Approved inspectors: private building control in London

Do approved inspectors still exist?

Not under that name. The Building Safety Act 2022 replaced approved inspectors with registered building control approvers, registered with the Building Safety Regulator from April 2024. A certificate issued by an unregistered inspector is not a valid completion certificate, which matters when you sell.

Sources: the Building Act 1984, the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended) and the Building Safety Act 2022, read at 1 September 2026. Where a registered approver’s initial notice is cancelled mid-project the work reverts to the local authority, which may require opening up finished work to inspect it — the practical reason to check registration before appointing.

Council or private — which should you use?

For a domestic extension or loft the choice is practical rather than technical. A registered approver often gives faster plan checks and a named inspector; the local authority is sometimes cheaper and holds the enforcement powers directly. Both must apply the same Building Regulations.

Private approvers cannot take on higher-risk buildings — buildings at least 18 m tall or with at least seven storeys containing two or more residential units. Those go to the Building Safety Regulator under the gateway regime.

How does the initial notice work?

A private approver takes on the work by serving an initial notice on the local authority. The council has five working days to reject it. Once accepted, the approver is the building control body and the council's own powers are suspended for that project.

If the approver resigns — usually because the work has stalled or diverged from the approved design — the initial notice is cancelled and the project reverts to the local authority, which then has to be satisfied about work it never saw.

What do you get at the end?

A final certificate from a registered approver, or a completion certificate from the council. Either is the document a conveyancing solicitor will ask for on sale, and either is only issued once every element — structure, fire, ventilation, energy, drainage — has been signed off.

What does approved inspector (registered building control approver) mean for a London project?

A worked Sutton example of approved inspector (registered building control approver): with 17 conservation areas — the Carshalton Village Conservation Area and the Beddington Park Conservation Area among the best known — London Borough of Sutton (Sutton Council) sees approved inspector (registered building control approver) constantly, and there is no borough-wide Article 4 direction, so permitted development generally survives outside conservation areas. Where approved inspector (registered building control approver) pushes a Sutton scheme out of permitted development, the route becomes a £548 application decided in 8 weeks rather than a £249 prior approval in 6 weeks.

Approved inspector (registered building control approver) at a glance

Common questions about approved inspector (registered building control approver)

• Building control
• Building regulations
• Building regulations fee
• Determination (planning decision)