Building control chief warns of chaos to council services if competence rules are enforced from April

The chief executive of Local Authority Building Control (LABC) has warned that a “significant number” of local authorities will be unable to undertake building control services from April.

Lorna Stimpson, in a letter to the Building Safety Regulator, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government, warned that councils will cease providing services unless a deadline to prove competence is extended.

She said that a “a significant number of building control professionals will not achieve successful certification, and therefore, registration before the 6th of April deadline”.

From 6 April all building control professionals must have passed a competence assessment and be registered with the BSR.

Stimpson said LABC is urgently reviewing the position of councils in England and Wales to determine how many surveyors are likely to be certified and registered in time.

>>See also: Race against time before April: Are we heading for a building control crisis? 

Stimpson said the picture “does not currently look encouraging”.

She said: “Our legal advice indicates that, without appropriate registered professionals, local authorities will cease to be able to undertake a building control function post 6 April.”

Stimpson is calling on the government to delay implementation of the registration of building control professionals for six months.

>>The letter comes as Housing Today publishes a deep-dive into the looming crisis, looking at what is happening on the ground and what is likely to happen come 6 April.