Building control - can we switch from Council to private?

[grandschemeofthings]

We're just starting a renovation project on our terrace house. Several elements of the work need signing off by building control as we go along, including foundations, steels etc.

We 'appointed' the standard Council building control team around 10 days ago - for the quicker 'building notice' options, not full plans. The application form was completed online and accepted, and we are listed on their system and can request various visits through the drop down portal which we assumed meant notice could be given and we could kick off the work. But crucially payment wasn't taken as there was a problem with their system and so now none of the requests we've made are being actioned.

We naively thought this would be a straightforward process, so works started on site 48 hours after we applied as per their website, and now our builder is keen to get BC out for their first review, but we're stuck because they're not answering the phone or replying to emails and we've got no idea of timescales.

We did get through to someone on the phone at the end of last week who was spectacularly unhelpful and refused to put us through to the BC dept but told us there was a big backlog, problems with the online system and people on leave and we'd need to wait for someone to process the app and send us a payment request before we could be allocated a BC officer.

We've approached a couple of private BC officers for an alternative quote, but all have said that works cannot start for 5 days after they are appointed otherwise the council will reject the application and we have to pay a fine.

If we've already given notice to the Council, and started works, can we pull/cancel our application with them due to lack of contact and appoint a private BC instead? By works starting do they mean any work on site or just stuff that needs sign off?

To be clear, nothing has been done on site that requires sign off, yet. But it's now holding everything up and we just want to get going!

Any advice much appreciated.

Works starting generally means any work, I deal with building control as part of my job (obviously bigger scale) but we have to give them a start on site date. Most of the time you can do retrospective application though so I would ring one of the private ones who have gone to and explain the situation. Unfortunately you do need to get the stages signed off is there anyway the builder can leave part exposed? Or is it foundations they are doing and they will have to cover everything? With walls we have left a board off so they can see the structure etc

Thanks for your reply - the problem is that they're doing hit and miss foundations, so the first holes are ready for inspection, they need checking first before they can be filled and the next ones dug, and all of that needs doing before the steels can go in and the wall comes out so we're totally at the mercy of BC coming out, nothing else can happen until they do.

We stupidly assumed that a standard building notice application would be processed by the council in under a fortnight!