Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

Buildings which do not need building regulations approval

There are certain buildings and building works that do not require formal approval under the building regulations. For a full list of these exempt buildings please see this page of the Planning Portal website.

The reason these buildings are exempt are because they are either:

• Non-habitable
• Low risk
• Controlled by other legislation
• Such that it would be unreasonable to exercise any formal control over the construction.

Even though your proposals may be exempt from the building regulations you still may require planning permission. This has to be applied for separately - see our pages on Planning applications for details about what requires planning permission and how to apply for this.

It would be advisable before proceeding with your work to notify the Council - both Building Control and Development Control - with written details and sketches of your proposals (emailed documents are acceptable). They will then confirm if the work is exempt and you could keep that with the details of your property for future reference in the event of proof being required upon the sale of your property or for any other reason.