Building Regulations approval in England

 

Building Regulations set minimum legal standards for how building work is designed and carried out. They cover structure, fire safety, ventilation, drainage, energy efficiency, access, electrical safety and the quality of materials and workmanship.

This guide explains Building Regulations approval in England, how it differs from planning permission, the application routes, inspections, certificates and what to do if work has already been carried out.

 

What are Building Regulations?

 

The legal framework starts with the Building Act 1984. The detailed rules are mainly in the Building Regulations 2010, as amended, including reforms made under the Building Safety Act 2022.

The Regulations deal with the technical standard of building work. The government publishes Approved Documents showing common ways to meet the requirements. They are guidance rather than a complete design manual, and another compliant solution may be possible.

Our document library also holds copies of the Building Act 1984 (PDF generated 6th July 2026) and Building Regulations 2010 (PDF dated 22nd July 2026). These are dated reference copies, not automatically updated legislation. Check their annotations, territorial provisions and any later changes against the official legislation linked above.

 

Planning permission and Building Regulations are different

 

Planning permission normally asks whether development or a change of use is acceptable. Building Regulations approval asks whether the design and construction meet the required technical standards. A project may need both approvals, one of them or neither.

Planning permission does not approve construction details, and a Building Regulations certificate does not grant planning permission. The same applies to permitted development. An extension or conversion may be permitted development and still require Building Regulations approval.

A Certificate of Lawfulness for proposed development confirms the planning position only. It does not certify the building work.

 

Work that commonly needs Building Regulations approval

 

The answer depends on the work and the building, but common examples include:

• Constructing a new house or other building
• Building an extension or carrying out a loft conversion
• Removing a load-bearing wall or making another structural alteration
• Converting a garage or changing how a building is used
• Installing or altering drainage, heating or certain electrical systems
• Replacing windows, external doors or roof coverings where the Regulations apply
• Installing insulation or altering a thermal element

There are exemptions and some work can be self-certified by a registered installer. Check the particular project before starting. Planning Geek guides where the two systems overlap include extensions, roof alterations, garage conversions, replacement windows and doors, outbuildings and changes of use.

 

Choosing a Building Regulations approval route

 

For ordinary work that is not higher-risk building work, you can use the local authority building control service or appoint a private registered building control approver.

Under the local authority route, the main choices are:

• Full plans application: detailed drawings, specifications and calculations are submitted for a formal decision. Work may start before that decision in some cases, but doing so is at the applicant’s risk
• Building notice: less information is submitted in advance, there is no formal approval of the design before construction and the route is not available for every project

Full plans normally gives greater certainty where work is structural, unusual or complex. A building notice may suit some smaller domestic projects, but problems may only become clear during an inspection.

If you appoint a registered building control approver, an initial notice is given to the local authority. The approver manages the process and, if satisfied at the end, issues a final certificate. The old term approved inspector is no longer the current term for new private-sector work in England.

You can check the official register of building control approvers. Individual inspectors carrying out restricted functions must be registered building inspectors, whether they work for a council or privately. Their details can be checked on the registered building inspector service.

Building control charges are separate from planning application fees. Local authorities set charges to recover their costs, while registered building control approvers agree fees with the client. Ask what inspections and project changes are included.

 

Building Safety Levy from 1st October 2026

 

The Building Safety Levy starts in England on 1st October 2026. Building-control submissions for new homes or purpose-built student accommodation may need levy information even where an exemption means there is no charge to pay. Where a charge is due, payment also affects completion and occupation.

Read our Building Safety Levy guide for the development thresholds, exemptions, rates, conversions, transitional protection and the current position on building notices. The levy is separate from ordinary building-control charges, CIL and planning application fees.

 

Dutyholders, commencement and inspections

 

The October 2023 reforms introduced clearer duties for clients, designers and contractors on all building work in England. They must plan, manage and monitor the work so that it complies. Where required, principal designer and principal contractor roles must be dealt with correctly. Anyone doing design or construction work must be competent for that work.

The government guide to dutyholders and competence explains these responsibilities. A homeowner should not assume that appointing a builder automatically transfers every legal duty.

Building control must be told when work is starting and must be able to inspect important stages. For work following the ordinary local authority route, the person carrying out the work must give notice before starting and wait until at least two working days have elapsed after the end of the day on which the notice was given.

A separate commencement notice must then be given no more than five working days after the day the work reaches the statutory commencement point. For these periods, the Regulations exclude Saturdays, Sundays, bank holidays and public holidays. Separate notice rules apply to higher-risk building work and to work overseen by a registered building control approver.

For a typical new building or horizontal extension, commencement normally requires the sub-surface structure, foundations and ground-floor structure to have reached the required stage. Building control approval can lapse after three years if the legal commencement test has not been met. Transitional rules can affect older applications, so obtain written confirmation rather than assuming a token start has kept the approval alive.

Inspection stages depend on the project and commonly include foundations, damp-proofing, drainage, structural work, insulation and completion. Do not cover work before the inspector has had the opportunity to see it.

 

Completion certificates and competent person schemes

 

At completion, the required completion notice and dutyholder declarations must be supplied. For the ordinary local authority route, the completion notice is normally required within five working days after completion. Missing declarations can prevent a certificate being issued.

A local authority, or the Building Safety Regulator where it is the building control authority, issues a completion certificate when satisfied. A registered building control approver issues a final certificate. Keep the application, approved drawings, inspection records, test certificates and the completion or final certificate together.

If you are buying a house and Building Regulations paperwork is missing, do not assume the absence of a certificate means no approval ever existed. The records may need tracing, and regularisation is only one of the possible routes.

A certificate is useful evidence of the building control position when issued. It is not a structural warranty, a guarantee that no defect exists or confirmation that planning permission was obtained.

