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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

Comply with the ground rent ban on new residential leases

If you grant a long residential lease in England or Wales on or after 30 June 2022, ground rent is limited to one peppercorn a year. Trading Standards can fine you up to £30,000 for each lease where you demand more.

Applies to some businesses in this sector – open the guide to check

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

Remove or manage hedgerows lawfully

To remove a protected countryside hedgerow you must send a hedgerow removal notice to your local planning authority. It has 42 days to serve a retention notice on an important hedgerow. Intentionally or recklessly removing a hedgerow without following the process is an offence with an unlimited fine.

Applies if you fell, prune or carry out tree work, or if you are developing land, or changing the use of land or buildings

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

Manage invasive non-native species on your land

You do not have to eradicate invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam from your land in England or Wales, but you must not let them spread into the wild. Moving contaminated soil or plant material off site can be a criminal offence.

Applies if you dig, move or dump soil, or clear vegetation, where invasive plants may be present, or if you are developing land, or changing the use of land or buildings

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

Get a water discharge permit

If your business discharges effluent, waste water or contaminated run-off into rivers, the sea or the ground, you need an environmental permit; discharging without one can mean up to 5 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Discharges to a public sewer need trade effluent consent from your water company instead.

Applies if you release liquid effluent or waste water into a river, the sea or the ground

Trade effluent consent for discharging to sewers

If your business discharges liquid waste other than domestic sewage into a public sewer, you need trade effluent consent from your sewerage company. Discharging without it is a criminal offence under the Water Industry Act 1991, with an unlimited fine.

Applies if you put process liquids, washwater or other non-household effluent down the drain into the public sewer

Apply for a water abstraction licence

If you take more than 20 cubic metres of water a day from a river, stream, borehole or other natural source, you need an abstraction licence; abstracting without one is a criminal offence. Start early with a pre-application enquiry, because the regulator must check your abstraction won't harm the water body.

Applies if you take water from a river, borehole, spring or well rather than the mains

Demolition safety and compliance

Before demolishing any building in England or Wales, give the local authority at least 6 weeks' written notice under section 80 of the Building Act 1984, and do not start until the notice period ends or it responds. You also need an asbestos survey, a structural assessment and a method statement.

Applies if you are demolishing a building or structure

Get a street works permit or Section 50 licence

Before you dig up or place apparatus in a public road or pavement, you need a permit or must give notice to the highway authority. Anyone who is not a utility company also needs a Section 50 street works licence, and qualified staff must supervise the works.

Applies if you dig up, break open or work in the public road or footway

Carry out works affecting the strategic road network

Works on or next to a motorway or trunk road in England need National Highways approval before they start, and working without it is a criminal offence. Highway alterations need a Section 278 agreement, designs must meet the DMRB, and all planned works need a road space booking.

Applies if you dig up, break open or work in the public road or footway

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

Create a construction phase plan

No construction work may start until a written construction phase plan is in place, however small the project. On a project with more than one contractor the Principal Contractor prepares it; otherwise the contractor does, and starting without one is a criminal offence.

Applies if you control a construction site as principal contractor or site manager, or if you manage or co-ordinate construction projects for other people

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

Building safety duties for designers

If you design buildings in England, the building regulations dutyholder and competence regime applies to you, and any project with more than one contractor needs a Principal Designer appointed in writing. On higher-risk buildings, designers also carry golden thread and gateway duties, with personal liability for failures.

Applies if you design construction work, or prepare or advise on designs others build from

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.

Relevant across several parts of this sector.

Reinstatement standards for highway works

Anyone carrying out street works must reinstate the road to the Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways, carrying out both the interim and permanent reinstatement and paying for defects within the guarantee period. Operatives and supervisors must hold the relevant street works qualifications.

Applies if you dig up, break open or work in the public road or footway

Construction product marking - CE and UKCA compliance

Construction products sold in Great Britain can carry the CE mark until further notice, and UKCA marking is voluntary. Since 8 January 2026, products that meet the new EU Construction Products Regulation also satisfy the GB rules.

Applies if you distribute or resell construction products made by others