Part 3: Building Act 1984 Building control approvers and building inspectors Section 50: Cancellation of initial notice Background
At present, if an Approved Inspector/registered building control approver ceases to operate and has not cancelled its initial notices, only the person(s) carrying out the work is able to do so. This has been a significant problem in transitioning such work to local authority building control. This section amends section 52 of the Building Act 1984 to introduce new powers and obligations on the person shown on the initial notice as the registered building control approver (even if they are no longer registered), local authority and person carrying out the work to cancel initial notices and ensure that this process can happen efficiently in the future.
Example 1: Registered building control approver
It is expected that the Building Safety Regulator might use one of its disciplinary powers for a registered building control approver where the body does not have insurance for the type of work covered by an initial notice.
Where the registered building control approver has insurance only to supervise domestic projects, if the Building Safety Regulator finds out that it is working on commercial projects without insurance, then its registration may be suspended in relation to commercial projects pending the approver obtaining insurance cover.
The Building Safety Regulator will notify the body and all local authorities. Under new section 52(1) the body will be required to cancel its own initial notices, in this case for commercial projects.
Under the amendments to section 52(5) local authorities will also be required to cancel initial notices in this scenario. The local authority must give the registered building control approver seven days’ notice of the intended cancellation to give the body an opportunity to make representations to the local authority.
Example 2: Local authority
A registered building control approver may be subject to a disciplinary sanction by the Building Safety Regulator (or its designated body), for example because there had been a significant breach in their registration such as failing to carry out inspections which resulted in property damage or personal injury.
The local authority is required to cancel the initial notice when it was informed by the Building Safety Regulator of the suspension or cancellation of the approver’s registration.
A seven-day notice is required to the registered building control approver so that it can make any representations to the local authority (for instance to correctly identify the initial notices affected). Following this, the local authority must cancel the initial notice.