A letter of comfort is a letter from the council's building standards service saying it is unlikely to take action over work done without a warrant. Councils issue them mainly for work carried out before 1 May 2005. For later work the usual route is a completion certificate where no warrant was obtained.
Letters of comfort usually come up when a house is being sold. The buyer’s solicitor spots a porch, a dormer or an old extension, asks for the building warrant and completion certificate, and the seller has neither.
What the letter says
A letter of comfort is not an approval. It is a letter from the council’s building standards service, written after an inspection, saying that the work appears to be in reasonable condition and that the council does not intend to take action over it. It has no formal status under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. Councils offer it as a service, on their own terms and for their own fee, and some decline to issue them in certain cases.
Solicitors accept it because it is the best evidence available for work that cannot now be put through the ordinary process.
When it applies
The dividing line is 1 May 2005, when the current building standards system came into force.
- Work done before May 2005 without a warrant. This is the main use. The old system had no way of approving work after the event, so the council’s comfort is all that can be offered.
- Work that never needed a warrant. Some councils, West Lothian among them, will write a letter confirming that a small piece of work was exempt, which helps when a buyer’s solicitor is unsure.
- Work done since May 2005 without a warrant. Here most councils will not issue a letter of comfort. The proper route is a completion certificate submitted where no warrant was obtained, which brings the work into the system properly. It costs three times the normal warrant fee and the work must meet the standards in force when the certificate is submitted.
How to apply
Each council has its own form, usually on its building standards pages. Expect to send:
- the address and a description of the work, with an approximate date;
- photographs, inside and out;
- any drawings, receipts or engineer’s notes you can find;
- the council’s fee.
An inspector will usually visit. They may ask for things to be opened up, a floor board lifted or a socket removed, to see what is behind. If they find a problem, such as no fire separation or an unsafe electrical installation, they will say so, and the letter will wait until it is put right.
How long it takes
Weeks rather than days, because an inspection has to be fitted in. If you are selling, apply as soon as the gap is spotted. Some buyers will accept an indemnity policy instead, but many lenders and solicitors in Scotland prefer the council’s letter where one can be had.
If you are planning an extension now
None of this should apply to you. A new extension, whether built in brick or delivered as modules, needs a building warrant granted first and a completion certificate that the council has accepted once the room is done. Get both, keep both with the title deeds, and no solicitor will need to ask for comfort.
If you are comparing firms that offer modular extensions Scotland-wide, ask each one to confirm in writing that it will apply for the warrant, book the inspections and submit the completion certificate. A firm that treats the paperwork as your problem is telling you something about how it treats the rest of the job.