Unauthorised works
It is an offence to undertake building warrant work without having the necessary consent in place. As such, if a formal Notice is served, the details will appear in the publicly available Building Standards Register and in certain situations, you may face prosecution should the matter be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.
If you approach the Council having undertaken work without consent, you are now permitted to submit either:
1) a late application for building warrant [PDF: 260Kb] if the work is not yet complete or.
2) you may submit a Completion Certificate Without Building Warrant [PDF: 49Kb].
In both of the above situations, you are required to submit plans in the same manner as any other building warrant application. The fee payable with either of the above is 25% above that of an application submitted in advance of work starting. The plans you submit will have to meet the technical standards in force at the time when you make your application, not when the work was done.
Clearly by commencing work without prior consent there is a significant risk that you will require to change some of the work which has already been completed or to reinstate the building to its original layout. As noted above, there is also the potential that enforcement action may be taken where there is a perceived risk to the public or occupants.
Please note the Council will almost inevitably, in the case of late applications and completions without building warrant, require you to expose some parts of the building, before a completion certificate is accepted.
In cases where the work was undertaken prior to 1 May 2005, consideration will be given to an application for a Letter of Comfort rather than a retrospective building warrant.
