Legal and Regulatory Frameworks
The statutory landscape
Candidates must understand the principal UK frameworks affecting buildings:
- Building Regulations: functional requirements (Parts A–R), approved documents, building control (local authority or approved inspector), completion certificates, and the distinction between Building Regs (construction standards) and Planning (land use and appearance).
- Planning law: permitted development, listed building consent, conservation area consent.
- Party Wall etc. Act 1996: notices, awards, surveyors' roles for notifiable works.
- Health and safety: CDM 2015 duties (client, principal designer, principal contractor, designer, contractor).
- Landlord and tenant: repairing obligations, dilapidations, the Dilapidations Protocol.
Traps in questions
- Planning permission does not imply Building Regulations compliance and vice versa - they are separate regimes.
- Listed building consent is required for works affecting character, even where planning permission is not.
- Under the Party Wall Act, the correct notice periods and the role of the agreed surveyor are frequently tested.
- CDM duties attach to roles, not job titles - a designer can be anyone specifying works.
Worked rule of thumb
Apply the two-regime test: for any proposed work ask (1) does it need planning/permitted development assessment? and (2) does it need Building Regulations approval? Then check heritage (listed/conservation) and party wall triggers separately.
Example: A rear extension within permitted development still needs Building Regulations approval and, if it involves a shared boundary wall, a Party Wall notice - all three regimes can apply at once.