You have found out that building work on your home, perhaps a wall taken out, an extension, or a loft conversion, was never signed off by Building Control. It is an unsettling position, but it is common, and there are clear steps you can take. This post explains what Building Control is, what can happen when approval is missing, and how the work can be checked and put right.
This is general guidance for homes in England. It is not advice on your home or your legal position: I have not seen your property, and a solicitor is the right person to advise on a sale or a legal question.
Key Takeaways
- In England, most structural work, extensions, and loft or garage conversions need Building Control approval under the Building Regulations. Planning permission is a separate system.
- Missing approval often comes to light when you sell, and it can delay or complicate a sale.
- Indemnity insurance covers some financial risks of the council taking action. It says nothing about whether the work is safe, and it can be invalidated if the council is told about the work. Speak to your solicitor before you contact the council, unless you think the work may be unsafe.
- For work done on or after 11 November 1985, you can apply to the council for a regularisation certificate. The council may ask for parts of the work to be opened up, and for anything that falls short to be put right.
- A structural engineer can inspect the existing work, check it by calculation, and design any repairs, which helps with a regularisation application.
- If the work shows signs of distress, such as sagging or cracking around an opening, deal with the safety first and the paperwork second.
What Building Control is
The Building Regulations set minimum standards for building work in England, covering structure, fire safety, drainage, insulation, ventilation, and more. Part A covers structure, which is the part that matters most when walls are taken out or new openings are made.
Building Control checks that work meets those standards. It is carried out either by your council’s Building Control team or by a registered building control approver. They usually inspect at key stages, for example before a new beam is covered up, and issue a completion certificate (or a final certificate from a private approver) when they are satisfied.
Without that sign-off, nobody independent has confirmed that the work was done properly. A beam might be too small, a padstone might be missing, or a wall might have been taken out without enough support. Sometimes the work is fine. Sometimes it is not, and the only way to know is to look.
What usually needs approval
Not every job needs Building Control. Like-for-like repairs, decorating, and fitting a new kitchen without changing structure or drainage usually do not. These usually do:
- Removing or altering a load-bearing wall, including putting in a steel beam or a new structural opening.
- Removing a chimney breast.
- Building an extension.
- Converting a loft or garage into living space.
- Underpinning foundations.
- Some electrical work, such as a new circuit or a new consumer unit (a registered electrician can usually self-certify this instead), and changes to drainage.
Planning permission and permitted development rights are a separate system. Work can be permitted development and still need Building Control approval.
When approval is missing
When you sell
When you sell, you will be asked about building work done at the property, and the buyer’s solicitor will usually ask for the completion certificate. If there is not one, they may ask you to regularise the work, to reduce the price, or to provide indemnity insurance. It can slow a sale down, and some buyers walk away.
Indemnity insurance: know what it does and does not do
Indemnity insurance is often offered as a quick fix. It covers some of the financial consequences if the council takes enforcement action over the missing approval. It does not confirm that the work is safe or that it meets the Building Regulations.
There is an important catch. Many of these policies stop covering you if the council is told about the work, for example by someone contacting Building Control about it. If a sale is under way, or indemnity insurance might be used, speak to your solicitor before anyone approaches the council. That is about timing, not keeping quiet: answer your buyer’s questions accurately, and if you think the work may be unsafe, deal with that first (see When it cannot wait, below), whatever it means for a policy.
The Building Safety Act 2022 extended the time a council in England has to require work that breaches the Building Regulations to be altered or removed, from twelve months to ten years after the work was finished. Which limit applies can depend on when your work was done, and councils have other powers that are not limited in this way, so your solicitor can tell you where your case stands.
If something goes wrong
If unapproved structural work fails, for example a beam sags or the wall above it cracks, it can complicate an insurance claim. More importantly, people can be hurt. A structure that is not coping does not always give much warning.
Regularisation: getting approval after the event
If the work was done on or after 11 November 1985 and needed approval but never got it, you can apply to your council (in Huddersfield, Kirklees Council) for a regularisation certificate. Only the council can do this; a private approver cannot.
Broadly, the process is:
- Apply to the council with details of the work, and pay the fee the council sets.
- The council inspects. It may ask for parts of the work to be opened up, for example plaster removed so a beam and its bearings can be seen.
- Anything that falls short is put right. If the work does not meet the standard, you will need to carry out the repairs the council asks for.
- A regularisation certificate is issued once the council is satisfied. It is a formal record that the work has been checked.
Only open up where the engineer or the council asks, have a builder do it, and never remove any of the structure. In homes built or refurbished before 2000, textured ceilings, wall panels, and some boards can contain asbestos, so have them tested by a qualified asbestos surveyor before they are disturbed.
Opening up and inspection can feel intrusive, but regularisation is the most thorough way to resolve missing approval, because the work is actually checked.
For work done before 11 November 1985, regularisation is not available. The structure can still be checked, and put right if needed.
How a structural engineer helps
Where the work was structural, such as a wall taken out or a beam put in, the council will usually want evidence that it is adequate. That is where a structural engineer comes in.
The engineer visits, looks at what was actually built, and checks it by calculation: whether the beam is big enough for the span and the load, whether it has proper bearings and padstones, and whether the walls below can carry the load from each end of the beam down to the ground. Usually some opening up is needed to see the beam, its size, and what it sits on; this cannot be done from photographs, and the opening up should be done by a builder.
In older stone houses the walls are often two faces of stone with rubble between them, so what the end of a beam actually rests on matters, and it can only be seen by opening up. Some things may stay uncertain even then, such as the grade of the steel or what is hidden below the floor. Where that happens, the engineer works on cautious assumptions and says so in writing, or recommends further investigation.
If the check shows that what can be seen is adequate, the written note says so, along with anything that could not be seen and what was assumed. That can support your regularisation application, but the decision is the council’s. Work that has stood for years without cracking is encouraging, but it does not prove the beam or its bearings are adequate: old masonry can hold itself up for a long time before it moves. If the work is not adequate, the engineer designs what is needed to put it right.
Building Control will usually also want to know that a steel beam is protected from fire, for example boxed in with suitable plasterboard or given a fire-protective coating. That comes under Part B (fire safety), not the structural calculation, and a beam left exposed as a feature may need protecting.
If you are buying
If you are buying a house where structural work has no approval, raise it with your solicitor and your surveyor before you commit. They will advise on the options, including asking the seller to regularise the work.
When it cannot wait
Signs of distress in unapproved work include a beam, ceiling, or floor above sagging; cracks opening above an opening; stone or brick cracking or crumbling where a beam end sits; doors that have suddenly started to stick; and, where a chimney breast was removed, cracking in the breast upstairs or a stack above the roof that leans. If you see any of these, keep people away from the area and do not try to prop or repair it yourself. If collapse looks imminent or anyone is hurt, call 999. If anything could fall onto a road or path, contact your council’s Building Control dangerous structures service. Then get a structural engineer to look as soon as you can.
When to call a structural engineer
Speak to a structural engineer once you know that structural work at your property has no Building Control approval, particularly if a wall was taken out, a beam or lintel put in, a chimney breast removed, or foundations altered. It is worth doing before you apply for regularisation, so you know what the council is likely to find, and straight away if the work shows any signs of distress.
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