Building Control historical property searches

Plans, drawings and material submitted to the council are protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may only use material that is downloaded and/or printed for the following

• Consultation purposes
• To compare current applications with previous schemes
• To check whether developments/properties have been completed in accordance with approved plans

You must not use this material for other purposes or make further copies without the prior permission of the copyright owner (architect, designer, applicant, ordnance survey etc.). You indemnify the Council of any claims made in relation to your use of this information including, but not limited to, copyright and or as a result of it being accessed, downloaded or viewed.

Requesting a search

We receive on average 10 house/building searches daily, and in order to turn around these enquiries as quickly as possible we advise:

• Send your request by email to buildingcontrol@richmond.gov.uk, or alternatively you can write or send us a fax.
• Enquiries will be answered within seven working days, or acknowledged within two days and you will be informed of when you can expect a full reply.
• We can only provide Buiding Regulation plans from 1991 on an archived system. (This is dependent on the application type and whether any plans were actually deposited, and also if they are subject to copyright.)
• Due to storage requirements unfortunately no plans/drawings were retained prior to 1991 and therefore we can only provide microfiche Decision Notices.
• Any documentation available in respect of establishing the history of this property costs £47 per document, and we will require the payment to be received before documents are printed off.
• Building Control plans are not public documents and as such there is no express right to view them. If the person enquiring has written authorisation from the person holding the copyright (usually the Architect) and there is also an agreement from the owner of the property at the time the details were deposited then we can allow the person to see the plans or copy them if the permission to do so is expressed in the note from the person holding the copyright/owner at the time.
• Owners can see plans of their own property but can not copy them without the copyright authorisation and agreement from the owner of the property at the time the details were deposited as stated above. This is not transferable to an Agent, and therefore the documentation can only be viewed by the Owner. For security reasons a Technical Support Officer will be required to sit with the owner whilst they peruse the documentation. There is a cost attached to this of £112. This is the standard fee for plan retrieval, and is non-refundable in the event that the details you have requested do not reveal the information you require.
• Copies are charged at £3.10 per A0 sheet of paper, £1.50 per A1 sheet of paper, £1 per A2 sheet of paper, 32p per A3 sheet of paper and 22p per A4 sheet of paper.
• It is also possible for all details to be produced by the local authority, if subject to a Court subpoena.
• All house/building enquiries are dealt with in strict date received order, and paperwork will not take priority in other formats.

For further information the codes below are self-explanatory.

• FENSA, CW, BRECECA, BSI, CORGI, BESCA, ELECSA, HETAS, NAPIT, NICEIC, CERTASS, GASAFE, BMCL, NFRCCR, STROMA, TRADA, VEKA, CIGA

For these types of applications the Local Authority holds no paperwork. The Local Authority Building Control department does not investigate any aspect of these application, for our own records we are purely notified of the works being carried out. Therefore we cannot provide any documentation regarding these applications and you may wish to contact the company who carried out the installation or works directly.

Building Regulation requirements

These are critical dates for when certain Building Regulation requirements came into force:

Electrical installation

Part P introduced - with effect 1 January 2005

Building over sewers

Introduced requirement to submit Full Plans when Building Over or within 3m of a sewer – with effect 1 April 2002

Prior to 1 April 2002, Building Regulations submissions were not routinely assessed against the ‘Sewer map’ as provided by the Water Authority. The only procedure available was a ‘Map of Sewers’ which did not show S.24 sewers as they had not been mapped by the Water Authority at that time and presented to the Local Authority in a form which could be readily used. Consequently, unless shown on the official sewer map held at that time, a Building Regulation submission would not be shown to contain information relating to public sewers and an agreement with the Water Authority for building over or in proximity would not have been entered into by the applicant.

Windows replacement

Subject to control but exempted from it if part of FENSA scheme – with effect from 1 April 2002