Hackney Council

Non compliance to building control (FOI-2417)

Message from Hackney Council

28 January 2019

Re: Freedom of Information Request.

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, received 16 January 2019. Your request has been considered and our response is in bold below.

You requested the following:

Can you let me know the time frame that your building control team can take action for non compliance to building control.

Is it 6 months or 2 years?

The last time i checked, it was 6 months if your team knew about it and 2 years if you didn"t.

This was over five years ago now when i last checked.

I"m asking as i"m buying a property and no building control approval was given.

A loft conversion was done and an extension, 1.5 years ago, with no approval.

I can"t afford to seek retrospective approval as i won"t have the funds after i buy it.

I"m happy to do this later on when i have the funds.

I don"t want to put myself in the position where you can take action against me though.

Also, please email me all the enforcement action that your building control team has taken on examples like this.

Email me everything for the past two years.

The Council’s Response

The Building Regulations enforcement timescales for Building Act 1984 Section 35 action is governed by the Magistrates Act. This act sets the time period for Section 35 enforcement as 2 years from the date of the occurrence of the contravention. The project you describe above which you advise was done 1.5 years could still be in the times period for enforcement. The key issue is what was the date of the contravention(s) - for example was the the works commenced on site without an application more then 2 years ago or less the 2 years ago? Are there any technical breaches of the Building Regulations? and if so what date did that breach(s) occur? Who was responsible for the contraventions? Without knowing more detail about the project and timescale it is difficult to say if formal enforcement action using Section 35 could be successfully taken. Section 35 enforcement when taken is done so against the person responsible for the contravention.

Once the Council is aware of a contravention which has occurred within the 2 year period, it has a maximum of 6 months to take the Section 35 enforcement.

Building Act 1984 Section 36 Notice for Removal or alteration of offending work can be served on the owner up to 12 months after the occurrence of the Contravention.

If you were to buy the property you are interested in, you would not be the person responsible for any contraventions and as the works are more then 12 months old the Council would not be able to taken 35 action against you or serve a Section 36 Notice on you. Irrespective of enforcement action if a future enquiry about building work at an address in Hackney were to be received, we would advise by return if such work was not on our system as a Building Regulation application or an Initial Notice. This could affect future ongoing property sales.

The Building Regulations has a process to make unauthorised work legal called Regularisation. You can find more information on the Building Control Web page https://hackney.gov.uk/bc-application-types.

If you proceed to buy the property with the intention of undertaking a Regularisation in the future, please take sensible precautions to protect yourself, family and any others using the property by ensuring that the building works were undertaken safety particularity relation to Structural safety, Fire Safety, Gas and electrical safety.

There has been no enforcement taken as described above in the last 2 years. The last case was taken to Court in 2016 for unauthorised works at 3 Hackney Road. The Council was successful in Court.

During the period between 24 January 2017 and 24 January 2019, the Council received 144 Regularisation Applications.

Appeals & Complaints Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please write to the Information Management Team and this will be dealt with through our Internal Review procedure.

Information Management Team - Governance

London Borough of Hackney

Hackney Service Centre

1 Hillman Street

London E8 1DY

[email protected]

Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Council.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at the contact details provided below.

Information Commissioner"s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Information Management Team

Page updated: 25/01/2021 15:55:11