High risk buildings - verification during construction: phase 1 of compliance plan approach - verifiers guidance

5. Building warrants: late applications

Where work for which a building warrant is required has started without a warrant an offence has been committed. This is also the case where work which is applied for through a staged warrant proceeds despite the applicable stage not having been approved.

The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act) allows a late application for warrant to be submitted at any time before the works on site are complete. This is not a process to allow or encourage any warrantable work to be carried out without the appropriate approvals.

Where it appears to Local Authorities that work is being or has been carried out without a building warrant where a warrant is required or work that has a building warrant is being or has been carried out otherwise than in accordance with the warrant, they may serve a Building Warrant Enforcement Notice.

This notice is served on the owner of the property and will call for a building warrant to be obtained and may include a requirement that work should be suspended from the date of issue of the notice.

Given the risks involved with buildings subject to this guidance, those considered of a high risk to life safety of those in and around buildings, Local Authorities should serve a Building Warrant Enforcement Notice and ensure work is suspended until the notice is complied with.

Where the owner or client is a Local Authority, this would be a clear instance of a conflict of interest and the provisions in place through schedule 2 paragraph 9 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 should be applied.

Scottish Ministers have issued a direction under this provision to allow local authority building standards verifiers to undertake their role on buildings where the local authority has an interest, but the operating framework underpinning this appointment requires them to operate to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between operation as a verifier and any other activities they undertake (corporately and individual staff).

Local authority building standards verifiers must assess and record such risks and record activities and measures put in place to demonstrate that any conflict of interest is resolved. This information for individual projects must be recorded on the compliance plan document.