Guide to Applications: Full Plans and Building Notices – March 2011. Edited Aug 2020, Jan 2022, July 2024.
If you intend to carry out building works that are controlled under the Building Regulations, it is a legal requirement that you apply Building Control.
To check what type of work is controlled you can access our separate guidance at https://www.hertfordshirebc.co.uk/guidance-note/controllable-building-works
Your application may be in the form of Full Plans or a Building Notice. You can make an online submission here:
You may also require Planning Permission so please contact your local planning department if in doubt.
There are three types of applications;
- Full Plans
- Building Notice
- Regularisation
Regularisation covers unauthorised work that has already been carried out and there is separate guidance at https://www.hertfordshirebc.co.uk/guidance-note/regularisations/.
Full Plans application
- Form: A completed full plans application form.
- Appropriate fee: A ‘plan fee’ can be paid online while applying or we will invoice you afterwards. We will also invoice you for an ‘inspection fee’ after work starts.
- Site location plan: Scale 1:1250 showing the position of your property in relation to other buildings, the street and boundaries. A plan may be purchased from the Ordnance Survey website or other mapping providers
- Elevations, cross sections and floor plan drawings as relevant: scale 1:100 or 1:50.
- Specification; for the materials and construction proposed to be used in the foundations, walls, floors, roof, drainage etc.
- Specifications: for the materials, components and construction methods proposed to be used for the project
- Calculations: these are sometimes needed to justify structural members, thermal performance or other requirements of the regulations
Once we have received your application in the correct format, we send an acknowledgement letter to the applicant and agent.
We also let you know when you need to notify us at key stages during the work, so we can make inspections before that work is covered over. It’s very important to follow this, or we might have to ask you to uncover the work to check it meets standards.
We will check your plans for compliance with the Building Regulations and let you or your agent know if there are any issues preventing us from approving the application. If these issues are not resolved within 5 weeks (you can agree to extend that to 2 months) from deposit, we will either reject the application or approve it with conditions that must be met before work starts.
If your application is rejected, you can submit again with amended plans for the same scheme at any time without paying an additional fee.
Building Notice
This application process is generally used for minor domestic work such as internal alterations (e.g. removal of chimney breasts, forming a through lounge) and domestic extensions.
Some exceptions, which require a Full Plans Application, are:
- Any commercial work (i.e. Shops, offices etc)
- Domestic extensions to be built within 3m of a public sewer or the property is fronting a private road
A building notice is submitted with the appropriate charge and certain information, depending on the extent of the work. We may require additional information following receipt of the notice and will contact you with our requirements.
The work can commence within 48 hours of the council receiving the notice. Compliance with the regulations is the responsibility of the owner and their builders, in consultation with Building Control. As always, if you have any concerns or are not sure about the regulations, please contact us before you start any work on 01438 879990.
Work is inspected under the same regime as a Full Plans application and at the satisfactory completion of the works, a completion certificate issued.
Unlike the Full Plans process, detailed drawings are not always required. However, you must submit the following with your application:
- Completed Building Notice form.
- Building Notice fee.
- Site location plan; minimum scale 1:1250 showing the position of your property in relation to other buildings, the street and boundaries. A plan may be purchased from the Ordnance Survey website or other mapping providers. Ask for an Ordnance survey extract showing your property:
- Additional information; on submission of your Building Notice application, drawings and calculations may be requested to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations. This will depend on the complexity of the proposed work.
Advantages & disadvantages
Full plans:
- Plans are checked and approved if suitable and an Approval Notice issued which can then be passed onto any future purchaser of the premises.
- Your builder works from approved plans.
- On completion of the work a completion certificate is issued provided all necessary inspections have
been requested and carried out and no contraventions are outstanding. - There may be a delay while detailed plans are prepared by your surveyor or architect, for which they will charge a fee. However, plans may already have been prepared for the planning application where necessary which may merely require the addition of technical details and sections.
- The Council must check your application within statutory time limits.
Building Notice:
- Generally only a site plan needs to be prepared, although sometimes detailed plans and calculations are
required to support the application. - All charges are paid on deposit of the application. These are non-refundable. (See Terms and Conditions on fee charges)
- Plans are not checked for compliance with Building Regulations and no Approval Notice is issued.
Without approved plans to work to, a clear knowledge of the requirements of the Building Regulations is
essential. If on inspection the work is found not to comply, it will have to be altered, which may result in
additional cost, before a Completion Certificate can be issued.
Implications of starting work without an application
- This is a contravention of the Building Regulations and a criminal offence.
- If work continues without an application, you are liable on summary conviction to a fine.
- Where work carried out does not comply with the Regulations, demolition or alteration works may be necessary.
- Any future sale of the property or arrangement of finance secured on the property may be delayed without the relevant certificates.
Site inspections (Relevant Stages)
Building Control should be notified at these stages and others on request:
- Commencement – (48hr notice)
- Foundation excavation
- Foundation concreted
- Damp proof course
- Oversite and damp proof membrane prior to backfilling
- Drains prior to back filling
- Drains test after backfilling
- Electrical installation first fix
- Floor & roof constructions
- Steel beams or structural members
- On occupation
- Final completion
If you fail to notify Building Control at relevant stages it may result in us asking for work to be exposed or being unable to issue a final certificate. This could lead to problems if the property is sold.
You may be asked for additional information as part of your application due to recent changes in building regulations.
Contact us on 01438 879990 or email building.control@hertfordshire.co.uk
We provide further information in our FAQs
