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Building regulations approval

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1. When you need approval

You must check if you need approval before you construct or change buildings in certain ways.

You do not need to get approval yourself if you use someone registered with a competent person scheme.

Find out about the rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Building regulations approval is different from planning permission. You might need both.

Work covered by building regulations

The Building Regulations 2010 cover the construction and extension of buildings.

You might also need building regulations approval for many alteration projects, including if you plan to:

  • replace fuse boxes and connected electrics
  • install a bathroom that will involve plumbing
  • change electrics near a bath or shower
  • put in a fixed air-conditioning system
  • replace windows and doors
  • replace roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs
  • install or replace a heating system
  • add extra radiators to a heating system

You could need approval, or to follow special rules, for works not listed here – so always research your particular project.

Check with a building control body if you cannot decide if you need approval.

You do not need advance approval for emergency repairs to your boiler or heating system, but there are rules you must follow. 

From 1 October 2026, applications for building control approval and initial notices for certain residential buildings may be subject to a tax called the ‘Building Safety Levy’.

Getting approval for higher-risk buildings

Higher-risk buildings are at least 7 storeys or 18 metres high and any of the following:

  • 2 residential units
  • a hospital
  • a care home

You need building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) before starting:

  • to build a new higher-risk building
  • building work to an existing building that makes it a higher-risk building
  • building work to an existing building that stops it being a higher-risk building
  • building work on an existing higher-risk building, except in certain cases

For work on existing higher-risk buildings, you do not need BSR approval if the building work:

Find out more about getting BSR approval, including exemptions, in the building control approval for higher-risk buildings guidance.

Getting approval for work that is not higher risk

You may need approval from a building control body. You can either choose your local authority’s building control department or a private registered building control approver.

Penalties and problems

The person doing the work could be prosecuted and fined if they do not comply with building regulations.

The relevant building control body - your local authority or the BSR - could make you pay to fix faulty work.

Without approval you will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you want to sell your home.

2. When you do not need approval

You do not need to apply for approval if the work is exempt or not covered by building regulations. You also do not need to apply for approval if the work is done by someone registered with a competent person scheme.

Work that does not need approval

You do not need building regulations approval for exempt projects, including:

  • most repairs, replacements and maintenance work (except heating systems, oil tanks, fuse boxes and glazing units)
  • new power and lighting points, or changes to existing circuits (except around baths and showers)
  • replacing baths, toilets, basins and sinks
  • installing insulation in roof spaces or under timber floors
  • some hot water storage systems holding less than 15 litres
  • gutters or downpipes
  • external doors, if less than half of the door is glazed

Find out more about common projects and check if your work is not covered by building regulations or is exempt.

Check with a building control body if you’re still not sure what to do.

Hire a ‘competent person’

If your project needs approval but you’d rather not apply yourself, you can hire a tradesperson registered with a competent person scheme instead.

You must meet safety and energy efficiency standards even if you do not need formal approval.

3. Use a competent person scheme

Competent person schemes are a way for tradespeople to prove their ability to carry out certain work to required standards, instead of you applying for building regulations approval.

Benefits of a registered tradesperson

An installer (for example of windows or boilers) who’s registered with a scheme can self-certify that their work complies with building standards.

If needed, they’ll tell your local authority about work on your behalf. They’ll also give you a certificate within 8 weeks of completion which can be used as evidence of compliance – it will also show up in solicitors’ searches if you come to sell your home.

Competent person schemes have insurance-backed warranties and complaints procedures if there’s a problem with the work.

Find a ‘competent person’

Search the Competent Persons Register to find a tradesperson, or check that they belong to a scheme.

Search the Electrical Competent Person Register if you’re looking for an electrician to work on your home.

You may have to correct the work or pay a fine if building regulations are not followed.

4. How to apply

Contact a ‘building control body’ (BCB) to check the building regulations or apply for approval.

There are different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Where to apply

There are different building control bodies, depending on whether your building project includes a higher-risk building.

If your work includes a higher-risk building

You need to apply to the Building Safety Regulator, unless the work is exempt, not covered by regulations or carried out by a competent person.

If your work does not include a higher-risk building

You can apply for approval from one of the following:

If you choose a registered building control approver, they’ll tell your local authority about your work. This is called giving an ‘initial notice’.

Choose a type of application

Unless your work includes a higher-risk building, you must decide on the type of application for your planned build, extension or alteration work.

Full plans

This is the most thorough option. You can expect a decision within 5 weeks, or 2 months with your consent.

You’ll usually get a completion certificate within 8 weeks of completion of the building work, as long as it complies.

Building notice

This type of application is only for smaller projects. You can start work 2 days after your notice has been submitted to your BCB. You do not get formal approval like you do with full plans.

Regularisation

You can apply for ‘regularisation’ – retrospective approval for work already carried out without consent – from a local authority BCB only.

Only work carried out after 11 November 1985 can be approved in this way.

You might need to make alterations before your BCB can agree the work complies and give you a regularisation certificate.

You may have to correct the work or pay a fine if building regulations are not followed.

Fees and costs

Local authorities base their fees on their costs.

What you’ll pay depends on the:

  • type of work involved
  • site inspections
  • number of dwellings in the building
  • total floor area, for example in the case of extensions

Private registered building control approvers negotiate their fees directly with you.

You might not have to pay a fee for works carried out solely for a person with a disability.

If your work includes a higher-risk building

Charges for higher-risk building control approval are explained on the Building Safety Regulator charging scheme on the Health and Safety Executive website.

5. Appeals

You can appeal to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) if:

  • a registered building control approver refuses to give you a plans certificate
  • a local authority in England refuses an application to ignore or relax a building regulation requirement
  • a local authority in England rejects an application for building control approval
  • a local authority in England refuses an application for a relevant certificate

How to appeal

Email the BSR to start an appeal.

BSR
bsr-appeals-and-determinations@hse.gov.uk

The BSR can tell you:

  • which appeal route you need to take
  • what documents you’ll need to include in your application
  • how to submit an appeal