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Start a conversationBuilding regulations approval, explained.
The step after planning, with its own routes, its own clock and its own certificate.
Reviewed October 2026
The short answer
Building regulations approval is separate from planning permission. Apply to the council with full plans or a building notice, or give an initial notice with a private approver. Councils must decide full plans within five weeks unless you agree longer, and approval lapses three years after applying unless work has legally commenced.
In practice · Cross Street
Eight flats through full plans
Full plans buy certainty: the council checks the design, and work built to the approved plans is protected from removal notices. On this scheme the check raised points, the approval came with conditions, and every pre-start condition was cleared before the build began.
The order of work
01Full plans depositedApril 2023.
02Plan checkEight points raised, May 2023.
03Conditional approvalNine conditions, June 2023.
04Built and completedStarted 2024; complete March 2025.
Eight apartments in Leamington Spa. We made the full plans application in April 2023, and our fire strategy drawing was among the documents the council examined.
The job
- Site
- Cross Street, eight apartments in Leamington Spa
- Role
- Architect, and agent for the full plans application
- Approval
- Warwick Building Control ref BCW/23/00464/FP, June 2023
- Outcome
- All eight flats recorded complete, March 2025
The plan check in May 2023 raised eight points, among them bedrooms planned as inner rooms with no alternative means of escape. The approval in June 2023 came with nine conditions, among them three to meet before work started, drainage details before the drains, and a pressure test and as-built calculations before the completion certificates.
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The three pre-start conditions covered the structure, sound insulation, and ventilation and overheating. They were cleared in October and November 2023, and the council's register records the start on 18 January 2024 and the completion of all eight flats in March 2025.
The approval notice also said that it did not imply planning permission where that was needed. The two regimes run side by side, and each has to be satisfied on its own terms.
Those dates fall under the rules in force before October 2023. Then as now, a council could approve full plans with conditions only at the applicant's written request or with written consent; since October 2023, further plans must also be provided before the work they cover starts.
The proof
Four projects through building control.
Full plans · passed
A house at Weedon
A single-storey extension and car port to a house near Weedon. Our full plans application, made in July 2022, was passed without conditions on 18 August 2022, on our technical drawings and building specification.
Passed August 2022 · View project
Full plans · conditional
Ashlawn Road
An extension and remodel in Rugby. The council's approval of July 2025 came with five conditions, one of them that the area of glazing looked excessive for the energy rules, and work started on site in September 2025.
Ref BCR/25/00288/FP · View project
Listed home · conditional
Barby Wood
A listed farmhouse and its outbuildings near Daventry, consented as one home. The full plans approval of May 2026 came with conditions, among them energy calculations and access for the fire service, and the council's register records work commencing in June 2026.
Ref FP/2025/0256 · View project
Private route · built
Hazell House
A new house near Rugby on the private route: the approved inspector's initial notice was accepted by the council in October 2019. We handled building control liaison through to certification, alongside the building contract we administered.
Ref BCR/19/00768/API · View project
Every planning application we make in our own name is a matter of public record on a council register, and ours reach more than 100 planning authorities across the UK.
Architects for private homes →
01 · Where you stand
Check whether you need approval
Building regulations apply to building work: a new building or extension, alterations affecting structure, fire escape or access, new services and fittings, some changes of use, major roof, wall or floor renovations, cavity insulation and underpinning. A detached single-storey building of up to 30 square metres with no sleeping accommodation, and a ground-floor porch or conservatory of that size, are exempt on conditions.
Work by an installer registered with a competent person scheme needs no application of your own. A higher-risk building, at least 18 metres or seven storeys and holding two or more homes, a care home or a hospital, goes to the Building Safety Regulator instead.
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Three kinds of work rule out a building notice and need full plans or a private approver: work to a building the Fire Safety Order applies to (or will, once complete); a new building fronting a private street; and work over or near a sewer.
From 1 October 2026, a full plans application or initial notice for ten or more new homes may also attract the Building Safety Levy. Building notices are outside it, and smaller schemes and social housing are exempt.
02 · The routes
Four routes through building control
Two routes run through the council, one through a private approver, and one exists for work already done. Each fails in its own way.
Route 01
Full plans
The council checks the plans against the Regulations and must decide within five weeks, unless you agree a longer period in writing. Work built to approved plans cannot later be the subject of a removal notice for breaching the Regulations.
Where it fails: a late decision is not an approval, and an approval lapses if work has not commenced within three years.
Route 02
Building notice
Notice instead of plans. Work can start two working days after a notice of intention to start, and the council inspects at the stages it chooses. It is not an approval, so it gives no protection from a removal notice.
Where it fails: not allowed for Fire Safety Order buildings, new buildings on a private street, or work over or near a sewer.
Route 03
Private approver
An initial notice given jointly by you and a registered building control approver, which the council can reject only on set grounds within five working days. The approver checks and inspects, then gives the council a final certificate. It is not open to higher-risk buildings.
