Unhappy With Our Service?

We are committed to providing a high-quality, professional service to everyone who contacts us.  If something has gone wrong or if are unhappy with a decision please contact us and we will do all we can to sort out your concerns and respond positively to your comments.

Complaints About the Service You Received

If you have a complaint about the service you received you can assess information about the Comhairle’s Complaints Procedure.

Concerns About Decisions Made

If you have concerns about decisions taken by the Building Standards section on a technical or procedural matter, but do not wish to register your concerns as a complaint, please refer to Fig. 1 : Appeal or Review of Decisions Flowchart below.

Appeal or Review of Decisions

The flowchart below describes the processes that can be adopted in the event of the unhappiness of the customer with a building standards decision on a technical or procedural matter.

[Descriptor : Appeal or Review of Decisions Flowchart]

Fig. 1 : Appeal or Review of Decisions Flowchart

LABSS 

Local Authority Building Standards Scotland (Opens in a new window or downloads a file)

Appeal to Sheriff

The Act permits appeals to the Sheriff Court on the following matters:

1. where Scottish Ministers refuse an application to relax or dispense with a provision of the building regulations;
2. where a verifier refuses to grant or amend the terms of a warrant, including deemed refusals resulting when the verifier has not made a decision within the specified time limits;
3. where a verifier refuses to extend the life of a limited-life building, including deemed refusals resulting when the verifier has not made a decision within the specified time limits;
4. where a verifier rejects a completion certificate, including deemed rejections resulting when the verifier has not made a decision within the specified time limits
5. where a verifier imposes continuing requirements
6. where a verifier refuses to discharge or vary a continuing requirement
7. where a local authority serves a notice (regarding building regulations compliance, continuing requirement enforcement, building warrant enforcement, defective or dangerous buildings). 

Notes

• An appeal must be made within 21 days of a decision being issued or of a notice being served. Where a verifier has not made a decision in relation to items 2, 3, 4, or 6 above, a decision is deemed to have been made by the period specified in the procedure regulations.
• For item 2 above, the period after which a decision is deemed to have been made is three months from the date of receipt of an application for warrant or amendment of warrant if no first report is issued, or 9 months after the date of issue of the first report. These periods may be extended by agreement or by time taken to obtain relaxations or views.
• For item 3 above, the period for a deemed decision is one month from the date of receipt of the application is specified, for item 4 above, 14 days from the date of submission is specified (excluding submissions without a warrant having been obtained) and for item 6 above, the period is one month from the date of receipt of the application.