UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025

the instrument as a whole of The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

35 of the Building Act 1984. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 35 of the Building Act 1984.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
12 December 2025
In force from
1 July 2026
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This instrument is part of a number of Regulations which implement the Building Safety Act 2022 in respect of higher-risk buildings in Wales. Under section 121A of the Building Act 1984 (“the 1984 Act”), the building control authority is generally the local authority for the area in which the building or proposed building concerned is situated. However, where a local authority proposes to carry out higher-risk building work (as defined in section 120I of the 1984 Act), regulations can be made under section 91ZD of the 1984 Act designating another local authority as building control authority for that work. Regulations under section 91ZD are to be made elsewhere. The requirements in the Building Regulations 2010 currently apply to higher-risk buildings. Amendments (to be made elsewhere) to those Regulations disapply most of the procedural requirements in them in relation to higher-risk buildings (as to the definition of which see the Building Safety (Description of Higher-Risk Building) (Design and Construction Phase) (Wales) Regulations 2023). Consequently, procedures contained in these Regulations will apply in relation to higher-risk buildings instead of those in the Building Regulations 2010. Part 2 of these Regulations sets out the procedures for applying for building control approval in relation to higher-risk buildings. Applications must be submitted to the building control authority giving the information required and be accompanied by the plans, documents and information required. Building control approval may, with the applicant’s consent, be subject to a requirement, for example, to not progress beyond a specific point without agreement of the building control authority or that more detailed plans or documents could be approved by the building control authority at a later date. Part 3 of these Regulations sets out the change control process where any document relating to the work which was approved by the building control authority at the application stage (or subsequently under a requirement or a controlled change) is to be changed. Provision is also made in this Part for change to the client, principal contractor or principal designer, insolvency etc. of a client and variation of a requirement imposed on a building control approval. Part 4 of these Regulations sets out provisions in relation to the golden thread information, mandatory occurrence reporting and the handover of information on completion of the work. Part 5 of these Regulations sets out the procedures for applying for completion certificates and partial completion certificates in relation to higher-risk buildings. Applications must be submitted to the building control authority giving the information required and accompanied by the plans and documents required. Part 6 of these Regulations sets out provision relating to inspections, testing and sampling, regularisation of unauthorised work and the procedure under section 30A of the 1984 Act (which provides that a request can be made to the Welsh Ministers for determination of an application where the building control authority has not made a decision within the time limit prescribed). Part 7 of these Regulations defines exempt work, gives the building control authority the power by direction to require an application via a specified method, and also sets out those provisions in relation to which a stop notice under section 35C of the 1984 Act may be given. Part 7 also includes consequential amendments to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010. Schedule 3 to these Regulations sets out transitional provisions. The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, a regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from Welsh Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ and is published on www.gov.wales.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source