Building Regs Help- Inspection visit charge- should i pay this?

Laloo

I am currently building an extension on my house, and have paid for full building regs certificate, which was approved.

I recently had a building regs inspector visit the property to inspect the drains.

I might add that he was quite unhelpful and seemed to know as little as me about the situation (this is my first attempt at such building work!?).

So he left, leaving me none the wiser. I was then sent a bill 2 days later from Manchester City Council, invoicing £155.01 for this 'inspection'.

I was at no point made aware that there would be a charge for this visit, and i have been through all of the small print on my building regs certificate and still can not find anything about charges for site visits.

Does anyone know if this is a standard charge, which i will have to pay? If so, will I have to pay this everytime a building regs inspector visits the property? Or am I within my rights to refuse payment, as I was not made aware of the charges?

If anyone has experienced this process and has any wise advice I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!:o

KeithP

Look at MCC website. (click on Download Now to see charges)

On another page it says...

Inspection Charge

• The inspection charge is payable after the first inspection on site by our Building Control Officers. The applicant will be invoiced for the charge, and it will cover all subsequent inspections; no further charges are payable.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

I think they overcharged you a penny.

Laloo

Thanks for the advice, that sounds much better than having to pay every time!

trysaveit

I too am about to build an extension, planning permission is not required and I have a letter from my council confirming this. They do however require building regs.

My question is do you need full architects plans for the buildings inspector or is he more concerned about the actual building work itself.

tlrtone

there are two ways to build and keep the BUilding Control people happy:

1. Full Plans submission - this has a detailed drawing of exactly how the building work will be done and they scrutinise it. You normally end up going backwards and forwards with them to get a design right with all the right materials etc to meet the current specs for thermal performance of walls etc. But once you have the drawing approved, you just need to build to the spec and all will be rosy - even if the spec changes during your build. The full plans submission costs are generally £400-500 for an extension I think, and this includes all the subsequent visits (however many they need to make).

2. Building Notice - this is simply you telling the Building control that you will be building and the fee is £100-200. This does not cover any inspection fees, as this is paid when you start the build and they come out. The danger with this approach is that if the government decide to put in new rules on insulation etc, then you have to build to the applicable rules at the time, so this may change your build as you progress. It also means that they pay a lot closer attention to your building as they have to ensure you are doing everything right. (as opposed to the full plan route where they check you are complying with the approved plan!)

So if you have gone down the Full Plans sumission route, then the inspection charges should have already been paid, otherwise the fees will apply.

Obviously check with the local office as it does vary around the country and from location to location.

romeospadre

I have going through the same process and there is a payment to be made on first inspection of around £165 then on the final inspection which I think is around the £350 - £400 mark.