Dangerous structures

Local authorities have a legal duty to act if a building is in a dangerous condition and located in a place where it could pose a risk to public safety. The danger may be because of a sudden event, such as storm damage, fire or a road traffic accident, or it may be because of a gradual deterioration. In either case, the Building Act 1984 gives us powers to act in such circumstances.

Where possible we deal with these buildings during working hours when resources are more readily available. For urgent cases where the danger is of a more immediate nature we operate a 24 hour call-out service.

What action can you take to make the building safe?

Ideally, we work with the building owner and support them in their efforts to make the building safe, perhaps by arranging road or footpath closures as necessary.

If the building owner is unable or unwilling to undertake the works, the Building Act gives us legal powers to intervene and serve notice on them to carry out the work in a specified timescale. If a delay is unacceptable in terms of public safety, however, we also have emergency powers to carry out the works on the owner's behalf, later recovering the costs from them.

How do I report a dangerous building?

During working hours, you can contact us in the normal way.

Outside of working hours, you should call the main switchboard on 01432 260000.

Please describe the danger in as much detail as possible to help us determine whether it needs our immediate attention or not.

Please note: Our surveyors aim to attend within two hours of receiving a call. If you believe a building poses an immediate and serious danger to public safety then you should call the emergency services and not the council. The emergency services will be able to react more quickly and will have the means to immediately cordon off any danger zones. We work closely with the emergency services and they will contact us if they need one of our surveyors to attend.