Building Control Schedule of Charges Information

Our charges are set in line with the following legislation

• The Building Act 1984 (as amended)
• The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010
• The Local Government Act 2003

With effect from 1 December 2024

Principles of the charging scheme

Our fees are established on the basis of ‘chargeable functions’ and ‘chargeable advice’. This is as prescribed in the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010. In line with this legislation, our fees are based on the principal of achieving full cost recovery.

What we charge for:

Applications for Building Control Approval with Full Plans

Plan fee

Payable when plans of the building work are deposited with the authority.

Inspection fee

Inspection charges will be payable on demand once building work has started.

Note: For some types of works, the inspection charge may be incorporated into the plan charge rather than being payable separately.

Other application types

Building notice fee

Payable when the Building Notice application is given to the authority.

Reversion fee

Payable when work starts under the supervision of a private sector building control body (known as Registered Building Control Approvers) but control of the work reverts to the Local Authority. Reversion fees are individually determined and are zero rated for VAT due to being ‘controlled in default’.

Regularisation fee

Payable at the time of the application. The Regularisation fee will normally be calculated as a minimum of the Building Notice net fee plus 40%. Where a Building Notice would have not been valid for the type of work in question, the fee would be the combined plan and inspection net fee plus 40%. Regularisation fees are zero rated for VAT due to being ‘applications in default’.

Note: Emergency work carried out under Section 61 of The Building Act 1984 are charged as the relevant Building Notice/Full Plans fee and not as a Regularisation fee.

Chargeable advice

The Building Safety Regulator strictly limits the type of advice that any Building Control provider can give. Where the advice can be provided, the authority can make a charge, which is payable in advance unless otherwise agreed. There is no charge for the first hour of advice.

Dangerous Structures 

A charge may be made for attending to dangerous structures based on our hourly rate plus any additional costs incurred. (Recovery of such costs falls outside the scope of the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010.) 

How our fees are set

Standard Fees

In line with the fee Regulations, we have set and published standard fees for some typical types of work. Our standard fees have been set by the authority on the basis that:

• Our time input is consistent with the average amount of time on which the      standard charges are calculated.
• The building work does not consist of, or include, innovative or unusually complex techniques/materials.
• The duration of the building work from start of work to completion does not exceed 24 months.
• The design and construction of the work is undertaken by person(s) or companies competent to do so.
• Any notifiable electrical work will be carried out by a person registered with one of the approved competent person schemes.
• Where domestic building work is of a relatively minor nature the Building Notice fee is the same as the total plan and inspection fee. In relation to more complex domestic work, the time to carry out the Building Regulation function is typically higher for Building Notice applications and is therefore reflected in our standard fees.
• Any reference to number of storeys includes each basement level as one-storey.
• Where any building work comprises or includes the erection of more than one extension to a building, the total floor areas of all such extensions can be aggregated to determine the relevant fee providing that the building work described is carried out at the same time.
• If you are demolishing part of an existing building to re-build it and also extend it, the extension floor area is the area of re-built + additional floor area.

Bespoke fees (individually determined charge)

The fee for any project falling outside scope of the tables of fees (including complex or phased projects) will be individually determined based on the principal of cost recovery. Email details of your project to buildingcontrol@cornwall.gov.uk

Supplementary fees

We can charge additional ‘top-up’ fees if:

• The time taken to register/validate/check the application exceeds that originally anticipated.
• Amendments to the original approved/accepted design are submitted for our consideration.
• Extra site inspections are found to be necessary.
• We consider that we need to send any information for third party checking or verification. For example, but not limited to:
  • Structural Calculations
  • Fire Engineered designs
  • Electrical/other design or installations not self certified under a competent person’s scheme etc.

Resubmissions

In the case of Applications for Building Control Approval with Full Plans, where plans have been rejected, no further fee is payable for the first application resubmission for substantially the same work. If further resubmissions are required, these are chargeable as appropriate on a cost-recovery basis.

The Cornwall Council hourly rate where we are required to support the Building Safety Regulator will be £109.95 excluding VAT.

Competent Person Schemes

Notifications of work from persons registered with a relevant Government approved competent person scheme will be exempt from fees.

Exemption from fees

The authority has not fixed by means of its scheme, nor intends to recover a charge in relation to the situations described below:

1. Subject to paragraph 2, in relation to an existing dwelling which is, or is to be, occupied by a disabled person as a permanent residence, a local authority shall not fix or recover any charges where the whole of the building work in question is solely -
   1. for the purpose of providing means of access for the disabled person by way of entrance or exit to or from the dwelling or any part of it, or
   2. for the purpose of providing accommodation or facilities designed to secure the greater health, safety, welfare or convenience of the disabled person.
2. Building work does not fall within paragraph 1) b) unless the local authority are satisfied that the work consists
   of -
   1. the adaptation or extension of existing accommodation or an existing facility or the provision of alternative accommodation or an alternative facility where the existing accommodation or facility could not be used by the disabled person or could be used by the disabled person only with assistance; or
   2. the provision or extension of a room which is or will be used solely -
      1. for the carrying out for the benefit of the disabled person of medical treatment which cannot reasonably be carried out in any other room in the dwelling, or
      2. for the storage of medical equipment for the use of the disabled person, or
      3. to provide sleeping accommodation for a carer where the disabled person requires 24-hour care.
3. In relation to an existing building to which members of the public are admitted (whether on payment or otherwise) a local authority shall not fix charges where the whole of the building work in question is solely—
   1. for the purpose of providing means of access for disabled persons by way of entrance or exit to or from the building or any part of it; or
   2. for the provision of facilities designed to secure the greater health, safety, welfare or convenience of disabled persons.

Note: ‘disabled person’ means a person who is within any of the descriptions of persons to whom Section 29(1) of the National Assistance Act 1948, as extended by virtue of Section 8(2) of the Mental Health Act 1959, applied but disregarding the amendments made by paragraph 11 of Schedule 13 to the Children Act 1989. The words in section 8(2) of the Mental Health Act 1959 which extend the meaning of disabled person in section 29(1) of the National Assistance Act 1948, are prospectively repealed by the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, section 66(2), Schedule 10, as from a day to be appointed.

Other matters relating to calculation of fees

• In calculating these fees, refunds or supplementary fees, an hourly rate of £81.96 (including VAT @20%) has been used.
• Fees are not generally payable by instalment.

Refunds

On request, the authority will refund any Inspection fee element that has been paid in advance of the work commencing, where that work will not proceed on the basis of the application for which it was paid.

Withdrawing applications

The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010 allow local authorities to fix and recover charges for the performance of their Building Control functions. Any application that is withdrawn will incur a charge relevant to costs incurred by the Authority at £68.30 ex VAT (£81.96 inc VAT) per hour.

Non-payment of a charge

Your attention is drawn to Regulation 8(2) of the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010, which explains that, plans are not treated as being deposited for the purposes of Section 16 of the Building Act or Building Notices given, unless the Council has received the agreed charge. In other words, relevant timescales do not start until the agreed payment has been made. The debt recovery team of the authority will also pursue any non-payment of a charge.

Complaints about charges

If you have a complaint about our fees you should initially raise your concern with us. The Council has a comprehensive complaint handling process. If your complaint is not satisfactorily responded to by the officer concerned, details of how to resolve your complaint is available on request and can be viewed on the Council’s website www.cornwall.gov.uk

Transitional Provisions

The authority’s previous scheme for the recovery of charges continues to apply in relation to building work for which plans were first deposited, a Building Notice given, a Reversion charge becoming payable, or a Regularisation application was made, during the date of operation of that previous scheme of charges