Some work can be self-certified by an installer registered with an authorised competent person scheme, including certain electrical, window, heating and insulation work. Check both the installer and the exact work covered. The homeowner should receive and retain the compliance certificate. GOV.UK explains how to use a competent person scheme.

 

Regularisation of unauthorised work

 

If controlled work was carried out without the proper application, the retrospective route for an ordinary building is usually a regularisation application to the local authority. Private registered building control approvers cannot regularise ordinary unauthorised work.

Regularisation is available for qualifying work carried out after 11th November 1985. The council may require drawings, calculations, tests, trial holes or finished work to be opened up. Remedial work may be needed before a regularisation certificate can be issued.

The work is assessed against the requirements that applied when it was carried out. A regularisation certificate does not grant retrospective planning permission or make an unlawful planning use lawful. Separate planning advice and, where appropriate, a Certificate of Lawfulness for existing use or development may be needed.

Do not assume that applying automatically prevents enforcement. Obtain advice from the council and from an architect, building surveyor, structural engineer or other suitable specialist before opening up or altering important work.

 

Proceeding without approval and the ten-year period

 

Failing to follow the procedure, or carrying out work that does not meet the technical requirements, can lead to prosecution, enforcement and expensive remedial work. For newer contraventions, local authorities and the Building Safety Regulator can use compliance and stop notices.

The Building Safety Act reforms extended the section 36 period for a notice requiring non-compliant work to be removed or altered from 12 months to 10 years in England. The change took effect on 1st October 2023. The position for work carried out before that date, or where enforcement action had already begun, can be more complicated and should be checked against the transitional provisions. This is not a ten-year amnesty, and other enforcement or safety powers may still apply.

A private registered building control approver does not exercise the local authority prosecution and section 36 powers. Serious non-compliance may pass to the local authority or the Building Safety Regulator.

 

Selling, remortgaging and insurance

 

Missing Building Regulations paperwork often appears during a sale or remortgage. A solicitor or lender may ask for the full plans decision, initial notice, competent person certificate, completion certificate, final certificate or regularisation certificate.

Missing records can delay a transaction and lead to further surveys, opening-up work, regularisation or negotiations about risk. An insurance policy discussed during conveyancing does not prove the work is safe or compliant and does not repair a defect.

Check first whether an application existed and whether a certificate was issued but lost. Obtain advice before contacting the authority where a sale is already in progress.

 

Higher-risk buildings

 

Most household projects are not higher-risk building work. During design and construction, the definition broadly covers buildings at least 18 metres high or at least seven storeys which contain at least two residential units, or are hospitals or care homes. The detailed statutory test must be checked.

The Building Safety Regulator is the building control authority for higher-risk building work. Approval must normally be obtained before work starts, and the ordinary local authority building notice or registered approver route cannot be used for that higher-risk work. GOV.UK provides separate guidance on building control approval for higher-risk buildings.

Transitional projects can be complicated. Do not rely on an old full plans submission or initial notice without checking that the project remained within the transitional arrangements and was sufficiently progressed by the relevant date.

 

Second staircase guidance from 30th September 2026

 

In England, the 2026 changes to Approved Document B take effect on 30th September 2026. They introduce a recommendation for more than one common staircase in blocks of flats with a storey 18 metres or more above ground level. This is not a new planning-permission rule or an automatic requirement to retrofit every existing block.

The measurement is to the upper floor surface of the top storey, from ground level on the lowest side of the building. Rooftop plant areas and a top storey consisting exclusively of plant rooms are excluded. It is not the roof or parapet height, and there is no alternative seven-storey trigger for this particular staircase provision.

The provision is about blocks of flats, not every residential building. Hotels, care homes and other accommodation have their own fire-safety considerations. A conversion, extension or material change of use needs project-specific assessment; the building’s marketing label does not settle whether it contains flats.

To retain the previous guidance, the relevant building notice or initial notice must have been given, or a building control approval application with full plans made, before 30th September 2026. The work must also have started and been sufficiently progressed before that date or within the 18 months beginning on that date. Planning permission alone does not secure that transition.

For a new building, sufficiently progressed means that pouring concrete for permanent trench, pad or raft foundations has started, or permanent placement of piling has started. Site clearance or excavation alone is not that test. For work to an existing building, the work must have started; for a material change of use, work to effect that change must have started. This transition is separate from the ordinary statutory commencement test discussed above.

The changes also address evacuation shafts, lobbies and smoke protection where evacuation lifts are provided. They do not, by themselves, require an evacuation lift in every affected block. An interlocked or scissor stair counts as one escape stair, not two independent alternatives.

A second staircase can alter layouts, the core, elevations, dwelling numbers, massing and viability. Check the approved drawings and conditions: the planning response may be no amendment, a non-material amendment, a section 73 application or a fresh application. There is no automatic rule that adding a staircase requires fresh planning permission.

Agree the technical position and evidence for any transition with the project’s fire specialist and building control body. Building Regulations approval and the planning position both need to be right before work proceeds. Our second staircase practitioner alert explains the transition and associated design changes in more detail.

 

Approved Documents and where Planning Geek can help

 

The Approved Documents cover structure, fire safety, moisture, ventilation, drainage, energy efficiency, access, electrical safety, security, overheating and other requirements. Always use the current edition and check its transitional provisions.

Planning Geek is a planning consultancy, not a building control body. We cannot approve construction details, carry out statutory inspections or issue completion, final or regularisation certificates.

We can help with the planning side, including whether planning permission is required, permitted development, certificates of lawfulness, applications and planning strategy. Technical compliance may need an architect, structural engineer, building surveyor, fire specialist or building control professional.

The safest approach is to deal with planning and Building Regulations together at the start, so the planning drawings, technical design and construction route all line up.

 

Building Regulations Page Updated: 17th September 2026