A large number of companies and individuals currently find themselves impacted by the recent announcement of the Assent Consultancy initial notice cancellations.
Clients and developers across domestic, commercial, healthcare, and industrial sectors across England will have recently received a cancellation notice from Assent Building Compliance LTD, and their Registered Building Control Approvers’, Oculus and LB Building Control.
These cancellations have created instability for those effected, and here at CHPK Group our Registered Building Control Approvers ACT Building Control and MC Plan & Site Services have been assessing the impact and are helping clients to navigate the new reality in which their construction projects have found themselves.
It has become clear that Assent Building Compliance Ltd.’s cancellations have been done through the correct legal procedure available to them based on the Building Act 1984.
A section 52 (1) (a) cancellation has been issued to those who hold a valid initial notice, and this cancellation will allow you to find a new Registered Building Control Approver, within 7 days from the date of your cancellation notice, to take on the work via the Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024 under the transfer certificate route.
The transfer certificate route is currently the only valid route for transferring a cancelled project under section 52 (1) (a) from Assent to another RBCA, before it becomes the responsibility of the Local Authority, and it appears that all Assent Compliance Ltd via Oculus and LB Building Control cancellations have been issued under this Section 52 (1) (a) regulation.
Here at ACT and MC Plan and Site Services, we are continuing to monitor the situation, and we hope to have further guidance from MHCLG to allow for us to clarify for any clients all available routes to them.
We remain at your service and if we can be of any assistance during this difficult time then we are happy to discuss how we can help either through a Transfer Certificate for your project, or on future projects which have not started.
Please find below our protocols if you wish to transfer your project to ACT or MC Plan and Site Services.
1. Issue a copy of your cancellation certificate from Assent Compliance LTD, in addition to all the available documentation for your project from the Assent portal. These should include, but are not limited too –
2. We will then assess the details provided and provide a response on whether we can proceed with undertaking a transfer certificate with the Local Authority for your project.
3. Once we confirm we will be looking to undertake a transfer certificate, we will be following the protocols set forth in Regulation 25 of Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024. These protocols will include the following;
4. We will then issue the Transfer Certificate to the Local Authority and await their rejection or acceptance of it, if rejected then your project will fall under the LA as the regulator for the unfinished works, if accepted then a new initial notice will be issued based on the original description set out in your original Assent Compliance LTD Initial Notice.
If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please contact us to discuss this further.
ACT Building Control Contact here
MC Plan & Site Services Contact here