.

Construction & Property

Environmental impact assessment in Wales and Northern Ireland

When a building, road, railway, pipeline, harbour or similar project in Wales or Northern Ireland needs an environmental impact assessment, how to check the thresholds, request screening and scoping, prepare the environmental statement and plan for the longer decision period. Wales and Northern Ireland have separate regulations with different thresholds and different decision-makers.

Retail & Consumer Goods

EV Charging Infrastructure

Install EV chargepoints and access government grants.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Fit alarms and protect deposits as a landlord in Scotland

If you let a home in Scotland, it must have interlinked smoke and heat alarms and a carbon monoxide alarm beside any carbon-fuelled appliance. Any deposit you take must go into an approved scheme within 30 working days, or a tribunal can order you to pay the tenant up to three times the deposit.

Construction & Property

Get an energy performance certificate for a building in Northern Ireland

If you build a home or other building in Northern Ireland, you must give the owner an energy performance certificate within five days of finishing the work. When the building is sold or let, the owner must show the certificate, give the buyer or tenant a copy and state the rating in adverts.

Construction & Property

Get an energy performance certificate for a building in Scotland

A building in Scotland needs an energy performance certificate when it is built, sold or let. On a new building it is fixed to the building and goes in with the completion certificate. When you sell or let, the owner must show it, give a copy and state the rating in adverts.

Construction & Property

Get a street works licence in Northern Ireland

To place apparatus in a street or open a road in Northern Ireland without a statutory right, you need a street works licence or consent from DfI Roads. Undertakers must then give notices, use qualified people, reinstate the street and ask DfI Roads for any temporary traffic restriction.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Get authorisation for a water activity in Scotland (EASR)

In Scotland, any activity affecting surface water or groundwater, such as abstraction, engineering or discharges, needs SEPA authorisation, and doing it without one is a criminal offence. SEPA decides which of four risk-based tiers your activity falls into, from general binding rules to a permit.

Construction & Property

Get consent to dig in a public road in Scotland

To dig in a public road in Scotland, you need the roads authority's written consent or a permission to place apparatus, unless you are a utility with a statutory right. Utilities and their contractors must also notify through the Scottish Road Works Register and meet the Commissioner's rules on safety and reinstatement.

Construction & Property

Get road construction consent and adoption in Scotland

Before you build a new road or extend an existing one in Scotland, you need construction consent from the council as roads authority. Once the road is built to the consent, you can apply to have it added to the list of public roads, so the council maintains it.

Construction & Property

Get the specialist approvals for the systems you repair and install

Gas work without Gas Safe registration is an offence, and refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump work needs F-gas certification for both your company and your engineers. Aircraft maintenance needs CAA Part-145 approval before you start.

Construction & Property

Hand over the golden thread at building completion

As the client, you must give the people who will run a finished higher-risk building its operating information and completion application documents no later than completion. They confirm receipt in writing, and you both sign a statement in the completion certificate application.

Construction & Property

HES Managing Change guidance for construction

Historic Environment Scotland's Managing Change guidance notes are not law, but planning authorities use them when deciding applications that affect heritage assets. They sit under the Historic Environment Policy for Scotland and cover topics such as demolition, extensions, interiors, roofs, new design and setting.

Construction & Property

Keep a rented home fit for human habitation

Every lease of a home in England for under 7 years carries an implied promise by the landlord that it is fit for human habitation when the term starts and stays fit throughout, and you cannot contract out of it. Tenants can sue you for breach, and councils can enforce against the hazards.

Construction & Property

Manage hazardous construction materials

Cutting concrete or stone, mixing cement, sanding timber and using solvents all expose construction workers to hazardous substances. COSHH requires you to assess and control that exposure within workplace exposure limits, and disturbing old lead paint falls under the separate Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.

Construction & Property

Manage payment notices and stage payments on a construction contract

On a construction contract lasting 45 days or more you are entitled to stage payments. The payer must say within 5 days of each due date what it will pay, and can only pay less by serving a notice in time. If you are not paid, you can suspend work after 7 days' notice.

