Building control advice please - what happens if you change your plans?

[Enterthedragons]

Hi all, this may be a silly question but I can’t seem to find a straight answer anywhere.

We are renovating our home and have planning permission/the go ahead from building control for an extension, as well as to make some other internal and external alterations to our home.

We are currently going through the tender process with builders to get quotes for the first phase of our works which includes (some of) the internal alterations. Due to finances we need to do the work in phases across a number of years.

While we’ve been getting quotes it’s become fairly obvious that the whole thing is going to cost a lot more than we had hoped. Potentially the internal renovations will give us a lot more useable space, so we are considering scaling back our plans, and possibly NOT building the extension.

However, one of our builders pointed out that until the ‘full plan’ (that our architect and structural engineer have already submitted to building control) is completed, we won’t be able to get sign off/a certificate of completion from building control. So if we decided to move in a few years we wouldn’t be able to sell our home!

So my question is, does anyone know - if you scale back/change your submitted plans half way through a project (suuuurely this must happen all the time?) is there a way to still get building control sign off? All the work completed would obviously be inspected/approved by them, it’s just that we would be doing a fair bit less than we originally planned.

Builder also alluded to building control potentially putting a time limit on how long we have to complete the full plan once we start the work. I wasn’t aware of this and just thought we had 3 years to start and then an indefinite period to finish.

Any advice gratefully received!

Apply for an amendment to warrant.

Of your reducing the submitted cost of work It'll cost £100 (Scotland, elsewhere may be different)

It doesn't matter how long you take to complete the work, although you should really apply for an extension to warrant but lots of people don't bother.

Very helpful thanks, we are in England though…

Fairly easy, done numerous times.
when you apply for building control, form asks whether there are any changes against planning permission. Explain you only do work x at present. Then when you finish that section you ask for certificate. Downside is you will pay for each stage separately, so potentially x amount of fees.

Thanks that is really helpful. Unfortunately our architect already submitted our plans to building control on our behalf a while back and we paid the fees at the time. I’d be happy to pay them again though, sounds like I should give them a call.

It's easily sorted on the phone. Building control are fairly relaxed with amendments etc

Get in touch with building control directly, or get your builders too. We changed loads of things during our recent rebuild. Each time, the lovely building inspector popped out to visit the site, chatted to us and to our builders, and made sure everything was being properly done.

The building inspector is a huge resource for you if you use them properly, and they are the best protection against having problems. (Don’t get me started on shitty architects). Find out which inspector you have been allocated, then phone them up, be super polite and friendly and ask how you should proceed with the changes.

We’re in England.

Sounds like your builder is trying to hoodwink you into doing more works than you are currently prepared to fund at this point in time.

And they should know better.

Once you start the work & have a building control inspection there is no time limit. If there is a long gap between an inspection & then completion (years) you may be asked for an additional fee.

I work in local authority BC (admin) the officers are good at advice/help & it is generally v easy to contact the dept at your local authority

Thanks all this is super helpful, great to know it’s not unusual and can be done if you are transparent with them!

What BRK said.

Just to echo the above, we’ve checked in with our building control person regularly during our build and he’s been great. Really pragmatic and helpful.

Also just be careful and check your planning permission, There is usually a condition on the permission that the development is built according to the approved plans. If you don't build to your approved plans that form part of the permission, this effectively means:

1. a breach of condition, which the local authority can issue enforcement proceedings, by serving a breach of condition notice. Not following the requirements of the breach of condition notice can mean prosecution in the Magistrates Court, which can result in a criminal offence. Fine etc.; or
2. unauthorised development as what you are building doesn't have permission and you would need to put in a retrospective planning application for what is actually being built

If you want build something different to what has been granted you could put in either a section 73 application to vary the condition (plans condition) and any other relevant condition to the scale of the development OR apply for a new planning permission for what you want to build. It depends on how different the extension is you now want to build.

Hope that helps.

Thank you it does help and I hadn’t even really considered it from a PP perspective but sounds like it’s key to check with them too. There will be nothing different to what they have approved, just less of it - if that makes sense.

I understand, glad to help. Even though there is less of the building to be developed, it is still different to what has been granted I.e. you have planning permission for. So you will need to speak to the local authority case officer who was assigned your application. I'm pretty sure they will request a section 73 application. Don't just rely on the builder to put it in for you, as there are a lot of builders who say they've done it and don't bother.