Depending on the building work you are doing, you may be charged a standard rate or an individually determined charge.
There are three ways of applying for building regulation approval:
Detailed plans and specification notes are deposited with the Council for assessment. This
should be well in advance of when work is to start on site. For domestic applications, one
set of plans and details are necessary. For designated use/commercial applications, two
sets of plans and details are necessary as for the purpose of Fire Consultation.
Your submitted plans and specification will be checked by one of our Building Control
Officers to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations. If they do comply, your
application will be issued with an Approval Notice. If you choose either not to amend your
plans or submit revised plans, unfortunately your application will be issued with a Rejection
Notice.
Works on site will be inspected at various stages by a surveyor. From deposit of application,
the Full Plans application usually takes 5 weeks but you can request an extension of up to
8 weeks.
The full plans application is paid for in two parts – a Plan fee and an Inspection fee. VAT is
charged for this type of application.
This is payable after you have completed a full plans application, and covers our costs in
administering the application and checking your plans and specifications.
This is payable after the first inspection has been made on a full plans application. The
cost covers surveyors visiting the site, inspecting the work and issuing a completion
certificate.
The Building Notice procedure does not initially require any detailed plans (only a
location/block plan to a scale of not less than 1:1250).
Building Notice applications are only suitable for domestic works, and only get
accepted, not approved. If additional information is felt to be necessary throughout the
project, we can request it at any time, i.e. structural calculations. Once you have given
your building notice, you can start work and it can be inspected within 48 hours of
notification of commencement of works on site. The fee is payable when the building notice is given to us. This charge covers site inspections, any design checking and issuing a completion certificate. VAT is charged for this type of application.
This procedure can enable retrospective Building Regulation approval to be gained for any
building work undertaken without approval on or after 11th November 1985. The Regularisation procedure allows the Local Authority to assess any building works that have
been carried out and completed without the submission of plans or giving of statutory
notice of inspections.
Once the works have been assessed and any necessary remedial works carried out, a
Certificate of Regularisation will be issued.
This procedure does not replace the enforcement powers already available to the Local
Authority and does not provide a short cut for those who fail to follow correct procedures.
You must submit the following with your application:
The fee is due on submission of a regularisation application. The charge covers all
administration, site checks and inspections. VAT does not apply.
Fees are not payable when work is carried out to buildings which have specific facilities
added to support disabled people.
If you’re proposed building work that does not fit into the standard charges below, we can
provide you with a quote for an individual fee – please submit the request for a quote using
the online form below.
If you plan to demolish a building, or a part of a building, then you must provide us with a
demolition notice at least six weeks before you do so unless it is:
If you fail to submit the appropriate notice you will be fined.
Some demolition also requires prior approval and conservation area consent. If the building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, you will also need Listed Building Consent before starting work.
We need to know:
Requests to re-open archived Building Regulation files which have not been visited for three years or more will be subject to a supplementary fee of £75. Where building work is delayed or halted a year or more after the Building Regulation Application was first submitted to the Local Authority, this may result in Building Control work that often exceeds the original application fee charged, and in these circumstances, the Council may charge a supplementary fee to recover these additional costs. The additional charge will be based on the hourly rate charge as detailed in the scheme for recovery of Building Regulation Charges and Associated matters.
These standard charges have been set by the Council on the basis that the building work
does not consist of, or include, innovative or high risk construction techniques and/ or the
duration of the building work from commencement to completion does not exceed 12
months.
The charges have also been set on the basis of that the design and building work is
undertaken by a person or company that is competent to carry out this type of work. If not,
the works may incur a supplementary charge.
Where an application is withdrawn or cancelled there is a standard charge of £75 to cover
Building Control administration time. Where a plan has been checked for compliance with
the Building Regulations, there will be no refund of the Plan Fee.
Where works have started on site with at least one site inspection carried out there will be
a further charge for the administration, the time and expenses of the Surveyor to check
the plans and carry out site inspections. If more than one site inspection has been carried
out, there will be no refund of the Inspection Fee.
Any refund must be agreed and authorised and may take up to 4 weeks to be processed.
| Number of dwellings | Full plan fee | Inspection fee | Building notice | Regularisation charge |
| 1 | £360 | £540 | £900 | £1,100 |
| 2 | £552 | £828 | £1,380 | £1,600 |
| 3 | £576 | £864 | £1,440 | £1,800 |
VAT included above but not applicable for regularisation.
