Building Act survey request; Dangerous Structures, Section 77 & 78

The request was successful.

Dear Swansea Council,

Building Act survey request; Dangerous Structures, Section 77 & 78

I am undertaking a survey regarding dangerous structures across the South Wales and periphery local authorities regarding the management of Dangerous Structures. Your authority is identified as one of these.

I would be most grateful if you could take the time to provide answers to the following questions, which I will collate when complete and provide back to all authorities as a summary and comparator of good practice / what is happening on the ground.

I appreciate your responses will not refer to individual cases and comply with data protection and freedom of information requirements respectively.

1. Do you have a Dangerous Structures process in place, in applying Section 77 and 78 of the Building Act, Dangerous Structures?

2. Have you had to exercise your powers in the past ten years, in respect of home owners to address any Dangerous Structure, which would be a risk to the public?

If yes, how many separate incidences over the 10 year period have you managed specifically relating to households?

3. If the answer to question 2 is yes.

Section 77

- How many of these involved Informal Notices issued under Section 77?

- How many of these Informal Notices under section 77, were then raised at the magistrates court?

- Where further action at a court may not have been taken, is this because the dangerous structure was removed?

Section 78

- How many of these involved progressing a Section 77 to a 78 and notifying an owner of exercising your powers under this?

- How many of these were then raised at the magistrates court to recover funds?

- Where you exercised powers under Section 78 but did not take further action after this, was the dangerous structure removed?

- If a dangerous structure was not removed, why was it not?

4. In considering Dangerous Structures, how do you assess, mitigate and monitor the danger?

- Have you ever left mitigation measures in place and not removed the danger that was identified?

- If so, how long would you consider acceptable for mitigation measures to be held, do you then monitor these and how do you to measure the danger?

5. In considering Informal Notices under Section 77, what would be the maximum period you would allow for this to be responded to by an owner before the appropriate action is necessary under Section 78?

Is this period outlined in the Dangerous Structure Building Act guidance?

Would you consider a 10 year period of the issue of an Informal Notice without addressing a dangerous structure acceptable?

6. In considering exercising your powers,

- under Section 77, how long would the period usually take to apply to court?

- under Section 78, how long would the period usually take to apply to court and procure for the necessary works on average?

- What are the reasons you would exercise your powers under Section 78 in line with the building Act, Dangerous Structures?

7. In raising a Section 77, would you survey and identify ownership in order to legally issue any notice?

- Do you have internal resource to assess ownership?

- Have you ever used external boundary specialists?

- If the answer is yes, at what stage in the Dangerous Structures process and in what scenario have you used external boundary specialists?

- Would you alternatively leave the view up to the courts regarding ownership, with neutrality and to recover funds?

8. Noting building history is recorded on your planning register, what information would you update the register with for the public, when exercising your powers under section 77 and 78 respectively?

9. Have you ever had to undertake a condition survey for a dangerous structure?
If the answer is yes, at what stage do you usually undertake this?

When exercising your powers under Section 78, if you progress a condition survey at this stage, which survey preference do you have, noting if this is under the RICS or not?

Yours faithfully,

Ms Bailey

Environment FOI, Swansea Council

3 Attachments

Dear Ms Bailey

 

Please find attached an acknowledgement letter in response to your Freedom
of Information request received 5^th March 2018.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

[1][IMG]

Lee Davies

Development Manager

Rheolwr Datblygu

 

( 01792 636714 | 07796 275669

* [2][email address]

 

Croesewir gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg a byddwn yn ymdrin â gohebiaeth Gymraeg
a Saesneg i’r un safonau ac amserlenni.

We welcome correspondence in Welsh and will deal with Welsh and English
correspondence to the same standards and timescales.

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.swansea.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]

Dear Environment FOI,

I have received a reply from another authority that the survey request would take too long and could this be modified. In response please find a modified survey which I hope will make the response easier.

Building Act survey request; Dangerous Structures, Section 77 & 78

I am undertaking a survey regarding dangerous structures across the South Wales and periphery local authorities regarding the management of Dangerous Structures. Your authority is identified as one of these.

I would be most grateful if you could take the time to provide answers to the following questions, which I will collate when complete and provide back to all authorities as a summary and comparator of good practice / what is happening on the ground.

I appreciate your responses will not refer to individual cases and comply with data protection and freedom of information requirements respectively.

1. Do you have a Dangerous Structures process in place, in applying Section 77 and 78 of the Building Act, Dangerous Structures and if so can you provide a copy or link?

Yes / No

2. Have you ever had to exercise your powers in respect of home owners to address any Dangerous Structure, which would be a risk to the public under Section 78 in the past ten years?

Yes / No

3. Have you ever raised a Section 78 at a magistrates court to recover funds?

Yes / No

4. If you felt you could not recover funds via the magistrates court decision, would this stop you progressing the removal of a dangerous structure?

Yes / No

5. Is it your role to ensure removal of any identified dangerous structure by enforcement if it is a danger to the public?

Yes / No

6. In considering Dangerous Structures, how do you assess, mitigate and monitor dangerous structures?

7. In considering Informal Notices under Section 77, what would be the maximum period you would allow for this to be responded to by an owner before the appropriate action is necessary under Section 78?

Is this period outlined in the Dangerous Structure Building Act guidance?

Yes / No

Would you consider a 10 year period of the issue of an Informal Notice without addressing a dangerous structure so identified acceptable?

Yes / No

8. In exercising powers under Section 77, how long would the period usually take to apply to court if necessary?

9. In exercising powers under Section 78, how long would the period usually take to apply to court and procure for the necessary works on average?

10. What are the reasons you would exercise your powers under Section 78 in line with the Building Act, Dangerous Structures?

