Building control charges alongside the planning fee
Planning fees and building control charges come from different legislation and are paid at different points. Here is what each one buys for a householder extension, and how to put both into one budget.
A rear extension usually costs you twice at the council counter. The planning fee buys a decision on whether the extension is acceptable in planning terms. The building control charge pays for a separate check that what you build is structurally sound, insulated, ventilated and safe to get out of in a fire. Building control charges and planning fees sit under different legislation, are calculated in different ways and are paid at different moments. Neither one covers the other, and plenty of homeowners discover that after the builder has already started.
Two regimes, two decisions
Planning permission is granted under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 by your local planning authority. The application fee is set nationally by the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended, so a householder extension costs the same in Carlisle as it does in Croydon. Those figures were uplifted in December 2023 and are now indexed each year on 1 April, so quote the current figure from the Planning Portal fee calculator rather than a number you saw on a forum.
Building control works from the Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulations 2010, with the technical detail in the Approved Documents. Part A covers structure, Part B fire safety, Part H drainage, Part L energy, Part M access and Part O overheating. The charge is set by whoever you appoint to do the checking, not by Parliament.
The two regimes overlap only by accident. A project can need one, both or neither.
| Your project | Planning permission | Building regulations |
|---|---|---|
| Single storey rear extension within permitted development limits | Not normally needed | Needed |
| Same extension in a conservation area, or beyond the limits | Needed | Needed |
| Converting a garage into a habitable room, no external change | Not normally needed | Needed |
| A 2.5 m high garden shed with no services | Not normally needed | Not normally needed |
| New boundary wall over 1 m next to a highway | Needed | Not normally needed |
That last row catches people out. A wall can need permission and no building control sign-off at all, while a loft conversion can be the reverse.
Full plans or a building notice
Local authority building control offers two routes for domestic work, and they are priced differently.
A full plans application means you submit drawings, structural calculations and specifications before work starts. The authority checks them and issues a decision, normally within five weeks, or two months if you agree to the longer period. You end up holding an approval notice that says the design complies, which is what a lender, a warranty provider and a future buyer's solicitor all want to see.
A building notice skips the plan check. You give notice, wait 48 hours, and start, with the inspector picking up compliance on site as the work goes. It suits simple work by a builder who has done the same detail fifty times. It does not suit anything structurally unusual, and it is not available for work on buildings covered by fire safety legislation, which rules out flats and most commercial premises.
There is a third route nobody plans for. If work was already done without approval, you apply for regularisation, and the charge is higher because the inspector has to open up finished construction to see what is behind it. The cost of putting retrospective development right usually dwarfs the saving that skipping the process appeared to offer.
How local authority charges are set
Councils set building control charges under the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010 on a cost recovery basis. They are not allowed to make a profit on the function, and they have to publish a scheme of charges. Most publish standard charges for common domestic work, banded by floor area for extensions and by number of dwellings for new build, plus individually determined charges for anything that falls outside the standard bands.
For a full plans application the money usually comes in two parts: a plan charge when you submit, and an inspection charge invoiced after the first site visit. A building notice is normally a single charge covering everything. Check whether VAT is added, because local authority building control charges usually attract it and the planning application fee does not.
Two things are worth asking about before you pay. Charges are usually waived where the work exists solely to improve access or facilities for a disabled occupant, and several authorities apply a reduced charge where the same agent submits several near-identical plots.
Registered building control approvers as the alternative
You do not have to use the council. Since April 2024 the private sector operates as registered building control approvers, registered with the Building Safety Regulator inside the Health and Safety Executive, with individual inspectors registered as building inspectors. The change came out of the Building Safety Act 2022 and replaced the older approved inspector arrangement.
The mechanics matter for your budget. You and the approver jointly give an initial notice to the local authority. Once that notice is accepted, the authority's enforcement powers over that work are suspended and your contract for the fee is with the approver, which is a commercial quote rather than a published cost recovery charge. Compare like with like: some quotes bundle plan review, all inspections and the final certificate, and some price inspections separately.
