Regularising unlawful work

It can affect your ability to seel a property if you do not have a completion certificate for building work carried.

It could also affect your insurance, may put you at risk of legal action, and in some circumstances it may even put your safety at risk.

If you own a building, where work was carried out without a building regulation application, you can apply for a regularisation certificate.

Regularisation applications (for work carried out on or after 11 November 1985) can be a lengthy process, especially if extensive work is required to bring a building back up to standard.

You will need to provide:

• Before and after plans
• A specification of the work
• Complete an application form
• Pay the regularisation fee

Once you have provided us with this information, you will need to open up and uncover the work, so we can inspect and check it. As long as the work meets the requirements of the regulations at the time the work was carried out, we will issue you with a regularisation certificate.

It is not the responsibility of Central Building Control to dig trial holes, cut into roofs, walls, or floors etc., or expose drainage. Our role is only to inspect work.

Regulation 18 of the Building Regulations 2010 sets out the legal position.

This application cannot be used to apply for retrospective planning permission. You will need to contact your local council’s planning team for this service.

Please note: While enforcement is time limited, it may still be possible for the respective local authority to take enforcement action if work is not regularised.