Building Control Sign-off Without Initial Notice

I've had a lot of work carried out, mostly by a builder, and although I knew that it would need signing off, I did not realise that it was a requirement to make the council aware that you were planning to carry out works, as the builder did not tell me this. Granted I completely agree that I had a responsibility to look into it, but here we are...

I was originally going to go through the builder to get everything signed off, but I'm losing patience with how long it's taking him to do tasks, so out of fear that it will take months for him to get around to sorting out building control, I'm trying to get it sorted myself.

I'm worried though that pretty much everything that building control would need to see has been done (albeit mostly still visible), and I didn't give any notice to the council to get it approved.

Does anyone know what is likely to happen with this? I've got calculations, etc. for the steels I've had put in, and I'm pretty confident it's as per the regs, so it's not so much a lack of compliance that I'm concerned about.

For reference, the following is what I've had done:

• Replacement of pre-existing (installed before I owned the house) structural beam as previous beam was unsafe
• Removal and supporting of load-bearing wall
• Re-routing of soil pipe above ground and new connection into original below ground soil pipework
• Removal of chimney breast
• Replacement of external door
• Relaying of pre-existing (installed before I owned the house) concrete floor as previous floor was uneven complete with insulation and damp-proof course

You could contact a private building control company -they might be somewhat pragmatic.

To start you will need to provide plans and or specifications.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to get inspections done retrospectively. Inpections need to be done whilst everythign is exposed. In your case the only issue may be just the concrete oversite -do you have any photos of it before the concrete was poured? How much insulation has been or is being laid on the floor?

Why is the builder so slow -it only sounds like a few weeks work......

Notch7 said:

You could contact a private building control company -they might be somewhat pragmatic.

To start you will need to provide plans and or specifications.

Unfortunately it is very difficult to get inspections done retrospectively. Inpections need to be done whilst everythign is exposed. In your case the only issue may be just the concrete oversite -do you have any photos of it before the concrete was poured? How much insulation has been or is being laid on the floor?

Why is the builder so slow -it only sounds like a few weeks work......

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I've submitted a request for a quotation from one and am waiting to hear back. Since posting this, my local council responded to my email with a regularisation application form which I believe is the formal way of retrospectively signing off works. What concerns me with this is whether they will review everything in the house, or only what I've drawn their attention to - there's also an extension which was not signed off by a previous owner and I'm reluctant to ask for this to be looked at as I had no input into the build and have an indemnity policy against it.

The only thing which isn't exposed as you suggest, is the concrete flooring, although as luck would have it, there's a section of the flooring which hasn't been completed yet, so in theory I can get some pictures of this to provide to them.

As for the speed of the builder, your guess is as good as mine. The majority of what I've listed above has been completed in sporadic visits over the last 14 months or so. He's currently replacing the door which he started in July along with digging up and replacing the concrete floor, and it's still not finished...

The Inspector has no authority over any previous building work, only the work to which the Regularization application relates.
They usually just look at foundation size/depth; damp-proofing under the floor; cavity wall insulation; roof joists and insulation; any steelwork you
have put in; means of escape.

Notch7 said:

You could contact a private building control company -they might be somewhat pragmatic

Click to expand...

They can be as pragmatic as they like, but they can't do regularisation work, only the council can.

^woody^ said:

They can be as pragmatic as they like, but they can't do regularisation work, only the council can.

Click to expand...

Ah ok.....

I’d wait until your selling the place.