Consultation to Reform Building Control Charges

Overview

The regulations for charges for Local Authority Building Control services were last updated significantly in 2010 and therefore do not reflect the various changes to the Building Act and building regulations following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017. Therefore, this consultation proposes a wide-ranging set of reforms to reflect these changes. 

This consultation contributes to part of the Government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report and aims to strengthen the building control profession by enabling local authorities to recover costs more fully and sustainably. The proposed reforms will support safer buildings, cladding remediation, net zero ambitions, and improved housing standards.

Key proposals include:

• Expanding the range of chargeable functions for local authority building control bodies (LABCBs)
• Introducing charges for servicing documents from Registered Building Control Approvers (RBCAs)
• Enabling charges for compliance notices, inspections, and enforcement activities
• Supporting recruitment and training of Registered Building Inspectors

Why your views matter

In preparing this consultation, we found it difficult to find publicly available data about costs and charges, frequency of use of functions and class of Registered Building Inspectors used in carrying out a large set of activities and functions.

Our proposals are wide-ranging. Therefore, to inform any assessment of impacts required for the Government's response to this consultation, it is necessary for us to ask many questions, making it lengthy. We encourage you to factor this into how you go about responding and making use of the ability to save responses as you progress through it.

We encourage you to review the proposals on the consultation website, using this for informing your responses.

Your feedback inform the final regulations and help shape the future of building control services in England.