'Work carried out does not comply with technical requirements of the building regulations'

During the monitoring of building work in progress by the Building Control Surveyor, it is commonplace for work to be identified that is in need of correction in order to comply with the building regulations.

In these instances, the Surveyor will advise of what needs correcting and will agree a timescale with the builder for when this should be completed. The builder will then usually notify the Surveyor when the correction has been made and a further inspection will be carried out to check that the work is satisfactory.


Other occasions of defective building work

There are other occasions when defective building work is identified that cannot be resolved as described above. Examples are:

  • the builder refuses to correct the work
  • the owner has appointed a new builder part-way through the project
  • there is no overall builder for the project as the owner has employed different contractors to carry out separate parts of the work

In these instances, we will write to the owner of the work outlining the contraventions. If the situation remains unresolved we may instigate prosecution proceedings against the owner of the building work and/ the builder.

In general terms, non-compliance with the regulations is a criminal offence for which we can pursue prosecution proceedings against the perpetrator and/or enforcement action against the owner requiring that the work be corrected or removed.


The responsibility of correcting work

The owner holds full responsibility for correcting the work and we may serve formal notice on the owner setting out details of the defective work and outlining that this must be removed within 28 days. Failure of the owner to comply with this then enables us to carry out the essential work and charge the owner for our costs.

Irrespective of any legal proceedings we may take, the facts of the matter will be recorded on our Property Register and revealed to future purchasers should the property ever be marketed for sale.

Last updated: Mon 29th February, 2016 @ 16:08