Before any building work is carried out, plans and details have to be submitted to the Onchan District Commissioners (the Authority) for consideration under the building regulations. Having carefully checked the submitted details, the building control officers approve or reject the application. Approval has to be given by the Authority before building work starts.
The regulations consider the following to be building works:
· The erection or extension of a building;
· The provision or extension of a controlled service or fitting in or in connection with a building;
· The material alteration of a building, or a controlled service or fitting;
· Work relating to a material change of use;
· The insertion of insulating material into the cavity wall of a building;
· Work involving the underpinning of a building.
You must formally notify us of your building work through a Building Regulations Application. If you have carried out work without getting building regulations approval, you can apply for Regularisation.
Building Regulations Application
If you wish to apply for building control approval, you need to submit a full plans application. This type of application allows you to have your plans checked by our surveyors and approved as complying with the Building Regulations 2014. You’ll need to include detailed plans of the work you’re doing. Building Control will examine the plans before any work has started and advise you of any changes required in order to meet building regulations.
You must pay the relevant plan fee following the submission of your application. You must pay the inspection fee when work starts on site. You should get a decision notice on the plan within 6 weeks, but this may be extended to 8 weeks by agreement. You can start work once you receive the decision notice, but you’ll need to tell us at least two working days before the work starts.
Regularisation
You can apply for regularisation – retrospective approval for work already carried out without consent. Only work carried out after 1 May 1993 can be approved in this way, and after we have assessed the work you might need to make alterations to demonstrate compliance. You must pay the relevant regularisation fee when you submit your application.