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Access to public information

Building Standards must provide access to Public Information by:

Property Enquiries, Property Clearances, Searches and Inspections

Providing advice and clearance of property enquiries during ownership transactions in association with Solicitors, Surveyors and Estate Agents.

All Building Standards services within Scotland have been required to address a need expressed by solicitors and estate agents, prior to conveyancing property, to provide "clearance" of works which have been:-

• carried out without first gaining approval, and
• carried out in contravention of the building regulations,

This service extends to:

• giving a letter of "comfort" where the nature of such contraventions do not justify an enforcement follow-up;
• property inspections of unauthorised work to assess the need for remedial works, destructive investigations or the submission of a late building warrant application or completion certificate where no warrant was obtained submission;
• assessments of proposals to confirm their exemption from the warrant process;
• providing copy documents to subsequent owners who cannot trace the approved documents.

 

The Building (Scotland) Act places a duty on owners of buildings to ensure that warrant approvals are extended within prescribed timescales, to ensure that completion certificates are submitted at the time of the completion of the works. In practice, owners and agents are failing to fulfill this basic statutory need. In an effort to "protect" the owners and subsequent owners, Building Standards operates a follow-up process of reminders and advice to try to encourage all statutory requirements to be followed.

Building Standards provide information in support of the "property clearance" system, operated by the Council, in respect of property transactions.

Building Standards provide copies of historical approval documents in support of the "property clearance" system, operated by the Council, in respect of property transactions for an appropriate fee.

Important note: Copies of historical documents can only be issued to the following people:

• The owner of the property
• The tenant of the property
• The prospective tenant of the property

Anyone else who requests copies of any documents must get written permission from the current owner first.

Any member of the public is, however, entitled to know information about any applications that have been submitted to the section.  This can be through our Public Access system or through viewing copies of the Building Standards Registers held in all area offices.