Can I apply for a determination

You can apply for a determination where the local authority or approved inspector says that your plans do not comply with one or more of the requirements of the Building Regulations but you believe that they do.

The 1984 Building Act gives the Secretary of State jurisdiction in any case where a question has arisen regarding whether plans comply with the building regulations.

The Secretary of State/Welsh Ministers will not, therefore, as a general rule accept applications for a determination under this section relating to building work which is substantially underway at the date on which an application is made.

If, however, you consider that there are exceptional reasons justifying a later application, the Secretary of State/Welsh Ministers will consider those reasons carefully.

But, when work has started and reached a stage where it has foreclosed on the options necessary to achieve compliance of the particular element of the work in question, an application for determination at this stage is unlikely to qualify as one relating to plans of proposed work and would therefore not be accepted.