Summary of changes

The maximum penalty for breach of Building Regulations will be increased to an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison.

Where an offence under the Building Regulations is committed with the consent or connivance of any director, manager, secretary etc. of the body corporate, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of any such person, that person as well as the body corporate commits the offence and can also be prosecuted.

The time limit for starting any prosecution under the building regulations will be removed. The time limit for notices requiring removal or alteration of non-compliant work will be extended to 10 years.

A date has not been set for these provisions to come into place, however we understand that they are planned to come into effect in October 2023.