Glossary
Building control: who signs off London building work
Council department (LABC) responsible for inspecting and signing off building works against the Building Regulations.
Council department (LABC) responsible for inspecting and signing off building works against the Building Regulations.
Building control is the regulatory check that construction work meets the Building Regulations 2010 — structure, fire safety, ventilation, energy, drainage, access and the rest. It is entirely separate from planning permission, and it is carried out either by the local authority or by a registered building control approver.
Either the council’s building control team or a registered building control approver. On a full plans application they must decide within five weeks, extendable to two months by written agreement; a building notice needs at least two days’ notice before work starts.
| Step | Statutory period | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Full plans decision | 5 weeks, or 2 months by agreement | Building Regulations 2010, reg 14 |
| Building notice before starting | at least 2 days | Building Regulations 2010, reg 12 |
| Notice of commencement | at least 2 days | Building Regulations 2010, reg 16 |
| Notice of completion | within 5 days of completion | Building Regulations 2010, reg 16 |
| Completion certificate | within 8 weeks of completion | Building Regulations 2010, reg 17 |
| Enforcement time limit | 10 years from completion | Building Act 1984, s.36 |
Sources: the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended) and the Building Act 1984, read at 1 September 2026. Approved inspectors were renamed registered building control approvers and brought under the Building Safety Regulator by the Building Safety Act 2022, with the register operating from April 2024 — a certificate from an unregistered inspector is not a valid completion certificate.
A full plans application submits the drawings and calculations for checking before work starts. The authority must decide within five weeks, extendable to two months by agreement, and you get a written approval you can build to and sell against.
A building notice skips the plan check: you give 48 hours' notice and the inspector assesses the work on site. It is faster to start and cheaper on paper, but it carries the whole risk of a wrong detail being found after it is built, and it is not available for work subject to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
The standard inspection stages on a domestic project are excavation, foundation concrete, damp-proof course and oversite, drains laid and drains tested, floor and roof structure, insulation, and completion. Each is notified by the contractor, and covering up work before inspection is the usual cause of opening-up later.
A completion certificate from the council or a final certificate from a registered approver. Without it, a conveyancing solicitor will raise the absence on sale and a buyer's lender may require indemnity insurance or a regularisation application.
How building control plays out in Wandsworth: London Borough of Wandsworth (Wandsworth Council) maintains 45 conservation areas, the Wandsworth Common Conservation Area and the Clapham Common West Conservation Area among them, and an Article 4 direction is in force there, so permitted development cannot be assumed. Anyone dealing with building control at a Wandsworth address is therefore working to a £548 householder application decided in 8 weeks, or a £249 prior approval over 6 weeks where building control still qualifies.
| Governing law | Building Regulations 2010; Building Act 1984 |
|---|---|
| Full plans decision period | 5 weeks, extendable to 2 months |
| Building notice period | 48 hours |
| Retrospective route | Regularisation application |
| Output | Completion or final certificate |
| Separate from | Planning permission |
No. Planning governs what you may build; building control governs how it must be built.
Yes, via a regularisation application, though it usually means opening up work.
A full plans application must be decided within five weeks.
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