Building Regulations fees against planning fees

Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are two separate approvals, from two separate teams, under two separate fee regimes, and holding one does nothing for the other. The planning fee is set nationally in regulations and is the same in every English authority for the same kind of application. The building control charge is set locally by each authority on a cost recovery basis, or by a private provider competing for the work, so it varies from place to place for identical jobs.

Householders discover the distinction at the worst moment, which is usually when a buyer's solicitor asks for a completion certificate that was never issued.

Two separate approvals

Planning permission decides whether the development is acceptable in land use terms: its scale, its appearance, its effect on neighbours and its fit with the development plan. Building Regulations approval decides whether the construction meets technical standards for structure, fire safety, insulation, ventilation, drainage, access and the rest.

You can need both, either, or neither. A single storey rear extension within the permitted development limits needs no planning permission and full Building Regulations approval. A change of use with no building work can need planning permission and very little from building control. A detached garden room under the size and height thresholds may need neither, though the exemptions are narrower than people assume once the building is used as a habitable room.

The teams sit in the same council and do not share files. An approval from one is never evidence of the other.

What each fee buys

The planning fee buys the determination of your application: validation, consultation, the officer's assessment and a decision notice. It does not buy advice, revisions after refusal or a second attempt, though a free go at resubmission is available within twelve months in defined circumstances. Fees are set in the national fee regulations, were increased in December 2023 and are subject to annual indexation, so use the fee calculator on the Planning Portal rather than any figure quoted in an older article. A useful detail householders miss: where an application is needed only because an Article 4 direction has removed permitted development rights, no fee is payable.

The building control charge buys the plan check and the site inspections, and it is normally invoiced in two parts. A plan charge when the application goes in, then an inspection charge covering all the visits for the project, often raised after the first inspection. Authorities publish standard charges for common domestic work such as extensions by floor area, loft conversions and re-roofing, and determine charges individually for anything outside those tables.

Two practical points on the charge. It normally carries VAT, whereas the statutory planning fee does not, so compare quotes on the same basis and check whether a published table shows figures inclusive or exclusive. And the charge covers the inspections reasonably needed for the work described, so a job that runs long or changes substantially can attract additional charges.

Full plans against a building notice

The building notice route is not available for all work, including buildings subject to the fire safety order and higher-risk buildings, so it rarely helps beyond straightforward domestic jobs.

Use full plans for anything with a beam in it. The cost of correcting a steel that fails a check on site, after the floor above is built, dwarfs the difference in charge between the routes. There is a third route as well: a regularisation application, for work already carried out without approval, which costs more and requires opening up work for inspection.

Private building control providers

Since the Building Safety Act 2022 reforms, private sector building control work is carried out by registered building control approvers, and individual inspectors must themselves be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. The old approved inspector label has gone.

A private provider gives you a single point of contact, often faster responses and a service tuned to a developer's programme. The local authority team gives you a statutory route that cannot decline the work and a completion certificate issued by the council, which some conveyancers prefer. Fees are negotiable with private providers on larger projects and fixed by published schedule with the authority.

Whichever you use, the initial notice, the inspection record and the final certificate all need to reach the local authority's records. Gaps in that chain are what show up years later on a search.

Where the two regimes disagree

The regimes have different objectives, and on heritage buildings they pull in opposite directions often enough to plan for it.

A planning condition requiring slim timber sash windows to match the originals sits awkwardly against the energy requirements in Part L. An escape window required under Part B may be larger than the conservation officer wants on a visible elevation. A required floor to ceiling height for a loft conversion can conflict with a roof height limit imposed by planning. Ventilation under Part F and the drainage requirements in Part H can force a soil vent pipe onto an elevation where a planning condition controls appearance.

Resolve these before you submit either application. A pre-application conversation with both the planning officer and building control, referencing the specific regulation and the specific policy, is time well spent on any listed building or conservation area project. Where a planning condition and a regulation cannot both be met, it is the planning condition that has to be varied, which is a separate application with its own fee.

Completion certificates and why they matter

A Building Regulations completion certificate is the document that proves the work was inspected and found satisfactory. It is what a purchaser's solicitor asks for, what a lender wants to see, and what an insurer may ask about after a claim.

Work carried out without approval can be regularised, but regularisation is more expensive, requires opening up completed work, and cannot be granted for everything. Indemnity insurance is sometimes offered as a workaround on a sale, and it is exactly that: insurance against the council taking action, not evidence that the work is sound.

Enforcement time limits differ between the regimes, and the contrast is worth knowing. Under the Building Act 1984, a local authority's power to prosecute a contravention and its power to serve a notice requiring work to be altered or removed are both time limited by reference to completion of the work. Planning enforcement limits are longer and were changed by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. So an unauthorised extension can become immune from planning enforcement while still lacking the certificate that makes it saleable.

Budgeting both from the start

Put both regimes in the budget at the outset, along with the professional costs that sit between them.

1. The planning fee, from the current calculator, plus any fee for discharging conditions.
2. Drawings and supporting documents for the planning application.
3. The building control charge, plan and inspection parts, checked for VAT.
4. Structural engineer's calculations, which the plan check will require.
5. A party wall surveyor where the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies.
6. Contingency for a condition discharge or a minor material amendment.

The planning side of that list is set out in more detail in the piece on what a householder planning application really costs, and where a consultant's quote for supporting documents looks high, the article on what drives the price of a Planning Statement explains what sits behind the number.

The single biggest saving available to most householders is avoiding a refusal, because a refused application means the fee again, the drawings again and the eight week clock again. Sound supporting documents are cheaper than a second submission.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it, and confirm all figures against the current published schedules.

See PlanScope pricing if you want to budget the supporting documents alongside the two sets of statutory fees.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.