You should contact us if:
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Building notice charge | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Extension under 10m2 | £240 | £360 | £600 | £750 |
| Extension 10m2 – 40m2 | £288 | £432 | £720 | £900 |
| Extension 40m2 – 60m2 | £336 | £504 | £840 | £1,100 |
| Erection or extension of a detached or attached garage or carport to be used in common with an existing building | £192 | £288 | £480 | £600 |
| Extension or alteration to a loft to create one or more rooms not exceeding 50 m2. | £312 | £468 | £780 | £950 |
| Conversion of a single garage for habitable use (single garage with an estimated cost of works not exceeding £10,000). | £192 | £288 | £480 | £600 |
VAT included above but not applicable for regularisation.
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Building notice charge | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Window replacement – up to 10 windows in a single dwelling * | £60.48 | £70.72 | £151.20 | £189 |
| Window replacement – 10 to 20 windows in a single dwelling * | £70.56 | £105.84 | £176.40 | £220.50 |
| Any electrical work other than rewiring of a dwelling (not schedule 2 works) * | £153.60 | £230.40 | £384 | £470 |
| Rewiring or new installation in a dwelling (not schedule 2 works) * | £168 | £272 | £420 | £530 |
| Renovation of a thermal element in a single dwelling (works not exceeding £5000) | £45.60 | £68.40 | £114 | £145 |
| Structural alterations (e.g. new steel beams, chimney breast removal) | £72 | £108 | £180 | £230 |
| Partial or complete underpinning of a domestic building up to a maximum value of £25,000. | £192 | £288 | £480 | £500 |
| Description | Full Plan Inspection fee | Building notice charge Regularisation charge (no VAT |
| Installation of lintels over existing openings | £60 for up to 10 lintels | £90 for up to 20 lintels. |
VAT included above but not applicable for regularisation.
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Building notice charge | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| up to £5,000 | £120 | £180 | £300 | £375 |
| £5,001 to £10,000 | £211.20 | £316.80 | £528 | £660 |
| £10,001 to £20,000 | £331.40 | £496.80 | £828 | £1,035 |
| £20,001 to £30,000 | £374.40 | £561.60 | £936 | £1,170 |
| £30,001 to £40,000 | £412.80 | £619.20 | £1,032 | £1,290 |
| £40,001 to £50,000 | £465.60 | £698.40 | £1,164 | £1,455 |
VAT included above but not applicable for regularisation.
An additional £350 (including VAT) will be charged for any electrical work carried out not using an appropriately qualified/Part P registered electrician while carrying out other building work.
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Erection or extension of building with a total floor area not exceeding 40m2 | £180 | £420 | £625 |
| Erection or extension of building when the total floor area exceeds 40m2 but does not exceed 100m2 | £240 | £480 | £750 |
| Erection or extension of building when the total floor area exceeds 100m2 but does not exceed 200m2 | £300 | £600 | £938 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Erection or extension of building with a total floor area not exceeding 40m2 | £180 | £360 | £563 |
| Erection or extension of building the total floor area of which exceeds 40m2 but does not exceed 100m2 | £240 | £480 | £750 |
| Erection or extension of building the total floor area of which exceeds 100m2 but does not exceed 200m2 | £300 | £600 | £938 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| New Shop front up to a maximum of 20m in length. | £216 | £384 | £625 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| New windows/doors in an existing building other than as part of an extension or erection of a new building up to a maximum of 20 windows. | £180 Plan & Inspection Fee Combined | £188 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Installation of a mezzanine floor up to 100m2 | £216 | £384 | £625 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection fee | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| Fit out of an Office or Shop up to floor area 250m2 | £300 | £600 | £938 |
| Description | Full plan | Inspection charge | Regularisation charge (no VAT) |
| structural alterations and installation of controlled fittings up to £5000 in value. | £180 | £300 | £500 |
| structural alterations and installation of controlled fittings between £5,000 and £25,000 in value. | £240 | £360 | £625 |
| structural alterations and installation of controlled fittings between £25,000 and £100,000 in value. | £360 | £780 | £1,188 |
| structural alterations and installation of controlled fittings between £100,000 and £200,000 in value. | £480 | £900 | £1,438 |
VAT included above but not applicable for regularisation.
You should contact us for a quote if:
Email: Building.control@reading.gov.uk
Tel: 01189 372449 (9.00 till 1.00 Monday to Friday)