UK Construction and Law

Councils can now charge full-cost fees for handling building control approvers' notices and certificates

By Staff Writer  |  7 November 2026

The Building (Local Authority Charges and Amendments Relating to Charging) (England) Regulations 2026 came into force on 6 November. Councils in England may now recover the full cost of accepting, rejecting or considering notices and certificates lodged by registered building control approvers, once each council has published its charging scheme online for at least seven days.

The Regulations replace and revoke the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010 so far as they apply to England. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government explained the change to councils in a circular letter dated 16 October 2026. The new rules widen the range of building control functions and activities for which a local authority may charge on a full cost-recovery basis. The addition to which approvers have reacted is work prompted by the private sector: a council may now charge for accepting, rejecting or considering the initial notices and certificates that registered building control approvers submit to it. To keep those payments, the council must notify the approver of its decision within the required period.

Councils may also charge for testing conformity with the Building Regulations and for notices about defective premises, dangerous buildings, ruinous and dilapidated buildings and neglected sites. Demolition, entry by authorised officers, securing compliance and sanctions for contraventions of the Building Act 1984 or the Building Regulations are chargeable as well. The costs on which a charge is based may include a reasonable proportion of the authority's overheads, depreciation and the cost of capital. Councils must also publish annual statements online showing the charges paid, the costs incurred and any surplus or deficit.

Commencement and the seven-day rule

Most of the Regulations took effect on 6 November 2026, but Regulation 11 comes into force later, on 24 September 2027 for higher-risk buildings and on 24 March 2027 in all other cases. Charging schemes made under the 2010 Regulations stay in force until each council replaces them, and a council can charge under the new powers only once its scheme has been published on its website for at least seven days. The Regulations also amend the Building Regulations 2010 and revoke the Building (Amendment) Regulations 2013. As a result, certain environmental requirements for new buildings can be dispensed with or relaxed where it would be unreasonable for them to apply, covering high efficiency alternative systems, nearly zero energy requirements and carbon dioxide emission rates.

No council may charge an approver under the new powers until its charging scheme has been online for at least seven days.

Fees differ between councils

Geoff Wilkinson said that the charging schemes published so far differ in method as well as amount, with some councils distinguishing domestic from commercial work and start dates running from 6 November to January and April. He described the result as a postcode lottery, and said that the change adds red tape without any obvious improvement in building safety.

Some local authorities are charging for one project, others charging per document, some with VAT, some without.

Geoff Wilkinson, Managing Director, Wilkinson Construction Consultants

Anyone appointing a registered building control approver for work in England should now check the published charging scheme of the relevant council before agreeing the fee, because the cost of each notice and certificate depends on which authority receives it.