Building Regulations
Council building control or a registered building control approver?
Short answer
For work that is not higher-risk building work you can choose. Your council's building control offers full plans, a building notice and, for work already done, regularisation. A registered building control approver is a private business registered with the Building Safety Regulator; it works under an initial notice that you and the approver give to the council together, and it issues a final certificate at the end.
Both are lawful routes to the same standards. The differences are in the paperwork, the fees, who can enforce, and what happens if the job ends without a certificate. If your flat is in a higher-risk building, the Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority and neither route is open for most work.
Who is who
The council is the building control authority for its area (Building Act 1984, section 121A). It has the enforcement powers: removal or alteration notices under section 36, compliance notices under section 35B and stop notices under section 35C.
A registered building control approver replaced the old approved inspector regime when the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024 came into force on 6 April 2024. Every private business doing building control work in England must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, which publishes the register on gov.uk. An approver must have no professional or financial interest in the work, which rules out anyone who designed or built it (regulation 3 of the 2024 Regulations).
The Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority for higher-risk buildings in England (section 91ZA): buildings at least 18 metres or 7 storeys high that contain at least 2 residential units or are a hospital or care home. gov.uk lists the exceptions for work to an existing higher-risk building: exempt work, work under a competent person scheme, fibre optic cabling work and emergency repairs.
How the two routes compare
| Step | Council | Registered approver |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Full plans application or building notice | Initial notice given jointly by you and the approver to the council (s.47(1)); the council has five working days to reject it, or it is presumed accepted (2024 Regulations, regulation 6(4); s.47(3)) |
| Plans | Checked and approved on full plans; none on a building notice | A plans certificate if you ask for one (s.50(1B) and (1C)) |
| Before starting | Notice of intention to start, then at least two days (2010 Regulations, regulation 16(1)) | Notice to the approver at least two working days before starting (2024 Regulations, regulation 15(1)) |
| Fees | The council's charging scheme, set to recover its costs | Negotiated with the approver |
| At the end | Completion certificate within 8 weeks of your completion notice (regulation 17) | Final certificate given to the council (s.51(1)), which may reject it within ten working days (2024 Regulations, regulation 13(3)) |
| Work that does not comply | The council can require it to be altered or removed | The approver cannot enforce: it gives written notice, allows three months, then cancels the initial notice (2024 Regulations, regulation 21) and the council takes over |
| Work already built without approval | Regularisation certificate (regulation 18) | Not available |
When an approver's job ends without a final certificate
An initial notice does not last for ever. If an extension is occupied and no final certificate has been given, the notice ceases eight weeks after occupation for a house (regulation 19(3)(b) of the 2024 Regulations). In other cases it ceases eight weeks after the work is substantially completed (19(5)). The council can extend these periods (19(7)).
Once the notice has ceased or been cancelled, the work reverts to the council. The owner must give the council plans of the work on request and may be required to cut into or lay open work so it can be checked (regulation 22). The council makes a reversion charge for this (Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010, regulation 5(1)(da)); Bristol City Council, for example, sets it case by case. This is the situation behind many missing completion certificates.
What differs for a householder
- No building notice with an approver. Every job starts with an initial notice. Detailed plan checking is available through a plans certificate if you ask for it.
- Regularisation is council only. gov.uk says so plainly, and regulation 18 gives the power to the relevant authority. An initial notice is given by a person intending to carry out work (s.47(1)), so it cannot cover work already finished.
- Enforcement stays with the council. An approver's last resort is to cancel its initial notice. The council's is a notice with legal force.
- Dutyholder paperwork goes to whoever supervises. With an approver, appointments and the completion declarations from the principal designer and principal contractor go to the approver (2024 Regulations, regulations 17 and 18). With the council they go to the council (2010 Regulations, regulations 11O and 16(4A)). See the Building Regulations principal designer.
- Both end with evidence, not a guarantee. A council completion certificate and an approver's final certificate are each "evidence (but not conclusive evidence)" that the requirements were met (2010 Regulations, regulation 17(4); 2024 Regulations, regulation 13(4)). The Planning Portal adds that neither is a warranty.
What this means for you
Choose on service, price and how much design checking you want before work starts. Check that an approver is on the Building Safety Regulator's register, and for which types of work, before you sign. If a job may stall or the builder may leave before the end, the council route avoids the reversion step. If the work is already built, only the council can regularise it. The choice between full plans and a building notice is covered in full plans or building notice.
This guide covers England; Wales has its own register and regulations. Parallel Architecture coordinates the Building Regulations information for the projects it designs, whichever route the client chooses. Get in touch to talk a project through.
Sources
- Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024 legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 47: initial notices legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 51: final certificates legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 91ZA: the regulator for higher-risk buildings legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 121A: meaning of building control authority legislation.gov.uk
- Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18: unauthorised building work legislation.gov.uk
- Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010, regulation 5 legislation.gov.uk
- Building regulations approval: how to apply gov.uk
- Building control approval for higher-risk buildings gov.uk
- Find a registered building control approver in England gov.uk
- Planning Portal: on site approval planningportal.co.uk