Registered Building Control Approver

Assent Building Compliance Limited (Oculus Building Control Limited and LB Building Control Limited)

Advice and Supporting Information

We sympathise with you having been affected by the liquidation of your Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA). We understand you will be concerned about this situation and what this means for you and how you will be affected.

As your Local Authority Building Control Service, we want to assure you that we have considerable experience in dealing with private company insolvency situations like this. It’s unfortunately not the first time this has happened and as such, we will help you as quickly and efficiently as we can.

We can only engage with you if Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited or you (as the Client) has cancelled the original Initial Notice.

The cancelled Initial Notice can then revert to us, unless a new Initial Notice by a different Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA), appointed by you, is submitted to us either:

• Within 7 days of us receiving the Cancellation Notice, if the Cancellation Notice was issued by the original Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) under  s.52(1)(a) of the Building Act 1984  or
• At any point before we have taken positive steps to supervise the works, if the Cancellation Notice was issued by the person carrying out the work under  s.52(3) of the Building Act 1984 .

The use of a new Initial Notice is acceptable where a new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA)  has been employed by you (as the person carrying out the work) on the basis of them undertaking all of the Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA)  functions under  Part 5 of The Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024  and they fulfil all the necessary elements set out in  s53(7) – (14)  and  s53B  of the Building Act 1984.

Where the Cancellation Notice has been given by Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited  under section 52(1)(a) of the Building Act , then the new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) will be responsible for certifying that all the work carried out so far is compliant and the new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA)  should issue a Transfer Certificate and Transfer Report to us as part of the new Initial Notice procedure.

If you (as the person carrying out the work) is categoric that you wish for the work to revert to us as the Local Authority Building Control Service, and do not wish to employ a new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA), and a new Initial Notice is not given to us within 7 days of the cancellation of the original Initial Notice, then we can consider the work as having reverted to our control. However, please note, that if the work is in respect of a Higher-Risk Building (HRB) or work to an existing Higher-Risk Building (HRB), then the work must revert to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

In the case of Higher-Risk Buildings (HRB’s) the Initial Notice must still be cancelled and a notice given to us. However, for any Higher-Risk Building (HRB) work, the developer must be advised to contact the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) to whom the Higher-Risk Building (HRB) work will then transfer – this follows the procedure outlined in paragraph 11 of  Schedule 3 of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023 .

Where you (as the person carrying out the work) wishes to voluntarily cancel your Initial Notice, to allow the work to revert to us, as the Local Authority Building Control Service, you should use Form 10 of  Schedule 1 of the RBCA (England) Regulations 2024 . You (as the person carrying out the work) should also send a copy of the completed Form 10 Cancellation Notice to Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited as a matter of courtesy/procedure.

Similarly, where you (as the person carrying out the work) wishes to voluntarily cancel your Initial Notice, before Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited have given their own Cancellation Notice, then it is possible for the work to transfer to a new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) without the need for a Transfer Certificate or Transfer Report. Moreover, there is no 7 day time limit on the giving of a new Initial Notice or the need to have a Final Certificate in place in this circumstance.

We would also draw your attention to recent changes provided by the  amendment regulations in England , that prevent a new Initial Notice from being used where the work was the subject of a Contravention Notice by the outgoing Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) that has not been resolved. In this case there would be grounds for rejection (Ground 13) and the work will have to revert to us, as the Local Authority Building Control Service.

We would also point out that, in some cases, Initial Notices may already have ceased to be in force – because of the existence of the conditions in  RBCA (England) Regulation 19 . This could also apply to historic Assent Building Control projects that ceased to be in force on 1 October 2024, without having a Final Certificate.

Moreover, in cases where a Cancellation Notice and/or a Final Certificate was/has not been given to us by Assent Building Control, Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited then we will consider taking the following steps:

• Inspecting the property or site to determine if any building work has started and, if it has, the stage it has reached
   
• Where work has started or appears to be complete, writing to the person carrying out the work – named jointly with Assent Building Control, Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited in the Initial Notice – explaining what has happened to these companies and that their Initial Notice has ceased to be in force. If Assent Building Control, Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited did not supply the name and address of the person carrying out the work in the Initial Notice, we will try to find these details
   
• Discussing with the person carrying out the work that they might want to discuss the situation with somebody within the Assent Group, where appropriate, and if they can assist them with sourcing a new Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA)  to submit a new Initial Notice where the work has not been completed
   
• Placing a time limit on when we need to hear something back from the person carrying out the work. Please note that we cannot leave it too long as work might still be progressing
   
• Where we hear nothing more, within a reasonable period of time, we will write again to inform the person carrying out the work that the work is treated as having reverted to us, as the Local Authority Building Control Service and that they are required to provide as much information to us as possible regarding the design, the work carried out, and any records they can obtain from Assent Building Control, Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited relating to plan and site inspection records. This information request is be treated as an  RBCA (England) Reg 22  Notice
   
• Informing the person carrying out the work that a failure to provide the information we need could result in an offence having been committed under  section 57 of the Building Act 1984  and may result in enforcement action
   
• Explaining that whilst the work must revert to us as the Local Authority Building Control Service, we will have to consider how to prioritise the case and offer the person carrying out the work an indication of how long it might take for us to consider the information/inspect the work. We may also need to explain that, if necessary, parts of the work that are covered over, may need uncovering to demonstrate that the work complies with the Building Regulations
   
• We may also pursue enforcement action should we not receive information, etc. as required by  RBCA (England) Reg 22 

We must remind you that it is an offence for you not to cancel an Initial Notice if you know that the Registered Building Control Approver (RBCA) cannot fulfil its Building Control function, especially if work is continuing without any inspections being carried out by Oculus Building Control Limited or LB Building Control Limited Registered Building Inspectors. It will then be a matter for you, as the Clients and other Duty Holders to decide if you wish to cancel the Initial Notice.

Please Note: All local authorities are obliged to levy a fee for work that is reverted to them but this fee will be individually assessed based on the size of the project and the amount of time they anticipate they will need to satisfy themselves of compliance with the Building Regulations, any information you have about inspections undertaken so far, plus building plans, structural calculations and any photographs of the work in progress will also be of great assistance. This information may, for example, include (but is not limited to):

• plans
• fire strategy
• specifications
• relevant reports and calculations
• third party assessments
• plans certificate
• part final certificates
• correspondence, including consultations with statutory undertakers and Fire and Rescue Service
• relevant planning permission conditions (regarding optional technical standards of Building Regulations)
• inspection plans
• inspection records
• design, installation, testing and commissioning certificates

Cancellation Form and Reversion Application Form

 Please contact help@bcsolutions.org.uk and we will be more than happy to assist and supply all necessary information.