Where it fails: if the building is occupied without a final certificate for four or eight weeks, depending on the building, the notice ends.
Route 04
Regularisation
For work done without approval on or after 11 November 1985. The owner applies to the council, which may require the work to be opened up, and may issue a regularisation certificate once satisfied. A private approver cannot do this.
Where it fails: the council can still serve a removal notice up to ten years after completion, and regularisation costs more than applying first.
03 · The clock
Since 2023, commenced has a legal meaning
Since 1 October 2023, an approval lapses unless the work has commenced within three years of the day the application was made. For a new house or an extension that enlarges the footprint, that means the foundations, any basement and the ground-floor structure are complete; digging the trenches is not enough.
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For most other work, it means 15% of the work described in the application, as named by the client. The builder must tell the council within five days of commencement, and the council can reject that notice within four weeks.
The same test decides which energy rules apply. New Part L rules come into force on 24 March 2027, and work notified before then keeps the 2021 standards only if that building has commenced before 24 March 2028.
Common questions
Building regulations, answered
How long does building regulations approval take?
For full plans, the council must decide within five weeks, unless you agree a longer period in writing.
More
A building notice has no approval stage and work can start two working days after notice. The old limit of two months with your agreement ended on 1 October 2023 (GOV.UK's guide still gave it in October 2026). A late decision is not an approval. On the private route the council has five working days to reject an initial notice. For a higher-risk building the Building Safety Regulator has 12 weeks for a new building and 8 weeks for work to an existing one.
How much does building regulations approval cost?
There is no national building regulations fee. Each council sets charges to recover its costs and private approvers negotiate their own.
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From 1 April 2026, for example, West Northamptonshire charged £191.75 for the plans and £528.50 for inspection on a domestic extension of 10 to 40 square metres. Stratford-on-Avon charged £201 and £464 for a single-storey extension under 40 square metres. Both councils' figures include VAT. Councils charge nothing for work solely to give a disabled occupant access or facilities. The first hour of advice is free.
Do I need building regulations approval if I have planning permission?
Usually, yes. They are separate regimes: planning permission does not give building regulations approval and approval does not give planning permission.
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A project can need one, both or neither. Party wall matters are a third, separate regime, under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. How planning permission works is covered in the guide to getting planning permission.
What is a building notice?
A notice to the council instead of plans. It is not an approval: the council inspects as the work goes on.
More
The council can ask for plans. The notice lapses after three years if work has not commenced. It cannot be used for a building the Fire Safety Order applies to, a new building fronting a private street, or work over or near a sewer. In September 2026 the government reminded councils that it had consulted on requiring full plans for all new homes on the council route; its response was still to come.
Can I use a private inspector instead of the council?
Yes, for most work. You and a registered building control approver give the council a joint initial notice.
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The approver then checks and inspects the work. On 6 April 2024 registered building control approvers replaced approved inspectors. Only inspectors who had registered could take on new work. The route is not available for higher-risk buildings, which go to the Building Safety Regulator, or for work already done, which only the council can regularise. At the end the approver gives the council a final certificate.
Does building regulations approval expire?
Yes. An approval or initial notice lapses if the work has not commenced within three years of the day the application or notice was given.
More
Commenced has had a legal meaning since 1 October 2023: for a new house or an extension that enlarges the footprint, the foundations, any basement and the ground-floor structure must be complete. A building notice also lapses three years after it was given, unless work has commenced.
What if work was done without building regulations approval?
The owner can apply to the council for a regularisation certificate, for work done on or after 11 November 1985. A private approver cannot regularise.
More
The council may require the work to be opened up for inspection and issues the certificate only if satisfied. It can also serve a notice to remove or alter non-compliant work up to ten years after completion, the limit since 1 October 2023. Contravening the Building Regulations is an offence.
When do I get a completion certificate, and what does it prove?
The builder notifies the council within five days of finishing. The council must issue the certificate within eight weeks if it is satisfied.
More
The notice includes a statement signed by the client that, to the best of their knowledge, the work complies. The certificate is evidence of compliance, but not conclusive proof. On the private route the approver gives a final certificate to the council instead.
Sources
Where this page comes from
The main rules here come from the sources below.
Checked 14 October 2026
- Regulations
- Building Regulations 2010: notices, full plans, completion
- Act
- Building Act 1984: lapse, initial notices, enforcement
- Higher-risk
- Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions etc.) Regulations 2023, reg 2
- GOV.UK
- Building regulations approval, GOV.UK
- Documents
- The Approved Documents, Parts A to T
- Fees
- West Northamptonshire and Stratford fees, April 2026
- Our record
- Council notices and registers for the five projects here
Written by
Rickett Architects
A RIBA Chartered practice, working since 1970, with more than 2,500 projects behind it. Our senior architects take projects from first survey through planning to completion, for private clients, developers and landowners across the Midlands and well beyond it.