Higher-risk buildings, meaning those at least 18 m tall or with at least seven storeys, are outside this altogether. Building control for those sits with the Building Safety Regulator through the gateway process.
And if an initial notice is cancelled part way through, the work reverts to the local authority, which is entitled to charge a reversion charge for picking up a job it has not been inspecting. Budget for one appointment, not two.
Inspections and the certificate you need years later
Whoever you appoint, the inspection points are broadly the same. Start on site, excavation before concrete goes in, foundations, damp proof course, drains before covering, drain testing, floor and roof construction, insulation, and completion. Your builder gives the notice, but the liability for compliance is the building owner's.
The document that matters at the end is the completion certificate from the local authority, or the final certificate from an approver. Keep it with the deeds. When you sell, the buyer's solicitor will ask for it alongside any planning permission and, if it is missing, the options narrow to indemnity insurance or a regularisation application on work that is now behind plasterboard.
Where a planning condition repeats the Regulations
Planning conditions have to meet six tests in national policy, and the Planning Practice Guidance on the use of planning conditions is clear that a condition duplicating a control under other legislation is not normally appropriate. In practice the line blurs.
Some standards only bite through a planning condition. The optional technical standards for water efficiency and for accessible and adaptable dwellings apply only where the adopted local plan requires them, and they reach a scheme through a condition on the permission rather than through building control's default position. Sound insulation between flats, on the other hand, is Part E and belongs to building control.
So read the decision notice line by line. A condition asking for a specified water use figure or a wheelchair adaptable layout is a planning obligation you have to discharge, and discharging conditions carries its own fee per request.
Putting both into one budget
For a typical householder extension, the money leaves in this order:
- Pre-application advice charge, if the council offers it and you use it.
- Planning application fee at the current indexed rate, paid on submission.
- Structural engineer's calculations for the full plans submission.
- Building control plan charge, then the inspection charge after the first visit.
- Community Infrastructure Levy, where the authority charges it, remembering that the residential extension exemption has to be claimed and acknowledged before you start work.
- Party wall surveyor's fees under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which is a civil matter and nothing to do with either regime.
- Fees to discharge planning conditions, and service connection costs, which sit alongside utility connection costs in a development budget for larger schemes.
One useful piece of asymmetry: if the council fails to determine your application in time you may be able to recover the planning fee, and the rules on fee refunds where a council fails to determine in time have no equivalent in building control.
PlanScope drafts the written documents that go with the planning half of that list, from the Planning Statement to the specialist reports listed across all 66 report types, so you can spend your money on the engineer rather than on narrative writing. Reports should be reviewed before submission, and PlanScope does not guarantee planning approval. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the current planning fee and your authority's published building control charges before you budget, and confirm the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay a planning fee and a building control charge for the same extension?
Usually yes, because they pay for two different checks. The planning fee covers the decision on whether the extension is acceptable in planning terms. The building control charge covers the technical check against the Building Regulations. An extension built under permitted development needs no planning fee at all but still needs building control, so the two run independently of each other.
Is a building notice less expensive than a full plans application?
The headline charge is often similar, because both routes recover the cost of the same inspections. A building notice saves the plan check, which also removes the approval notice that lenders and buyers' solicitors like to see. For anything structurally unusual, the plan check is money well spent rather than an overhead to avoid where you can.
Who sets building control charges?
Each local authority sets its own scheme under the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010, on a cost recovery basis with no profit, and must publish it. Registered building control approvers in the private sector quote commercially instead. That is why charges vary between councils while the planning application fee for the same householder extension does not.
What happens if I lose the completion certificate?
Ask the authority or the approver for a copy first, since records are usually retrievable. If the work was never signed off, a buyer's solicitor will ask for indemnity insurance or a regularisation application, which means opening up finished construction so an inspector can see what is behind it. Keep the certificate with the deeds.
Can a planning condition ask for something the Building Regulations already cover?
National guidance on the use of planning conditions says a condition duplicating another regulatory regime is not normally appropriate. Some standards only apply through a condition though, including the optional water efficiency and accessible dwelling standards where the local plan requires them. Read the decision notice line by line rather than assuming building control has it covered.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.