Can someone be legally compelled to do their job?

That's true and they did say that but I accepted that and asked them to inspect but they declined. They were helpful in the end and things got resolved but it let the builder off the hook.

Your point would insinuate that the building control authority has no power then.

I did but the builder said that he didn't agree so I sent the report to the building control authority and requested an inspection.

It was my intention to proceed legally with the Building Control Authority report but a resolution was agreed.

Thanks for your reply. You are correct however this situation was slightly different. It was grant work that the council paid for. The builder wasn't willing to put things right so I contacted the building control authority with the intention of using them to force the builder to fix. They said they would have to prosecute me which I accepted but they would have been prosecuting someone for work that they had effectively signed off and paid for so a resolution was found.

My question is could they be compelled to inspect via solicitor or maybe court order?

Just checked and yes commencement notice sent in. You can opt out but you are still obliged to comply with building regulations.

I did engage what I believed was a professional even though building regulations were breached during construction and when the builder did repairs. They even said they couldn't give an invoice because I didn't pay vat even though they charged me vat.

Building Control didn't stay out of it. They organised the resolution.

Sorry I didn't want to get into it. I just wondered if push came to shove could I have gotten a solicitor or some sort of court order to force an inspection.

Building Control organised a second home adaptation grant and eight weeks in a hotel while the work was demolished and rebuilt so the taxpayer footed the bill. I wasn't happy with this route as I wanted to bury the cowboy builder

What would that do? Would it force a building control inspection?

I'm just rethinking what routes I could have taken. It sickens me that the conman builder got away scot free, well apart from the reputation damage

There was no detailed signed contract like building a house but it's fairly straightforward. I employed a builder to do work and they breached multiple building regulations. I let them back to do repairs and they breached more building regulations. Building Control who are supposed to enforce regulations would not inspect and just threw public money at the problem.

Any builder must comply with minimum building regulations by law regardless of what contract was in place. My builder did not. The building control authority is a department of the council and they were faced with prosecuting a sick person for work that their council had signed off and paid for which resulted in a resolution. Unfortunately situations like this allow builders to cut corners due to lack of regulation. There appears to be very little accountability or recourse in construction.

but building control refused to inspect at the time and that's why I asked if I could legally force them to inspect