Building Over Sewers
If your building work involves building over or close to a public sewer you cannot submit a Building Notice to the Council for the work but have to deposit a Full Plans submission.
Public sewers can sometimes be found within the boundaries of properties and can run close to or underneath buildings. Any extension that is built over or close to a sewer or drain shown on the official map of sewers must comply with the requirements of Requirement H4 of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations. You can find out whether any sewer or drain affected by your project is on the official map of sewers, by asking the Council. The Building Control service will have to consult the sewerage under-taker in such cases, who may stipulate conditions before you can carry out the work.
The Approved Document to Part H4 of the Building Regulations makes it clear extensions should not be constructed over a manhole or inspection chamber or other access fitting on any sewer serving more than one property. Drains and sewers must be adequately bridged and protected and foundations extended locally to allow for such pipe-work to pass through walls where they are less than two metres deep. In some situations, special foundation arrangements must be made to protect drains and sewers, and the building/extension itself, from the effects of settlement. Before undertaking any building work close to or over drains and sewers, you should consult Ipswich Building Control.
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Disagreements
What can I do if a disagreement arises with my Local Authority and/or my Full Plans are rejected?
If you are content to do so, the simplest way to proceed if your plans are rejected may be to re-submit your Full Plans application with the suggested amendments, so a Notice of Approval can be issued. You will then have the benefit and protection of having your Full Plans approved. You might not have to pay any additional charge for this.
However, if you believe the plans you submitted do comply with the Building Regulations and you do not want to amend them because you disagree with the Council's view, you can refer the matter (in England) to the Department for Communities & Local Government by asking for a determination as to whether or not your proposals comply with particular requirements in the Regulations. You can ask for a determination before or after the Council gives a formal decision on your plans, but can only do so before the work has substantially started.
Alternatively, if you believe a particular requirement of the Building Regulations is too onerous or inappropriate to the particular circumstances of the work, you can ask the Council to relax or dispense with it. If the Council refuses your application you could then appeal against this decision (in England) to the Department for Communities & Local Government within one month of the refusal.
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Contravention and Enforcement of the Building Regulations
The Building Regulations can be contravened by not following the procedures they set out for handling your building work, and/or by carrying out building work which does not comply with the requirements contained in them.
Ipswich Building Control has a duty to enforce the Building Regulations in its area and will seek to do so by informal means and negotiation wherever possible. The building control surveyor will inform your builder of any contravention and if it is not amended will contact the owner and make you aware of the facts.
If a person carrying out building work contravenes the Building Regulations, the Council might decide to take action against them in the Magistrates Court where they could be fined up to £5000 for the contravention and £50 for each day the contravention continues. This action will usually be taken against the builder or main contractor. Alternatively, or in addition, the Council can serve an Enforcement Notice on the owner requiring them to alter or remove work, which contravenes the Regulations. If the owner does not comply with the Notice, the Council has the power to undertake the work itself and recover the costs of doing so from the owner.
You should also bear in mind that if the Council considers that building work does not comply with the Building Regulations, it can enter the details in the local Land Charges Register. This could then come to light when you attempt to sell your property.
Where an Approved Inspector is providing the Building Control Service, the responsibility for checking that the Building Regulations are complied with during the course of your building work will lie with that inspector. However, Approved Inspectors do not have enforcement powers. Instead the Regulations provide that in a situation where they consider your building work does not comply with the Building Regulations, they will not issue you with a Final Certificate and in addition, they will cancel the Initial Notice by notifying the Council. If no other Approved Inspector takes on the work, the Council will automatically take on the Building Control Service. From this point on, the Council will also have enforcement powers to require you to alter your work, if they consider this necessary.
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What Happens if I Disagree with the Local Authority’s Enforcement Notice?
Normally, the Enforcement Notice will give you 28 days to rectify the building work. If you wish to contest the notice on the grounds that you believe your building work does comply with the Building Regulations, you have the following options:
- To advise the Council you wish to obtain a written report from a suitably qualified person about the compliance of your work (Section 37 of the Building Act 1984) with a view to persuading the Council to withdraw the Notice. In this event the 28-day period to rectify the building work is extended to 70 days;
- To appeal against the Notice in the Magistrates' Court and demonstrate there, that your building work complies (Section 40 of the Building Act 1984). This option can be used as an alternative to the above or along side it. You must make your appeal within 28 days of receiving the Notice or within 70 days if you have used the option above.
If, on the other hand, you believe your work cannot be expected to comply with one or more of the requirements in the Building Regulations because they are too onerous or inapplicable, you do have the right to apply the Council for a relaxation or dispensation of the requirement(s) in question, in order for your completed building work to be considered to achieve compliance.
Your application must be made within 28 days of receiving the Enforcement Notice from the Council. If it refuses your application you have a right of appeal (in England) to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister against that refusal, providing you do so within one month of that decision. However, if you take this course of action in response to an enforcement notice, and if you have originally maintained your work was in compliance, your case is likely to be more difficult to justify.
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