01Building regulations
Regularisation drawings for work built without building control
An extension, loft or conversion was built and nobody told building control. A buyer's solicitor has now asked for the certificate. The law lets the owner apply to put it right. We survey what stands, draw it as built and prepare the application. From £1,035, fixed before we start.
From £1,035 inc survey (£835 if you supply measured drawings)
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02The fee
One fixed fee, published
Regularisation drawings
from £1,035
inc survey (£835 if you supply measured drawings). No VAT to add.
Ask for your fixed feeWhat you get
- Our measured survey of the building as it stands, part of the fee shown
- As-built plans, sections and details, drawn to what building control needs to assess
- A schedule of what may need opening up, so you know the cost before you agree
- The regularisation application to the council or your approved inspector, prepared
- Replies to building control, and a free redraw if they ask for a change
The council's regularisation fee is separate and is paid to the council. Our fee carries no VAT to add.
03How it runs
Putting built work on the building control record
11 Nov 1985
Work carried out on or after this date without building regulations approval may be regularised. Source: legislation.gov.uk
04Building regulations
What the law allows
Where unauthorised building work was carried out on or after 11 November 1985, the owner may apply in writing to the authority for a regularisation certificate. The application must say that it is made under that regulation, describe the work and include plans where that is reasonably practicable.
The authority can then require reasonable steps to find out what is needed, including laying the work open for inspection, making tests and taking samples. That means a wall may be opened, a floor lifted or a roof inspected. We plan for it in advance and tell you where the likely openings are.
05Building regulations
Planning and building control are separate
A regularisation certificate speaks only to building regulations. It does not cure a missing planning permission, which has its own ten-year enforcement clock, and it is not a substitute for a Lawful Development Certificate where the work needed one.
If the work needed planning permission and did not get it, a retrospective application is the planning side of the same fix. We can draw both from one survey, so the as-built plans agree.
06Building regulations
What it means for a sale
A buyer's solicitor will ask for the completion or regularisation certificate for any extension, loft or conversion, and a missing one can delay or reprice a sale. Contravening the building regulations is also an offence on conviction, which is why councils prefer a house to come forward than to hide.
Everyone who designs or carries out building work is expected to be competent, and a drawing set that matches the building is the plainest proof that someone looked. Where the original design was poor, we will say what to change, with a view on cost, in our building regulations drawings.
07The record
Figures that shape the job
11 Nov 1985
Work carried out on or after this date without building regulations approval may be regularised.
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18, checked 25 Oct 2026
Owner
The owner may apply in writing, with a description of the work and plans where reasonably practicable.
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18(2), checked 25 Oct 2026
Laid open
The authority may require the work to be opened up, tested and sampled before it decides.
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 18(3), checked 25 Oct 2026
2 years
Greatest prison term, or a fine, on indictment for contravening the building regulations.
Source: Building Act 1984, section 35, as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022, checked 17 Oct 2026
10 years
How long planning enforcement can run against most unauthorised building work, since 25 April 2024.
Source: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 171B, checked 17 Oct 2026
Competence
Designers and builders must have the skills, knowledge and experience for the work they do.
Source: Building Regulations 2010, regulation 11F, checked 15 Oct 2026
08Questions
What clients ask before they instruct us
What if the work was done before 1985?
The regularisation route covers work done on or after 11 November 1985. Older work is generally outside it, and we explain what a solicitor will usually accept instead.
Will the inspector make me take the work out?
Only if it cannot be made to comply. Often the answer is a list of modest fixes, such as a fire door, extra insulation or a lintel check, and we price them before you agree.
What does the fixed fee cover?
The survey, the as-built drawings, the application and replies to building control, from £1,035 with no VAT to add. The council's fee and any building work are separate.
Can I regularise work I did not build?
Yes. The owner applies, whoever built it. A previous owner's loft is now your problem, and the application is how it becomes your record.
Does it fix a missing planning permission?
No. That is a different process; see retrospective planning applications. We can run both together from one survey.
09Related
Related services and guides
Send us the address of your house.
We look up the conservation area, listing and Article 4 position, then reply with a fixed fee. A message before 3pm is answered the same working day.