UK Construction and Law

A building notice escapes the Building Safety Levy, so the department reminds councils which new dwellings must use full plans before 1 October

By Staff Writer  |  11 September 2026

A circular letter to every chief executive and head of building control in England, dated 10 September, says the levy that starts on 1 October 2026 does not apply to building notices under regulation 12, and reminds authorities that a new dwelling fronting a private street, a building covered by the Fire Safety Order or work over a sewer must already come in on an application with full plans under regulation 14. The department expects a surge of notices and applications this month and asks to be told of novel issues.

The letter is signed by Keeran Jugdoyal, Deputy Director for New Build Standards and Performance at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and is addressed to the chief executives and heads of building control of every unitary, metropolitan, district and London borough council in England, the City of London, the Council of the Isles of Scilly, the two Inns of the Temple and every registered building control approver. It was published on 10 September 2026, three weeks before the Building Safety Levy comes into operation.

The gap the letter is written around

The levy does not apply to building notices given to local authorities under regulation 12 of the Building Regulations 2010. The department has already consulted on requiring all new dwellings that use the local authority route to be submitted as applications for building control approval with full plans under regulation 14, in a consultation on plan approval requirements for new builds and Fire Safety Order buildings. It has not yet responded to that consultation. The letter says the response, with its timelines and approach to implementation, will be published in due course, and that any change to the regulations will not take effect before the levy regulations do.

Any such changes would not take effect before the levy regulations come into force on 1 October 2026.

Keeran Jugdoyal, Deputy Director, New Build Standards and Performance, circular letter of 10 September 2026

Instead of a new rule, the department restates the existing one. An application for building control approval with full plans is already required where the building work relates to a building to which the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies or will apply on completion, where the work includes the erection of a building fronting onto a private street, and where paragraph H4 of Schedule 1, building over sewers, imposes a requirement. The letter observes that many new dwellings will, at the point of application, front onto a private street within section 203(2) of the Highways Act 1980.

Where a building notice concerns new dwellings, regulation 13(2)(a)(iii) requires the accompanying 1:1250 plan to show the width and position of any street. The department says that plan is what a building control authority should use to decide whether an invalid building notice has been given and a full plans application should be made instead.

The street works duty, and initial notices

Where the Advance Payments Code in sections 219 to 225 of the Highways Act 1980 is in force and section 219 applies, a local authority outside Greater London must tell the street works authority within one week of granting the relevant application, under section 220(2)(a). Authorities without an existing arrangement are told to find out whether the code is in force in their area and, if it is, to comply. The duty also applies where an initial notice involves a building fronting a private street, because sections 48(2) and 48(3)(e) of the Building Act 1984 treat initial notices as full plans applications for the purposes of the code. The letter suggests it may be good practice for registered building control approvers to say in the description of works whether a proposed building fronts a private street.

We are aware that the expected surge in initial notices and applications for building control approval during September will put strain on local authorities.

Keeran Jugdoyal, Deputy Director, New Build Standards and Performance

The department asks authorities to share any novel issues that arise from processing that volume, through a building control procedures mailbox. A final reminder sits at the end: applications under section 77(1) of the Building Act 1984 on dangerous buildings are made in England to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), not the magistrates' court, a change made by the Building Safety Act 2022 with effect from 1 October 2023.

For developers the message is the one the levy regulations already carry. Whether a scheme is inside or outside the levy this month turns on the route by which it reaches building control, and the department has just told every authority in England how to check that route.