Dangerous buildings

Buildings may become dangerous for a number of reasons such as old age or fire damage. We have a responsibility to deal with buildings that pose a danger to the safety of any occupants or the general public.

There might be a need to evacuate a property, temporarily close a road, erect temporary barriers or scaffolding, carry out repairs or even demolish a building if it's dangerous.

Report a dangerous building

Tell us if you have concerns about a building so that we can investigate immediately:

  • Call 01387 260199  (between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday)
  • Call 030 33 33 3000  (emergencies outside office hours)

We'll look into all reports as a matter of urgency and take appropriate action to keep occupants and passers-by safe if needed.

Our powers

We have a range of options when dealing with dangerous buildings, these include:

  • discussions with building owners
  • carrying out urgent work and recovering costs
  • issuing compliance notices
  • instructing appropriate work and recovering costs

Usually the building's owner will be allowed opportunity to carry out work (in an appropriate timeframe) to make the building safe but we may need to carry out emergency work if there is an immediate danger and we can't contact the owner.

We'll issue a Dangerous Building Notice if a satisfactory outcome is not achieved. This notice formally requires the owner to take action. We can then undertake all necessary work if the owner doesn't comply with the notice.

We'll recover the costs of any work we're required to take ourselves (emergency or otherwise) from the owner of the building.

Page last updated: 07/05/2019
email icon print icon