Get Building Regulations approval

The Building Regulations 2010 cover the construction and extension of buildings and many alterations, such as replacing a fuse box and connected electrics, installing a bathroom with new plumbing, putting in fixed air conditioning, replacing windows, doors or roof coverings, and installing or replacing a heating system. Building Regulations approval is separate from planning permission, and you might need both.

You do not need to apply yourself if the work is exempt, such as most like-for-like repairs, or if a tradesperson registered with a competent person scheme does it. The work must still meet the safety and energy efficiency standards.

Choose who checks your work

If the work does not involve a higher-risk building, you can apply to your local council's building control department, usually through the Planning Portal, or appoint a private registered building control approver. A registered approver tells the local authority about your work by giving an initial notice. Councils set their fees to cover their costs, and approvers agree their fees with you directly.

In England, a higher-risk building is one of at least 7 storeys or 18 metres high that has at least 2 residential units or is a hospital or care home. You need approval from the Building Safety Regulator before you build one, change a building into or out of that category, or do most building work on one.

Choose the type of application

• A full plans application is the most thorough. Expect a decision within 5 weeks, or 2 months if you agree to an extension, and a completion certificate usually within 8 weeks of finishing if the work complies.
• A building notice is only for smaller projects. You can start work 2 days after you submit it, but you do not get formal approval of plans.

Get your work inspected and signed off

Your building control body tells you which stages of the work it needs to inspect. Do not cover up foundations, drainage or structural work before an inspection it requires. When the work is finished and complies, it issues a completion certificate. Keep it, because you may need it when you sell the property.

A competent person scheme installer tells the local authority about the work for you and gives you a certificate within 8 weeks of finishing.

If work was done without approval

You can apply to the local authority, not a private approver, for regularisation, which is approval after the event. Only work carried out after 11 November 1985 can be regularised, and you may have to open up or alter the work before a regularisation certificate is issued.

Penalties

Breaking the Building Regulations is an offence under section 35 of the Building Act 1984. On conviction in the Crown Court the penalty is up to 2 years in prison, a fine, or both, with a further daily fine while the breach continues. The building control body can also make you pay to put faulty work right. The current version of this offence took effect in England on 1 October 2023 and in Wales on 1 July 2026.

From 1 October 2026, applications for building control approval and initial notices for certain residential buildings may be subject to the Building Safety Levy.

Appeals

In England, you can appeal to the Building Safety Regulator if a local authority rejects your application or refuses a completion or regularisation certificate, or a registered approver refuses a plans certificate. Appeals have legal time limits, so start straight away.