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New Building Regulations require all buildings to be certified and accessible by those with disabilities
If you intend substantially re-developing a property or commencing a new development, you should be aware of the new obligations introduced by the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (“The Regulations”). The Regulations came into effect on 1 January 2010. Going forward, a Disability Access Certificate (“DAC”), issued by your local authority will be an important planning document.
The Regulations relate to all properties (with the exception of houses) for which planning permission was granted post 1 January 2010. The Regulations also apply to existing buildings where, post 1 January 2010, extensive changes are made to the building. You must also comply with the Regulations if you obtained planning permission before 2010, but only start your building work post 2010.
If you find yourself in a category affected by the Regulations either because you have a planning permission dated in 2010, because you have only now decided to extensively re-develop your property or because you only commenced development post 1 January 2010, you should liaise with your architect who will most likely apply for your DAC at the same time as your Fire Safety Certificate.
Once obtained, like a Fire Safety Certificate, your DAC will be an extremely important document. It should be kept with your Title Deeds and will be required by any purchaser, tenant or bank who may have dealings with your property in the future.
If you are an architect certifying compliance with the Building Control Act, you must ensure that you have seen the DAC and are satisfied that any conditions attached to it have been satisfied before certifying compliance.
If the Regulations apply to you, and you decide to ignore them, you will be guilty of an offence and liable to prosecution under the Building Control Act 1990. Flouting the law will also make it difficult for you to sell, insure, let or mortgage your property in the future. In short, it is a development in the law that you cannot afford to ignore.
If you require any further information in relation to Disability Access Certificate or the development of your property in general, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Property and Private Client team in Hayes solicitors.