Building regulations application form and fees schedules

Get an application form or notice

Email building.control@islington.gov.uk to get a

• building regulations application form
• start notice
• commencement notice
• completion notice

What to provide on all applications

For all applications, you should present your appraisal of the relevant functional requirements for the proposed building work (parts A to T, except I and N, that apply) using clear information about how the building regulations are being met. Guidance for compliance with building regulations is available on the Government approved documents page.

This will help with the application process and the aid registered building inspector to understand the design of the proposed building work when considering the design for compliance with building regulations.

You can add more information along with the specific declarations of compliance and tell us where it is so that the building inspector can access it during their review.

If you're planning to sell your property, first make sure you have the right approval documents for any building work carried out that needed planning permission or needed to follow Building Regulations.

Electrical installation inspections

If you are carrying out electrical installations in domestic properties (flats and dwelling houses), we can inspect the work as its being done. This will cost extra, in addition to the Building Regulations fee.

View the charges (PDF).

We can't inspect until you pay the extra fee.

Building regulations application

You can use our building regulations form for

• Building notice
• Full plans
• Regularisation applications

Tick the correct box at the top of the form. 

Building notice application

This is for work carried out in domestic properties. A building notice can't be used for non-domestic properties or residential premises with common areas or when building over existing sewers and drains.

If you would like your plans checked and approved before work begins, you may submit a full plans application instead.

Submit the application form with the correct fee and you can start the work 48 hours after you give notice. You must contact us at key inspection stages so that we may issue the completion certificate at the end of satisfactory completion of the job.

You should provide enough information to make sure the work is clearly identified and send layout plans and details where possible. The building control surveyor may ask for details or plan layouts if necessary to check you are keeping to the building regulations. 

All applications must be sent with the correct fee. View the charges (PDF).

We will issue completion certificates after satisfactory completion of works in accordance with the building regulations and full payment of fees.

You need to submit a Declaration of Compliance form when applying for a completion certificate. We will send this form to you after you apply.

Full plans application

You should submit a full plans application for work on:

• offices, shops, factories
• hotels and boarding houses
• railway premises
• all places of work
• residential premises with common areas, and if desired, for domestic use as defined under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 or when building over existing sewers and or drain.

This form of Building Regulations approval means we approve your construction details before building work starts on site. You should include:

• four sets of drawings showing details of the construction and layout, clearly showing what is new and what is already there
• completed application form
• correct fee. View the charges (PDF).

We recommend reading the Building Safety Act 2022 before completing your application.

You need to submit a Declaration of Compliance form when applying for a completion certificate. We will send this form to you after you apply.

How long it takes

We have a statutory obligation to process full plans applications within five weeks, or two months if agreed.

• If your plans comply, we will issue an approval or conditional approval.
• If there is not enough information, we may issue a rejection notice. You will need to resubmit your amended plans for approval. 

Do not start work before you have approval for your plans. If you start work before, this is at your own risk. We may ask you to put any faulty works right.

• Notice of commencement of work must be given 48 hours before starting. The inspection fee is due after the first visit by us.
• A Start Notice must be submitted at least two days before work begins. We will send a template of the Start Notice to you after you apply. 
• A Statement of Commencement is required on full plans applications and must be submitted within five days of the date work is regarded as commenced.
• Building Control may inspect the site to verify commencement status.
• These notices are essential for compliance with Regulation 46A of the of the Building Regulations.

Email building.control@islington.gov.uk if you need more information.

Contact Thames Water 

You need to submit a full plan application when

• you know a sewer will be affected by the proposed building work
• or a sewer is discovered during the course of the building work and is within three metres of the sewer

If you are not sure, contact Thames Water to confirm this.

Completion notices

• Notice of Completion by a person carrying out building work (England)
• Building Regulations 2010 (as amended)

"A person who is required by Regulation 12 to give a building notice or an application for building control approval with full plans for carrying out building work shall, not more than five days after that work has been completed, give the local authority a notice which complies with Regulation 16 paragraph (4A) as set out below. Requirements of duty holders and their competence can be found in Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended)."

Email us for a notice of completion form: building.control@islington.gov.uk.

Regularisation application

Apply for this if you want retrospective approval on works that didn't originally have Building Control approval. The work must have been carried out after 6 January 1986. You will receive a certificate of regularisation.

The site works will need to be exposed for inspection and may involve sampling and testing of materials used.

When applying, you should include

• drawings showing details of the construction and layout, clearly showing what is new and what is already there
• completed application form
• correct fee. View the charges (PDF).

If you have any questions, email building.control@islington.gov.uk.

Reversion applications

The Building (Approved Inspector) Regulations 2010: The Building Act 1984

The relevant legislation states that if an approved inspector cannot carry out their functions, they or the person carrying out the works must cancel the Initial Notice lodged with a local authority. If work has already commenced on site and the site is in Islington, the work must by law be referred back to Islington Building Control to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations. This is called a reversion.

When work is ‘reverted’ to us in this way, you need to provide us with as much information as possible to help us to determine that any works undertaken to date comply with the relevant regulations. All local authorities are obliged to levy a fee for work that is reverted to them. Our fee is based on the size of the project (cost of work) and the anticipated time needed to be able to confirm compliance with the Building Regulations.

To help us, you should provide:

• information about inspections undertaken so far by the Approved Inspector
• building design plans
• structural design calculations
• third party inspections
• any photographs of the work in progress.

If we cannot confirm compliance with particular parts of the work from your information, we will ask that certain works are uncovered for our inspection. We will try to keep this sort of request to a minimum.

Complaints related to the behaviour of any Approved Inspector should be directed to their designated body CICAIR Ltd first before going to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Documents we can accept

We can accept

• .pdf 
• .doc
• .docx

All documents must have no restrictions on editing or redacting, so that we can comply with GDPR requirements. As a minimum, we must be able to save the document as another file name without restrictions.

Other formats

Convert the following formats into a pdf or a Word document: 

• Images - .bmp, .gif, .jpg / .jpeg, .png, .tif
• Spreadsheets: .xls / .xlsx
• Text - .rtf, .txt
• CAD (HPGL) - .plt 

If you wish to use another file type, you should check before submission as we may not be able to accept them.

File size

You will not be able to upload files larger than 10MB. Please break the large files into numbered sections to reduce the file size.

Do not submit .EXE files or use ZIP utilities to condense file sizes. 

When to contact Thames Water

Contact Thames Water when

• submitting a full plan application
• converting a property into multiple dwellings and the main drain and soil stack pipe becomes a sewer serving the dwellings in the same property.