Understanding Building Control Completion Certificates

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When a building project finishes, there are two very different types of "completion" that matter — and confusing them is a surprisingly common source of problems at the point of sale.

The Practical Completion certificate is a contractual document between you and your contractor, confirming the works are substantially finished. The Building Control Completion Certificate is something different entirely: it is a statutory confirmation that the work has been inspected and found to comply with the Building Regulations. Both matter, but it is the Building Control Completion Certificate that solicitors, lenders, and buyers will ask for.

Who Issues It?

A Completion Certificate is issued by either:

Local Authority Building Control (LABC) — the building control service run by the local authority in whose area the works sit
A Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) — formerly known as an Approved Inspector; the terminology changed under the Building Safety Act 2022 and the new regime implemented from April 2024 by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR)

Both carry the same statutory weight. The choice of which route to use (LABC or an RBCA) is typically made at the point of making the Building Regulations application — a full plans application or a building notice — before work starts.

How It Differs from Planning Permission

These are two entirely separate statutory processes, and they do not substitute for each other.

Planning permission (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) controls whether you can build something at all — the land-use, scale, design, and impact on neighbours. Building Regulations (under the Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulations 2010) control how you build it — the structural, fire, thermal, acoustic, drainage, and accessibility standards the work must meet.

A property can have planning permission granted but no Building Regulations Completion Certificate — for example, if the work was completed without a BC application being made, or if the application was made but the final inspection was never requested. It can also have a Completion Certificate for works that did not require planning permission (most extensions under Permitted Development).

Both are separate, and both are checked by solicitors on a sale.

What Happens at the Final Inspection

Before issuing a Completion Certificate, the Building Control Inspector attends for a final inspection covering all relevant Parts of the Building Regulations:

Part A (Structure) — structural members, lintels, beam bearings
Part B (Fire Safety) — smoke detectors, heat detectors, escape windows, fire doors where required
Part F (Ventilation) — mechanical extract ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms, background ventilation
Part K (Protection from Falling) — staircases, balustrades, guarding
Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power) — insulation continuity, U-value compliance, air pressure test results where applicable
Part P (Electrical Safety) — EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) from a Part P-registered electrician
Drainage — connection to drainage network, CCTV drainage survey for new drainage runs where required

The inspector may ask for documentation — test results, product certificates, air pressure test reports — as well as inspecting physically. If everything is in order, the Completion Certificate is issued, either on the day or shortly after in writing.

What If There Is No Completion Certificate?

This is a very common problem on older works. A homeowner had an extension built in 2003, the builder submitted a building notice, did the work, and the final inspection was never requested. The Certificate was never issued. Now, twenty years later, the property is being sold.

The options are:

Regularisation. Submit a regularisation application to the local authority's building control department. An inspector attends, reviews the work — and may require areas to be opened up for inspection. If the work is found to be compliant (or is made compliant), a Regularisation Certificate is issued. The fee for regularisation is typically 25% higher than the original application fee (per Schedule 3 of The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 2010). This confirms the work actually complies.

Indemnity Insurance. A cheaper and faster route often recommended by solicitors for older works. The policy pays out the cost of any enforcement action if the local authority ever pursues the missing notice. The important distinction: indemnity insurance does not confirm the work is compliant — it only insures against the financial risk of enforcement. Some buyers, and some lenders, will not accept it as a substitute for actual certification.

For works completed in the last decade or so, regularisation is generally the preferred route. For older works where the building elements are largely inaccessible and enforcement risk is low, indemnity insurance may be acceptable.

How RCB Handles Completion Certificates

At RCB, the Building Control Completion Certificate is not an administrative loose end — it is a planned deliverable. The final BC inspection is built into the programme, the required documentation (EICR, air pressure test, drainage survey where applicable) is assembled before the inspection date, and the Certificate forms part of the formal handover pack alongside the Practical Completion certificate, O&M information, and warranties.