Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024
What this means for your business
- Enforced by
- BSR
- Applies to
- United Kingdom
- On this page
- 13 compliance obligations, 1 practical guide
What you must do
13 compliance obligations under this legislation.
Management duties 3
Consult fire and rescue authority before issuing building control notices and certificates
If you act as a building control approver (e.g. a private approved inspector or authorised building control body) you must contact the local fire and rescue service before you give an initial notice, amendment notice, plans certificate or final certificate for work on a fire‑safety‑order‑covered building or a material change of use. You must provide the fire service with the relevant plans and wait at least 15 working days for their feedback unless they reply sooner.
Consult sewerage undertaker before issuing building notices or certificates
If you are the approved building control professional (the person who gives an initial notice, amendment notice, plans certificate or final certificate) for work that falls under the H4 sewerage requirements, you must inform the local sewerage company and give them the relevant plans. You cannot issue the certificate until at least 15 working days have passed unless the sewerage company responds earlier.
Fix building‑regulation breaches within three months of notice
If a building control approver tells you in writing that your work does not meet the Building Regulations, you must either remove the non‑compliant work or alter it (or, for certain specialist work, improve competence) within three months. If you do not act, the approver will cancel the initial notice, which can lead to enforcement action.
Notifications 3
Notify the building approver of any new duty‑holder
When you, as the client, appoint a principal contractor, principal designer (or their equivalents) for building work, you must tell the building control approver who they are, when they started and, if they replace someone, details of the outgoing duty‑holder. The notice has to be sent within 14 days of the appointment. Home‑owner clients have a slightly different information‑flow, but the same 14‑day deadline applies.
Submit initial notice in the prescribed form with required plans
When you are about to start building work that requires an initial notice, you must use the correct form (Form 1 or Form 4) and attach all the plans and documents the form asks for. Submitting the notice correctly ensures the local authority can assess your work and avoid delays.
Use the prescribed Form 8 when notifying a change of contractor
If you need to tell the building control authority that a different person will carry out the work, you must do it on the specific Form 8 set out in Schedule 1 of the Regulations. Using any other format is not accepted, so keep the correct form handy and complete it whenever you change the contractor.
Reporting and filing 7
Issue final certificate using the prescribed Form 5
When you, as a registered building control approver, complete a building project you must issue the final certificate on the specific Form 5 set out in Schedule 1. The local authority will then have ten working days to reject it if it finds any of the grounds listed in Schedule 4.
Provide full information in transfer certificates
If you issue a transfer certificate for unfinished building work, you must ensure it contains detailed statements about the work and all inspections carried out. You have to sign a declaration that everything is compliant and get the work‑carrying party to agree to the certificate. This keeps the record accurate and protects both you and the client.
Provide requested building control information within 21 days
If you are the registered building control approver, you must reply to any notice from the local authority asking for information about the work they have been notified of. You have to send that information to the authority – and, where required, to the contractor – within 21 days of receiving the notice.
Submit a completion notice within 5 days of finishing building work
When you finish any building work that falls under regulation 22(1), you must send a completion notice to the appropriate authority within five days. The notice must contain contact details for the client, principal contractor and designer, confirm the work is finished and that it meets the building regulations, and include signed statements from each party (or reasons why a statement is missing).
Submit a compliance declaration to the building control approver
When the building work you commissioned is finished, you must send the building control approver a notice confirming the work is complete and complies with the Building Regulations. The notice must include your contact details, those of the principal contractor and designer, signed statements from them that they have met their duties, and an explanation if any statements are missing.
Submit a correct plans certificate for building work
When you need a plans certificate for a building project you must use the correct prescribed form – form 3 if it is not joined with an initial notice, or form 4 if it is. Make sure you keep the certificate and any rejection notice, as the local authority has five working days to tell you if they reject it.
Submit amendment notices using the prescribed form and documents
When you need to change a building control application, you must send an amendment notice on the exact form (Form 2) and include all the plans and documents that the form requires. Using the correct format ensures the local authority can consider your amendment promptly.
Practical guidance
Our guides explain how to comply with the requirements above.
Sections and provisions
49 classified provisions from this legislation.
Duties 15
- s.6 Form, grounds and period for rejecting initial notice
- s.7 Invalid notices or certificates
- s.8 Form, grounds and period for rejecting amendment notice
- s.9 Consultation with the fire and rescue authority part of it
- s.10 Consultation with the sewerage undertaker
- s.11 Plans certificate
- s.13 Form, grounds and period for rejecting final certificate
- s.14 Form of notice under section 51C of the 1984 Act
- s.17 Notification of dutyholders
- s.18 Compliance declarations
- s.21 Cancellation of initial notice: notice of contravention of building regulations
- s.23 Periods within which information on work to which an initial notice relates must be provided
- s.25 Information to be included in transfer certificates report or assessment referred
- s.30 Register of notices and certificates
- Completion notices Completion notices
Definitions 9
- s.2 Interpretation the 1984 Act the 2022 Act the 2010 Regulations
- Schedule 3 Grounds for rejecting a plans certificate or plans certificate combined with an initial notice
- Schedule 4 Grounds for rejecting a final certificate
- s.20 Cancellation of initial notices: forms etc.
- s.26 Grounds for rejecting a transfer certificate and transfer report
- s.27 Cases where a further initial notice may be given after cancellation of an initial notice under section 53D specified disciplinary order
- s.31 Registration periods
- s.33 Review of regulator’s decisions under Part 2A of the 1984 Act
- s.48 Interpretation of Part 8 AI Regulations pre-1st October 2023 work approved inspector
Exemptions 9
- Schedule 5 Grounds for rejecting a transfer certificate and transfer report
- s.12 Effect of plans certificate
- s.16 Lapse of initial notice: commencement of work
- s.35 Contravention of certain regulations not to be an offence or be subject to a compliance notice
- s.38 Amendments to the Building Regulations 2010 and transitional provision
- s.39 Consequential amendment to the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 and transitional provision
- s.44 Transitional provisions: approved inspectors who became approvers
- s.45 Transitional provisions: approved inspectors who did not become approvers
- s.47 Transitional provisions: cases where building work supervised by approved inspector is not completed before October 2024