Charnwood Borough Council - Leading in Leicestershire

This consists simply of a sketch showing the extent of the work being prepared and submitted to the Council by the owner of the work or by his or her agent. Included with the sketch should be:

1. a Site Location Plan (available on request from Building Control for a small charge)

2. a completed Building Notice Application Form (Building Notice Application Form and Building Notice Check List available at Downloads)

3. an appropriate payment (details available at Building Control Charges)

The Building Notice method cannot be used IF THE WORK HAS ALREADY STARTED (see What if I have not followed the rules?). Nor can it be used if the building work relates to a building which is a certain type of workplace or fronts a private street or is within 3m of a public sewer. The legal definition of what building work can or cannot be the subject of the Buildig Notice method is complex and the above definitions are meant to be a guide only. The Council's Building Control Surveyor will give an exact interpretation in relation to any specific proposal on request.

Once submitted, the Building Notice and enclosures will be assessed for validity. Correspondence will then be issued, usually within 2 working days, either accepting or rejecting the Building Notice or asking for further items.

An essential difference between the Building Notice and the Full Plans Methods is that a satisfactory Building Notice is not actually approved by the Council. Rather, it is merely accepted as being a notification of intent only.

This has the advantage that the process is much quicker and building work can usually commence within 2 working days of submission.

A major disadvantage with submitting a Building Notice however is that, unlike with the Full Plans method, acceptance of the Building Notice by the Council offers no guarantee that the building work you will be undertaking will comply with the Building Regulations. It can therefore often happen that erroneous work is carried out that later has to be altered, thereby necessitating often substantial additional building costs.