Does anyone know anything about building regulations?

[Scion123]

It’s been brought to our attention that our back door is not legally wide enough. We’ve been in our new build for 8 years (it was new when we bought it). I’ve always thought our back door was a squeeze. It’s a sliding patio door. We had a carpenter in to give us a quote on some new fencing and he commented that he didn’t think it was legal. It slides open 19 inches.

Does anyone know how I can go about checking this? I’ve had a look online but I’d like to get my facts straight before I write to the builders. Many thanks.

Try your local Council's Planning Department - they will have experts there who review buildings controls as part of development projects.

If they give you their email address you could send the, some photos so they can see the sliding door, and you can give them the aperture measurements so they can say if it is compliant or not.

You could try the interactive house on the planning portal.

Thankyou both, I’ll start there.

All new builds come with a 10 NHBC protection & warranty. If the doors aren’t compliant you can claim through this scheme.

www.nhbc.co.uk/Homeowners/WhatdoesBuildmarkcover/

No you can't NorthernSpirit. Newbuilds come with a variety of newbuild warranties, one of which is NHBC. Who confusingly sometimes deal with the building regulations too.

The warranty cover defects in the build itself not non-compliance with building regulations unless it's a specific add on.

The house as a whole will have a building regulations completion certificate which would include checking that the door is compliant.