Building Regulations
What to do about a missing completion certificate
Short answer
First find out which document should exist. Council-supervised work ends in a completion certificate (regulation 17 of the Building Regulations 2010). Work under a registered approver ends in a final certificate given to the council (Building Act 1984, section 51). Work by a registered installer ends in a competent person certificate (regulation 20). Each is evidence, though not conclusive evidence, that the work complied.
If the document never existed, the fix depends on why: a final inspection by the council, a reversion from an approver to the council, or a regularisation certificate for work that was never notified. Indemnity insurance is a separate, conveyancing option. The council's time limit for a removal or alteration notice is now 10 years from completion, not 12 months.
Why a buyer's solicitor asks
A certificate is the record that building control, or a registered installer, was satisfied the work met the regulations. Regulation 17(4) puts it in terms: a completion certificate "shall be evidence (but not conclusive evidence) that the requirements specified in the certificate have been complied with". gov.uk warns that without approval "you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you want to sell your home". The Planning Portal adds that completion and final certificates are not a guarantee or warranty of the work.
Which document, and where to look
| The work was done under | The document | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Council full plans or building notice | Completion certificate, due within 8 weeks of the completion notice (regulation 17(2)) | The council's building control records |
| A registered approver or, before 6 April 2024, an approved inspector | Final certificate, given to the council (s.51(1)) | The approver, and the council |
| A competent person scheme | Installer's certificate, copy to the occupier within 30 days (regulation 20(3)) | The installer or scheme; the council stores copies (20(3A)) |
| Nothing | No document | See regularisation below |
Your options
Approval exists but no certificate. One cause is that nobody gave the completion notice required within five days of finishing (regulation 16(4)), so the council never made its final inspection. Ask the council to inspect now. It must give a certificate where it is satisfied the requirements have been met (17(1)). If it is not satisfied, there is no certificate until the outstanding work is put right.
An approver's job with no final certificate. The initial notice will have ceased, eight weeks after occupation for a house (2024 Regulations, regulation 19(3)(b)), and the work reverts to the council. The owner must give the council plans on request and may be asked to open up work (regulation 22), and the council charges a reversion charge. See council or registered approver.
Installer's work with no certificate. Ask the installer or the scheme operator for a copy, and ask the council for the notice the installer was required to give it.
No application at all. If the work was carried out on or after 11 November 1985, the owner can apply to the council for a regularisation certificate. The council may require work to be opened up, tested or sampled (regulation 18(3)).
Indemnity insurance. This is a conveyancing product, arranged through the solicitors, and its terms are set by the insurer. A 2015 Law Society article on these policies listed typical conditions, among them that the local authority has not been alerted to the works and that the survey shows no problems with them. So talk to your solicitor before contacting the council about unauthorised work, because contacting it may affect whether a policy is available. A policy covers the insured risk; it does not make the work comply.
The time limits since the Building Safety Act 2022
A notice under subsection (1) or (2) above (called a "section 36 notice") shall not be given after the expiration of 10 years from the date of the completion of the work in question.
Until 1 October 2023 the limit in section 36(4) was 12 months. The Building Safety Act 2022 substituted 10 years, in force in England from that date (SI 2023/993). The saving provision keeps the old wording only for section 36 notices given before 1 October 2023 (SI 2023/993, regulation 7(2)). Guidance written before then, including some council leaflets still online, gives the old 12-month figure.
Two other powers work differently:
- Compliance notices under section 35B cannot be given for a contravention that occurred more than 12 months before the notice (section 35B(6)).
- Injunctions. Section 36(6) preserves the right of the building control authority and others to apply to court for the removal or alteration of work that contravenes the regulations, and the section sets no time limit on it.
These are Building Regulations powers. Planning enforcement is a separate regime with its own limits: see the 10-year enforcement rule.
What this means for you
Selling: gather the certificates for every job before you market the house, and ask the council for its records early. Buying: ask which document should exist for each alteration, and let your solicitor advise on insurance before anyone contacts the council. In both cases: a certificate is evidence of compliance, not a warranty.
This guide covers England; Wales has its own versions of several of these provisions. Parallel Architecture coordinates Building Regulations information as part of its design work, including the drawings a council asks for. Get in touch to talk it through.
Sources
- Building Regulations 2010, regulation 17: completion certificates legislation.gov.uk
- Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18: unauthorised building work legislation.gov.uk
- Building Regulations 2010, regulation 20: self-certification schemes legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 36: removal or alteration of offending work legislation.gov.uk
- Building Act 1984, section 35B: compliance notices legislation.gov.uk
- Building Safety Act 2022, section 39 legislation.gov.uk
- SI 2023/993, regulation 7: transitional provisions on enforcement legislation.gov.uk
- Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024, regulations 19 and 22 legislation.gov.uk
- Building regulations approval gov.uk
- Planning Portal: on site approval planningportal.co.uk
- Law Society, "Build me up", June 2015 lawsociety.org.uk