Scottish Government

The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 came into force on May 1, 2005 and is the primary legislation under which the Building Standards system operates. This is supported by secondary legislation including building, procedueral, fees and forms regulations.

A building warrant must be applied for, and granted by the local authority verifier before any building work can commence. Verifiers are appointed by Scottish Ministers and currently each local authority has been appointed as verifier for their own geographical area. A completion certificate must be submitted to the verifier when the work is complete. A new building, or an extension, cannot be occupied until the completion certificate has been accepted by the local authority verifier.

The Procedural Handbook explains the procedures set up by the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

The Building Standards Division drafts model forms for use by local authority verifiers. Model forms are intended to be adapted by the verifier to suit their individual circumstances and requirements. The only exceptions to this are model forms BSD1 and BSD2, which may be used by anyone and relate to relaxation of building regulations.