Guidance note on charges

The Building Act 1984  The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 1998

Redditch Borough Council

Explanatory notes

1. Before you build, extend or convert a building, you or your agent must tell your local authority by giving them either a full plans or a Building Notice application.The charge you have to pay depends on the type of work, the number of separate properties in a building and the total floor area.You can use the following tables with the current charges regulations to work out the charges.  If you have any difficulties, please ask at your local building control office.
2. The charges are as follows.
   • If you make a full plans application, you must pay a plan charge at the same time.This charge applies if your plans are passed or rejected.
   • If you make a full plans application for most types of work, you must pay an inspection charge after the first inspection which will cover all necessary site visits.
   • If you make a Building Notice application, you must pay a Building Notice charge at the same time which covers all the necessary checks and site visits.
   • The Building Notice charge is the same as relevant plan charge and inspection charge added together.
   • If you apply for a 'regularisation certificate' for any unauthorised building work that began on or after 11 November 1985, you must pay a regularisation charge to cover the cost of assessing your application and all inspections.
   • The charge is the same as the Building Notice charge plus 20%, instead of the 17.5% VAT, as VAT is not payable on regularisation applications.
   • In certain cases, we may agree that you can pay charges in instalments.  Ask at our building control office for details.
3. Schedule 1:  This shows the charges for small domestic buildings, for example, new houses and flats.  You have to pay these if the total inside floor area of each building, except any garage or carport, is not more than 300m2 and the building is not more than three storeys (each basement level is counted as one storey).
4. Schedule 2:  If the work is more than one domestic extension, you must add the total inside floor area of all storeys of all the extensions shown on the application to work out how much you have to pay. Schedule 3 applies if the extensions are more than 60m2 or three storeys in height and will cost at least £515 including VAT.
5. Schedule 3:  The estimated cost means the reasonable commercial cost that would be charged by a building contractor to carry out the work that is in your application.  The charge does not include VAT, any professional fees that are paid to an architect, engineer or surveyor, and the cost of buying any land.
6. Exemptions and reductions in charges.
   • If your plans have been approved or rejected, you won't have to pay again if you resubmit plans for the same work.
   • You don't have to pay charges if the work will provide access and facilities for disabled people to existing buildings which the public have access to.  In these regulations, a 'disabled person' is a person who is described under section 29(1) of the National Assistance Act 1948 (as extended by section 8(2) Mental Health Act 1959).
   • You do not have to pay charges for putting insulating material into an existing cavity wall, as long as it is certified to an approved standard and the work is carried out by an approved installer.
   • You do not have to pay charges for putting in an approved unvented hot-water system as long as the work is carried out by an approved installer or is part of a larger project. If your application is for repetitive work, we may reduce the charges.
7. You have to pay VAT for all local authority Building Regulation charges, except for the regularisation charge.
8. The Council may issue an invoice for the plan charge or Building Notice charge for any notice submitted electronically using Submitaplan or other system acceptable to the local Council.

Schedule 1:  Charges for new dwellings

When you will be using similar house types we can reduce our charges, for details of this reduction or for a competitive quotation for more than 5 dwellings please telephone:  01527 534076

Schedule 2: Charges for small buildings, extensions and alterations to dwellings

If your extension is over 60 square metres or your loft conversion costs more than £28,000, the charge should be calculated by using the estimated cost of the work and schedule 3, but the charge cannot be less than the amount shown in schedule 2 for extensions up to 60 square metres or for loft conversions costing up to £28,000.

Schedule 3:  Charges for all other works

ALL CHARGES INCLUDE VAT

If the estimated cost is more than £25,000, please phone:01527 534076 for a competitive quote

Related Documents

Guidance Notes on Charges  (893.76 KB)