Applying for a Building Warrant
A Building Warrant is the legal permission needed to commence building works.
In assessing your application for a Building Warrant we will apply the standards set by the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. The Building Regulations set down are the minimum requirements that must be observed by anyone planning to construct, alter or change the use of a building.
For further advice, please read the following sections:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Before applying for a warrant, we will be happy to help in establishing whether an Application for Building Warrant needs to be submitted.
The following may not require a Building Warrant:
- Replacement windows, doors, or other building components
- Installing thermal insulation (excluding external wall insulation)
- Heat producing appliances including boilers and stoves
- Attached conservatories, porches, greenhouses, car ports and covered areas
- Detached single storey buildings
- External accesses such as timber decking and raised patio areas
- External walls and fences.
If you are unsure you should contact the duty officer contact details can be found in the further advice tab below or check the technical handbooks to confirm. (Refer to General – Standard 0.3 & 0.5)
You are committing an offence if you begin work that requires a Building Warrant without first obtaining a warrant. You may be liable to a fine of up to £5,000.
The warrant fee is dependent on the value of the work taking place with larger building projects requiring a larger fee. A full breakdown of the fee is available on eBuilding Standards fee calculator.
You can choose to pay though eBuilding Standards or alternatively by:
- Our Online Payment system
- In person at one of our Community Hubs
- By telephone on 0300 123 4525.
New guidance has been issued by The Scottish Government for anyone submitting a Building Warrant - visit the Scottish Government website for more information.
You can choose to appoint an Agent (Architect or Building Surveyor or other person competent in the preparation of applications for Building Warrant) to act on your behalf to help make sure your plans meet the building regulations. Consider using an Approved Certifier of Design for structural and energy designs. These are Scottish Government approved consultants.
When applying for a warrant make sure you include the appropriate fee and all the design details:
- Site plan and block plans as appropriate
- Foundations, floor plans, roof plans, sections and elevations preferably to a scale of 1/50
- Detail drawings to a larger scale, if necessary, including structural details, calculations and/or a structural engineer’s SER certificate
- Details of drainage; electrical information; thermal insulation and U values attained; ventilation and services; fire resistance and safety etc as required.
Further guidance can be found in the Scottish Building Standards Procedural Handbook.
The Scottish Government have recently updated The Building Standards Customer Journey for Home Owners. The Customer Journey explains the roles and responsibilities of the homeowner in relation to the Building Standards process, and gives guidance to those who intend to carry out building work and where to seek help.
Your application will be allocated and assessed by a member of the Building Standards Team for compliance with the Building Regulations. We will try and respond within 20 working days, and in most cases this will be by providing a first report requesting additional information.
Building Warrant applications can be created and submitted on eBuilding Standards Scotland.
This is simple, quick to use and contains all the information you need to submit your application.
If you have already created an account for ePlanning you can use your existing account details to submit both planning and building warrant applications.
The Building Warrant online forms use step-by-step questions tailored by the answers you give, to help you complete your application form, submit drawings, specifications, correspondence and should you wish to pay the appropriate application fee online.
If your Building Warrant is granted we will write to you about:
- What you need to do next
- Any inspections we plan to undertake at scheduled stages of the work. These will be set out in the Construction Compliance and Notification Plan (CCNP).
You must notify Building Standards when work starts and again at different stages advised on the CCNP. It is your responsibility to make sure the work is done properly and in accordance with the Building Warrant. If you intend to make any changes to the design covered in the warrant, you must apply for an amendment to warrant. You cannot carry out the changes until we have granted the amendment.
When the building work is complete, you must be satisfied that it meets the building regulations. Sign and submit your Completion Certificate to Building Standards. Preferably this should be submitted through the eBuildingStandards portal. We will then make any necessary checks and undertake an inspection if required . We will then either accept your completion certificate or reject it. We will advise on any matters to be addressed before it is accepted. Once your Completion Certificate has been accepted you can make use of the building or extension. You should keep a copy of the Completion Certificate as it is required to sell the property.
When your warrant has been approved the following information will be useful:
A completion certificate is needed to confirm that a building has been constructed, demolished or converted in accordance with the relevant building warrant and complies with the building regulations. A certificate is also generally required when selling a property. It is the responsibility of the relevant person to ensure good building practice that building regulations are adhered to and works are in accordance with approved plans. Building Standards officials will make site visits but cannot regularly or sufficiently monitor all construction work. Consequently, the relevant person should ensure that adequate procedures are in place to allow the completion certificate to be properly submitted. It is an offence to submit a completion certificate that is known to be false. It is also an offence to occupy a new building, a conversion or an extension unless the relevant completion certificate submission has been accepted by Building Standards.
See the 'Completion Certificate' section below for more information.
A Completion Certificate is needed before any building which has been the subject of Building Warrant approval can be occupied. This provides formal confirmation that the Council accepts that the building work has been carried out in accordance with the warrant obtained.
It is an offence to occupy a building, for which a warrant has been obtained, without acceptance of a Completion Certificate. Without a Completion Certificate the building cannot be bought/sold.
When a Completion Certificate application is made to Building Standards an inspection will be carried out to verify the completion of the work for which warrant was obtained. Where work has not been carried out in accordance with the warrant conditions or fails to meet Building Standards regulations, the Council may require changes to be made to bring the building up to standard. If the building is not in accordance with the warrant drawings and information, this may require a formal application to amend the warrant before a Completion Certificate can be accepted. This could incur additional expense for the owner.
On completion of work for which a Building Warrant is required, the ‘relevant person’ must submit a Completion Certificate. The ‘relevant person’ is defined in the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 at section 17(10) and on the accompanying certificate but can be summarised as:
- The owner or tenant doing the building work or conversion for themselves; or
- The owner or tenant even if they employed a builder to do work for them; or
- The owner, where the tenant for some reason has not submitted the certificate when they should have done so.
- An authorised agent, previously notified to the local authority, may also submit the Completion Certificate on behalf of the relevant person. In such cases they should include the name of the relevant person (as above) at section 1 and give their own details at section 2 on the Completion Certificate Submission.
In circumstances where the relevant person is not the building owner, the owner must always be named on the Completion Certificate, as the procedure regulations require an owner to be notified when a Completion Certificate is accepted or rejected.
Complete this completion certificate when your development work is complete
A Building Warrant is needed before any building or demolition is carried out. If you believe works have been carried out without a Building Warrant, contact the Council and we will investigate and advise you on the course of action required to rectify the matter.
If work has been carried out without a warrant there are a number of options to get approval from the Council, (please check the guidance notes in the documents section of this page).
If neither of these documents are available then you may ask Building Standards for a Letter of Comfort (only if works were completed before 30 April 2005). To decide whether this is an option, the Building Standards officer will:
- Inspect the work to make sure it meets Standards
- Inform the applicant of any remedial work needed before the letter can be issued.
If the necessary remedial work is not carried out then the Council may take statutory action.