Code CND Policy

Terms of Conditional Approval of Full Plans Application Not Complied with for Work Carried Out

Section 16 of the Building Act 1984 permits the Council to approve plans submitted for Building Regulations consent subject to conditions that either certain modifications are later made to the plans or that certain further information will be submitted at a later time.

Ideally, all necessary details showing that the building work will comply with the Building Regulations should be submitted at the time the application is made. However it is accepted that this is not always possible. An example of this could be that details and structural calculations showing compliance of roof trusses with the requirements of the Building Regulations for structural stability may not be available from the supplier until later on in the project. In cases such as this, the Council will, if the work is shown to comply in all other respects, approve the plans subject to the required information being submitted later, but before work on the roof structure commences. In this way, building work associated with the earlier stages of the project, eg construction of foundations, will not be held up unnecessarily.

It is essential that the terms of any conditions stipulated as referred to above are complied with. Failure to do this has the following consequences:

• the Building Control Surveyor will be unable to determine that the work complies with the technical requirements of the Building Regulations and so will be unable to issue a Certificate of Completion for the work; and
• a breach of the procedural requirements of the Building Regulations will have occurred in that neither the owner nor the person carrying out the work will have submitted such plans as are necessary to show that the work being carried out complies with the regulations.

If this situation arises, it is the policy of the Council to write to the owner of the building work and, where possible, the person carrying out the work requiring that the conditions be complied with.

If no response is received over this, the Council will consider bringing prosecution proceedings against either or both, the owner of the building work, or the person who has carried it out. Also, the facts of the matter will be recorded on the Council's Property Register and revealed to future purchasers during Searches should the property ever be marketed for sale.