Building Control completion certificates explained

Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are different things. Planning concerns whether the work may be built; Building Regulations concern whether it is built to the required technical standards. Many homeowners hold one and not the other.

Who issues it

Either the local authority Building Control team or a registered Building Control approver appointed for the project. Some work is instead self-certified by a registered competent person, for example a registered electrician or a FENSA-registered window installer, who notifies the local authority and issues a compliance certificate.

Why it matters later

• Buyers' solicitors routinely request it for extensions, loft conversions and structural alterations
• Missing certificates can trigger enquiries, retentions, indemnity policies or price renegotiation
• Insurers and lenders may ask about unauthorised structural work

If it is missing

Options may include applying for a regularisation certificate or taking out indemnity insurance. Which route is appropriate depends on the specific work and your conveyancer's advice, so seek that advice rather than assuming one route fits all.

Project Passport keeps these records together in one permanent digital record of your property, so the drawings, approvals, certificates, warranties and photographs of every project stay findable years after the work finishes. It is an independent record-keeping platform: it complements, and does not replace, Building Control, HM Land Registry, conveyancers or professional advice.