Construction & Property

Managing land within an SSSI in Scotland

If you own or manage land within a Site of Special Scientific Interest in Scotland, you must get NatureScot's written consent before carrying out any operation on the site's Operations Requiring Consent list. Working without consent is a criminal offence, and if NatureScot does not decide within 4 months, consent is treated as refused.

Construction & Property

Mandatory SuDS approval in Wales

How to obtain mandatory Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) approval from your local authority SAB in Wales, including thresholds, fees, timelines, and penalties for non-compliance.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet alarm, electrical and HMO duties as a landlord in Northern Ireland

If you let a home in Northern Ireland under a private tenancy, you must fit interlinked smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms and have every electrical installation inspected and tested at least every five years. A house in multiple occupation also needs a licence from the district council before anyone moves in.

Food, Drink & Hospitality

Meet electrical safety and alarm duties as a landlord in Wales

If you let a home in Wales under an occupation contract, you must have a valid electrical condition report, renewed at least every five years, and give the contract-holder a copy within 14 days. Each storey needs a mains-connected, interlinked smoke alarm. Without them the home counts as unfit to live in.

Construction & Property

Meet energy efficiency standards for let properties

In England and Wales, you cannot let a residential property with an EPC rating below E unless a valid exemption is registered. Local authorities can impose penalties of up to £5,000 per property per breach.

Construction & Property

Meet heritage and nature requirements in a Scottish planning application

A Scottish planning application can face several separate heritage and nature requirements: National Planning Framework 4 policies, consultation of Historic Environment Scotland and NatureScot, environmental impact assessment, appropriate assessment for Natura sites, and protected species surveys and licences. Check which apply to your site before you commission design work.

Construction & Property

Meet your duties as an Accountable Person

If you own, or must repair, the common parts of an occupied higher-risk building in England, you are an Accountable Person. You must assess and manage fire and structural risks, inform residents and report safety occurrences. The Principal Accountable Person also registers the building. You cannot delegate these duties.

Construction & Property

Meet your environmental duties on a construction site

A construction site in England must handle its waste lawfully, keep pollution out of drains and watercourses, and control dust, mud and noise. The Environment Agency enforces waste and pollution law and the local council enforces noise, dust and mud. Permit offences carry up to five years in prison.

Construction & Property

Pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT)

When and how to pay SDLT on property purchases in England and Northern Ireland, including rates, reliefs, and deadlines.

Construction & Property

Pay stamp duty on shares

How to pay stamp duty or SDRT when buying UK company shares, including rates, exemptions, and the stamping process.

Construction & Property

Protect a tenant's deposit in an approved scheme

If you take a tenant's deposit, protect it in an approved scheme and give the tenant the scheme details within 30 days in England and Wales, 30 working days in Scotland or 28 days in Northern Ireland. Missing the deadline can cost you up to three times the deposit in Great Britain.

Construction & Property

Refer a construction dispute to adjudication

If you are in a dispute under a construction contract, you can refer it to adjudication at any time. An adjudicator is appointed and gets your case within 7 days of your notice, and decides within 28 days. Both sides must comply with the decision unless a court or arbitrator later decides otherwise.

Construction & Property

Register and run a letting agency in Scotland

If you let or manage homes for landlords in Scotland, you must be on the Scottish Letting Agent Register and follow the Letting Agent Code of Practice. Doing letting agency work while unregistered is a criminal offence, punishable by up to six months' imprisonment, a fine of up to £50,000, or both.

