Compliance and enforcement of the Building Regulations
The law requires anyone carrying out building works which are subject to the Building Regulations to make sure they comply with the Regulations and to use one of two types of Building Control Service available.
It is the job of the Building Control Service to consider whether the plans of the proposed work or work in progress comply with the Regulations.
Responsibility for compliance rests primarily with the person carrying out the building work. If a builder is employed the responsibility will usually be that firm’s. However, the owner of the building will usually be the party upon whom an enforcement notice will be served if the works fail to comply with the Regulations.
The local authority has a general duty to enforce the Regulations in its area and will seek to do so by informal means wherever possible. Approved Inspectors, on the other hand, do not have enforcement powers but in the event that they consider that the building works do not comply with the Regulations, they will not issue a final certificate and will cancel the initial notice by notifying the local authority.
If no other Approved Inspector takes on the work, the Building Control Service will be taken on by the local authority which, if necessary, has the enforcement powers to require alteration of the works.
Contravention of the Regulations is a criminal offence and action may be taken by a local authority within six months from the date of the contravention under section 35 of the Building Act 1984. If convicted Compliance and enforcement of the Building Regulations in the magistrate’s court, that person is liable to be fined up to £5,000 for each offence and may have to pay up to £50 for each day the contravention continues after conviction.
Alternatively or in addition, under section 36 of the Building Act the authority can serve a Notice requiring the owner to: (a) pull down or remove any work contravening the Regulations or (b) to bring the work into compliance with the regulations itself and recover the costs of doing so from the owner.
It must be borne in mind that a section 36 enforcement Notice must be served within 12 months of commission of the defective works. Enforcement actions under s35 and s 36 of the Building Act will not be allowed if the plans had been approved by the authority or they failed to reject them within the statutory time of five weeks from deposit of the plans, or two months if mutually agreed.
In addition to the risk of facing enforcement action for non compliance of the regulations, the owner of the property will not be issued with a completion certificate. This will undoubtedly impact on the owner of the building when they want to sell the property.
