Building regulations and planning permission are not the same thing

These get used interchangeably and they are completely different things. The confusion is expensive, because people who establish that they do not need planning permission sometimes conclude they do not need anything.

Planning permission is about whether you may build it — the effect on the neighbourhood, the appearance, the impact on neighbours. Decided by the local planning authority.

Building regulations are about how it must be built — structure, fire safety, insulation, drainage, ventilation, electrical safety. Decided by a building control body.

You often need both. You sometimes need only building regulations. You almost never need only planning.

What building regulations actually cover

The regulations are organised into parts, each covering a subject. The ones a domestic extension typically engages:

• Part A — structure. Foundations, beams, load paths.
• Part B — fire safety. Escape routes, alarms, fire doors.
• Part C — moisture. Damp-proof courses and membranes.
• Part F — ventilation. Including extract rates for kitchens and bathrooms.
• Part G — sanitation and water efficiency.
• Part H — drainage.
• Part K — protection from falling. Stairs, guarding.
• Part L — conservation of fuel and power. Insulation, air tightness.
• Part P — electrical safety in dwellings.

Part P is worth singling out. Most electrical work in a home is notifiable, meaning it must either be done by an electrician registered with a competent person scheme who self-certifies it, or be covered by a building control application. Ask which route your job is taking, and get the certificate at the end.

The two routes to approval

Full plans. You submit detailed drawings and structural calculations before work starts. They are checked, and you get a decision — which must be given within five weeks, or two months if you agree an extension. Problems are found on paper.

Building notice. You give about 48 hours’ notice and start. Nothing is checked in advance; inspections happen on site as the work proceeds.

Building notice is faster to start and is fine for simple work. On anything structural, full plans is usually cheaper overall, because a problem found in a drawing costs a redraw and a problem found in a built wall costs a wall. Full plans also gives you a document to show a lender or a buyer.

Who does it in Horsham District

Building control here is Sussex Building Control, a shared service run jointly by Horsham District Council and Crawley Borough Council. It is a local authority service, not privatised, and not a standalone Horsham department.

Applications go through the Submit-a-Plan portal. You can also use an approved inspector — a private building control body — which is a legitimate alternative; the duty is to have a building control body, not specifically the council.

The completion certificate is the point

At the end, if the work complies, you get a completion certificate. That is the document that proves it.

Keep it. It is what a buyer’s solicitor asks for, what a lender may want, and what an insurer may ask about after a claim. Building work with no completion certificate is a recognised conveyancing problem: it typically leads to an indemnity insurance policy, a retention, or a renegotiation.

Note that indemnity insurance covers you against the council enforcing. It does not make the work safe and it does not mean it was built correctly.

What needs building regulations but not planning

Plenty:

• Most internal structural alterations — removing a load-bearing wall, opening up a chimney breast
• Loft conversions built under permitted development
• Extensions built under permitted development
• Replacement windows
• New or altered drainage
• Notifiable electrical work
• Installing a bathroom where there was not one

That third item is the one to underline. An extension built under permitted development still needs building regulations approval. Not needing planning permission tells you nothing about building control.

What needs planning but not building regulations

Less, but it exists — some outbuildings below a size threshold, hard standing, fences and walls above certain heights, changes of use with no building work.

The enforcement difference

The two regimes have different time limits and different consequences, and building regulations enforcement is the more open-ended of the two. There are limits on prosecution, but a local authority’s power to require unsafe work to be put right is not something to plan around.

More practically: the absence of a completion certificate does not expire. It sits on the property and surfaces at every sale, forever, until it is resolved.

What to do next

For almost any building work, the answer is: check whether you need planning, and assume you need building regulations. Then make sure whoever is building it tells you which route the application is taking, who is arranging it, and who is paying the fee — and get that in the quotation.

Ask us about your project and we will tell you which permissions it needs and who arranges each one.