Construction & Property

Register as a CIS subcontractor

Register with HMRC as a Construction Industry Scheme subcontractor before you start work for contractors, so they deduct 20% rather than 30% from the labour element of your payments. The deductions count towards your tax bill, and you need a Unique Taxpayer Reference to register.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register as a waste carrier and move hazardous waste in Northern Ireland

To carry or broker waste in Northern Ireland you must register with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, even if you already hold a Great Britain registration. Hazardous waste must travel on a consignment note with an NIEA code, and most movements must be pre-notified.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register as a waste carrier and move special waste in Scotland

If your business carries waste in Scotland, even its own, you must register with SEPA before you move it. Hazardous waste is called special waste in Scotland, and every load must travel on a consignment note that carries a SEPA code, with the paperwork kept for inspection.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Register for and pay the UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM)

From 1 January 2027, if your business imports aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, iron or steel goods, you must keep a record of each one and register with HMRC once their customs value passes the threshold. You then file returns and pay a charge based on the emissions embodied in the goods.

Construction & Property

Register with the Scottish Housing Regulator as a new social landlord

How a housing association or other not-for-profit body registers as a registered social landlord in Scotland, the criteria the Scottish Housing Regulator applies, and the annual returns and assurance statements you must make once you are on the register.

Construction & Property

Respond to an infrastructure project that affects your property

If a nationally significant infrastructure project would take or affect your land or business premises, you can register to take part in the examination and ask for hearings. You may be able to make the promoter buy your property early, and you can claim compensation if land is taken.

Construction & Property

Rules for selling property as an estate agent

Estate agents who act for buyers and sellers must register with HMRC for anti-money-laundering supervision before they trade, join a government-approved redress scheme and follow the Estate Agents Act conduct duties. In England and Wales, every property they market must also have a valid EPC.

Retail & Consumer Goods

Separate your business recycling and food waste in Scotland

Every business in Scotland must take reasonable steps to have glass, metals, plastics, paper and card collected separately from general waste. Most food businesses must separate food waste too, and outside rural areas food waste must be kept out of drains and sewers.

Construction & Property

Skip and scaffolding permits on the road

Yes, a skip on the road or pavement needs the highway authority's permission, and scaffolding that blocks the highway needs its licence. Your skip company usually applies for the skip, and fees and waiting times depend on your council.

Construction & Property

Understanding heritage protection in Scotland

Scotland protects its heritage under its own laws, with Historic Environment Scotland designating scheduled monuments and listed buildings and councils designating conservation areas. Each designation carries its own consent rules, and unauthorised works to a listed building can bring an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison.

Construction & Property

Understanding nature conservation law in Scotland

Scotland's nature conservation law is devolved and in places stricter than England's: species offences can be committed recklessly, not just deliberately. NatureScot is the single regulator, Natura sites carry the strongest protection, and NPF4 requires development to contribute to biodiversity.

Construction & Property

Understand property transaction taxes

Which tax you pay on business premises depends on where they are. England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax, Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax. Commercial and mixed-use purchases use non-residential rates, and returns are due within 14 or 30 days.

Construction & Property

What builders and developers owe homeowners under the Defective Premises Act (Northern Ireland) 2024

Anyone who takes on work to a dwelling in Northern Ireland must do it in a workmanlike way, with proper materials, so the home is fit to live in. Since 21 September 2024, owners and later buyers can claim for up to 15 years, so keep project records for that long.

Construction & Property

What the Renters' Rights Act means for landlords in England

No. Section 21 ended in England on 1 May 2026. To recover possession under a private assured tenancy in England, you must rely on a section 8 ground and obtain a possession order unless the tenant leaves. You will also need to register on a new landlord database once it opens.

Construction & Property

Wildlife management and muirburn licensing in Scotland

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 bans glue traps, replaces snares with regulated cable restraints and will require a NatureScot licence for muirburn, with its provisions commenced in stages. Since 22 July 2024, shooting red grouse has required a licence covering the land.

Construction & Property

Working in conservation areas in Scotland

You cannot demolish any building in a Scottish conservation area without conservation area consent, and doing so is a criminal offence. Conservation areas also limit permitted development rights for some external changes, and you must give the planning authority 6 weeks' notice before cutting or lopping any tree.

Tax & Finance

Check if you need to register for VAT

You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.

Compliance & Legal

File your confirmation statement

File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.

Premises & Operations

Meet your business waste duty of care

Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.

Compliance & Legal

Verify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC

Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.