Duty holders

Please read the following information carefully, as it affects your project, and share it with the owner, builder, and designer involved.

The introduction of Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended) has brought about legal responsibility for specific duty holders involved in building work. We have provided a summary of these responsibilities below

Domestic clients' duties

A domestic client is any individual who has building work carried out on their home, or the home of a family member. The building work is done for domestic purposes, not for business purposes.

✓ Managing the project

As the domestic client, you are in control of the project, which means you must:

• allocate enough time and resource for the building work to comply with building regulations
• appoint designers and contractors
• co-operate with anyone working on, or in relation to the project, so everyone involved can comply with their duties and functions.
• you must provide building information you have, or would be reasonable for you to get, to designers and
• contractors working on the project. This includes information about:
• known work that has been carried out.
• surveys carried out and kept from a mortgage application, or prior to any building work.

✓ Appointing designers and contractors

When there are multiple designers and contractors working on the project, as the domestic client you can appoint a:

• principal designer to be in control of design work.
• principal contractor to be in control of the building work.

If you do not appoint either a principal designer or principal contractor, then the:

• designer in control of the design phase of the project is the principal designer.
• contractor in control of the construction phase of the project is the principal contractor.

Please note that the principal designer and principal contractor can be the same person depending on who you have engaged to work on your project.

Principal Designer duties

They must ensure that you are aware of your legal duties.

They must plan, manage and monitor and co-ordinate matters related to the design work.

The must make sure that the design they have provided, if built, will comply with all relevant requirements.

Further information on all their duties can be found in Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended)

Principal Contractor duties

They must not start any building work unless they have informed you and are satisfied that you understand what your legal duties are.

Ensure the building work carried out by them, or other contractors they manage, is planned, managed and monitored.

The must make sure that the building work carried out by them or others they manage complies with all relevant requirements.

Further information on all their duties can be found in Part 2A of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended)

Inspections

To enable Building Control to perform their function and duties, you must ensure that we are regularly called out to inspect the building work.

We have provided a typical inspection schedule in this letter.

Please note that it is not the responsibility of Building Control to ensure that the work complies with the relevant requirements, this is the responsibility of yourself, your designer and contractor.

Our function is to obtain evidence, through the inspection process and any other means necessary, to determine if the work complies. Where it is discovered that compliance has not been achieved (contravention), this will usually be fed back to the principal contractor, or their contractor on site. So please ensure you regularly meet with your principal contractor to discuss the outcome of the inspections. If you have any question, please contact us.

Dependant on the severity of the contravention, we may deem it necessary to take more formal enforcement action. However, with the co-operation from all the duty holders, this should not be necessary. 

Notice of commencement 

As required by Section 16 (3C) we must be notified of commencement, no more than 5 days after the work is regarded as commenced.

Commencement for the purposes of the Building Regulations is not when work has started, but there is a specific definition which is detailed in 46A - (1) - (4)

Completion

Following satisfactory compliance your project maybe in a position to be completed.

Once work has been completed, no more than 5 days after this date, we must be notified of completion. (Section 16 (4) (4A)).

As part of the completion notification, we must also receive the following:

1. A statement, signed by you, confirming that to the best of your knowledge the work complies with all applicable requirements of the Building Regulations

2. A statement given by each principal contractor (or sole contractor) for the work. Confirming that they fulfilled their duties as a principal contractor under Part 2A (duty holders and competence) of the Building Regulations.

3. A statement given by each principal designer (or sole or lead designer) for the work. Confirming that they fulfilled their duties as a principal designer under Part 2A (duty holders and competence) of the Building Regulations

*Without the receipt of these notices, we cannot issue a completion certificate*.

There is a risk to you if you do not receive a completion certificate once work has finished. This could affect:

• Your building insurance
• Your ability to re-mortgage or any financial arrangements relating to your property
• Your ability to sell your property

For convenience we have provided template for completion notice. They can be found on our website on this page https://www.spelthorne.gov.uk/article/21877/Completed-works

This letter refers only to the Building Regulations 2010 and has no bearing on the requirements of the Town and Country Planning Act approval process, which may or may not also be required.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Spelthorne Borough Council, Knowle Green, Staines-Upon-Thames TW18 1XB

Tel :01784 446359 or Email: building.control@spelthorne.gov.uk 

Inspection Schedule

You are required under Section 16 of the Building Regulations to notify us at various stages of work for us to ascertain whether the works are compliant.

Stages of Notification (where applicable)

• Commencement
• Excavations - Foundations, Basements, Piling - prior to concreting or covering
• Damp Proof Course / Damp Proof Membrane
• Preparations for Oversite prior to concreting or covering
• Drains - Laid and tested (where required)
• Soakaway
• All Structural Elements - Intermediate floors, Joists, Beams, Lintels and Roof Structure (prior to covering)
• Insulation
• Fire Protection - (where required)
• Completion
• Electrical Work not carried out by a Part P Self Certifying Scheme. (an additional fee must have been paid for this service)

Method of Notification:

Telephone:   01784 446359

Email:   building.control@spelthorne.gov.uk

When emailing, please provide the following information:

• Site address
• What the inspection is for
• Contact name
• Contact number
• Any other details you may deem necessary 

Or on the web site: Building Control Site Visit Request