Never returned Commencement Notice

masterK

Due to a mix up between myself and architect a commencement notice was never returned for an Attic Conversion that work is due to start tomorrow.

Can anybody advise what I should do now, will I just send it ASAP with a date 14 days from now as the start date and hope they don't investigate. I can't really delay the starting of the work at this stage.

muffler

masterK wrote:

just send it ASAP with a date 14 days from now as the start date and hope they don't investigate

Thats what I would do - make it about 17 days though to avoid the risk of them not getting the min. notice

secman

I did the same thing on a new build in wexford last year, with everything going through my head leading up to the commencement ,I totally forgot to submit the commencement notice, only realised it a week into the buid. Site was stripped out, fouds dug ! Took a chance and just sent it in. Thankfully nothing came of it. On the home straight now, can see light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully its not a train. !

Best of Luck with it.

masterK

I sent the form off this morning, hopefully won't have any problems. I wouldn't expect them to follow up on a job a small as an attic conversion.

On a sidenote does a commencement notice serve any meaningful purpose or is it just a revenue generator for councils?

Salmon

I had to send my commencement notice to the firestation! As far as I can see it is just used to set you up on the fire map for the county! I could be wrong thou?

muffler

masterK wrote:

On a sidenote does a commencement notice serve any meaningful purpose or is it just a revenue generator for councils?

It serves a legal purpose as The Building Control Act states that it must be submitted for each new development.

If the system was working properly like they have in Norn Ireland there would be inspections made at about 10 different stages by building control inspectors but as we all know the bulk of the building control departments work at the moment is administration with just the odd spot inspection.

In the short term the commencement notice serves to keep a record of the new starts which helps with stats at the end of the year but it is also meant to show someone, say in 40 years from now, who designed, supervised and built the structure

LFCFan

If you give a commencement date to the council, can you start once that date arrives or do you have to get some sort of commencement cert from them before you can start? I've gotten my receipt for the money I had to pay them but nothing as yet about the commencement?

muffler

Unless they return the commencement notice to you for some reason or other - and this would normally be within a few days - then its safe to start work on the date given