What to do if you believe your work does comply with Building Regulations

The Enforcement Notice will usually allow 28 days in which 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:

1. Advise the Council that 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;
2. Appeal against the Notice in the Magistrates' Court and demonstrate that your building work complies (Section 40 of the Building Act 1984). This option can be used as an alternative to or as well as the above. You must make your appeal within 28 days of receiving the Notice, or within 70 days if you have used Option 1 above.

What to do if you believe Building Regulations are not appropriate for the work being carried out

If you believe that 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 have the right to apply the Council for a relaxation or dispensation of the requirement(s) in question, in order that your completed building work is considered to achieve compliance.

Your application must be made within 28 days of receiving the Enforcement Notice from the Council. If the Council 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.

Please bear in mind that if you take this course of action in response to an enforcement notice and you originally maintained that your work was in compliance with Building Regulations, your case is likely to be more difficult to justify.