The commencement meeting with your BCO when he walks around with you going through the list of jobs on the plan you supply with a building notice would normally catch most of the missed things on the list, and also things you may have put on that don't need to be. But a building notice submission does make you fully responsible for meeting the regs, not him.
Unfortunately as we see even on this group, different people interpret those regs very differently.
On 6 Jul 2004 15:20:28 -0700, a particular chimpanzee named snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Lobster) randomly hit the keyboard and produced:
It's not for Building Control to assess whether or not an applicant is cogniscent of the implications of their proposals, both legally and 'morally'. For the applicant, ignorance is no defence.
Your gripe seems to be against the Building Control Officer, when you should perhaps be directing more of your ire against the architect who advised you wrongly that your proposals amounted to no more than alterations when a quick read of the Regulations would have made it clear that it was a change of use. Building Control is not here to bail out those who have been given poor advice or no advice at all.
In my experience, there are those people who will listen to advice, and there are those who crash on regardless despite the clear warnings that what they are doing is wrong or could lead to problems. You'll have to take a look at yourself to decide which type you are.
I'm still sorting out my MOE windows (as in how many I have to fit)... on that note, Hugo, I remember the following quote from another thread(!)....
I asked my BCO whether I needed an MOE in the second upstairs room as well, and she said, "No, not so long as it's not a bedroom, otherwise you would". As the room is pretty obviously bedroom-sized, I strongly think she's doing a Hugo here! My question is, if I play along, call this a storeroom, and get the buildings reg certificate issued on the property; would this bite me on the backside later? As in, could I then not legitimately sell or let the place as a 2-bedroom house? (and presumably I could be liable in the future if somebody managaged to get trapped and fried in that room?)
Thanks David
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