11. In raising a Section 77, would you survey and identify ownership in order to legally issue any notice?

Yes / No

12. Do you have internal resource to assess ownership?

Yes / No

13. Have you ever used external boundary specialists?

Yes / No

14. If the answer is yes, at what stage in the Dangerous Structures process and in what scenario have you used external boundary specialists?

15. Would you alternatively leave the view up to the courts regarding ownership, with neutrality and to recover funds?

16. Noting building history is recorded on your planning register, what information would you update the register with for the public, when exercising your powers under section 77 and 78 respectively?

17. Have you ever had to undertake a condition survey for a dangerous structure?
If the answer is yes, at what stage do you usually undertake this?

When exercising your powers under Section 78, if you progress a condition survey at this stage, which survey preference do you have, noting if this is under the RICS or not?

Yours sincerely,

Ms B Bailey

Environment FOI, Swansea Council

4 Attachments

Dear Ms Bailey,

 

Please find attached our reply to your Freedom of Information request
dated 3^rd March 2018.

 

Cofion Cynnes / Regards

Gill Walters

[1][IMG]

 

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.swansea.gov.uk/

Dear Environment FOI,

Please can you pass on my thanks to the officer preparing the information provided.

Yours sincerely,

Ms B Bailey

Dear Environment FOI,

Dangerous Structures

Please find the summary responses below to the recent survey across the South Wales and periphery local authorities, regarding the management of Dangerous Structures.

It is hoped that the information will be informative, support good practice and represent a useful comparator in reflecting what is happening in practice.

For balancing responses and variances, the size of local authorities comparatively in Wales see page 7.

Thank you for the contribution on behalf of your authority.

Survey

8 requests were made: 6 returned
(Cardiff, Bridgend, Newport, Caerphilly, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Swansea and NPT)

2 requests are overdue, as defined by the FOI At requirements
(VOG and RCT - internal reviews have been requested for these)

1. Do you have a Dangerous Structures process in place, in applying Section 77 and 78 of the Building Act, Dangerous Structures and if so can you provide a copy or link?

Yes 6

No 2 (Caerphilly and Monmouthshire)

2. Have you ever had to exercise your powers in respect of home owners to address any Dangerous Structure, which would be a risk to the public under Section 78 in the past ten years?

Yes 8

3. Have you ever raised a Section 78 at a magistrate’s court to recover funds?

No 8

Swansea
We recover costs for actions taken under S78 from owners in the County Court if they fail to pay for work involved

4. If you felt you could not recover funds via the magistrate’s court decision, would this stop you progressing the removal of a dangerous structure?

No 7

NPT - No, removal of the dangerous structure is first priority

No comment 1 (Caerphilly)

5. Is it your role to ensure removal of any identified dangerous structure by enforcement if it is a danger to the public?

Yes 6

No 2 (owner expected to address)

6. In considering Dangerous Structures, how do you assess, mitigate and monitor dangerous structures?

No comment 1 (Caerphilly)

Process noted 7

Monmouthshire
Assessment = Visual structural judgement initially, followed by a structural engineers appraisal
Mitigate = we work with owners to make the dangerous structure safe
Monitor = this can be carried out by forward planning into the surveyors diary or physical monitoring by an expert company to measure movement

Swansea
Experienced and qualified Building Control Surveyors assess reported dangers. Mitigation can be achieved by a variety of methods including removal, repairs and fencing off. We do not monitor dangerous structures as such. If reported, the initial assessment is whether action under S78, S77 is required. In some circumstances we have fitted ‘tell-tales’ to cracks in walls to establish speed of movement.

NPT
Officers carry out a dynamic risk assessment of all dangerous structures reported. Mitigation and monitoring are assessed on a case by case basis

Cardiff
Each case is unique and will require specific actions to suit, the procedure document provides a general approach as guidance to surveyors

Bridgend
Depending on the severity of the danger, if it was considered an immediate danger we would give the property owner the opportunity to remove the danger, otherwise we would engage a contractor to undertake the works. If it was considered to be a potential danger we would notify the property owner and again give them the opportunity to remove the danger, if this has not been undertaken in a reasonable amount of time we would then make application to the Magistrates Court under Section 77

Newport
We will assess the severity of the specific situation and take the appropriate action as necessary. This may include using the powers under the Building Act 1984 or monitoring the situation within defined periods, or cordoning off areas with/without road/pavement closures

Torfaen
It depends on the risk/vulnerability/exposure of each individual dangerous structure

7. In considering Informal Notices under Section 77, what would be the maximum period you would allow for this to be responded to by an owner before the appropriate action is necessary under Section 78?

Variable / dependent 3

Cardiff - Each case is unique and would need to be determined on that basis

Newport - This is normally specified by the authority depending on the severity of the situation

Monmouthshire - a reasonable time balanced with protecting people

No provision for Informal Notices 2 (Bridgend and Torfaen)

Torfaen
Section 77 allows the Authority to apply for a court order to obviate the danger. It depends on the risk/vulnerability/exposure of each individual dangerous structure

No comment 1 (Caerphilly)

Only escalated to S78 if immediate action necessary 1

Swansea
Action is only taken under S78 if there is a clear imminent danger. We escalate S77 to S78 if the condition of the structure changes, requiring immediate action. We do not escalate S77 proceedings based on elapsed time only

Order from courts under S77 next step 1

NPT - Following informal S77 notices the next step is to seek an order from courts (S78 is not next step)

Is this period outlined in the Dangerous Structure Building Act guidance?

No 6
Torfaen - No – must be reasonable in relation to each dangerous structure

No comment 1 (NPTC)

Refer to Building Act 1 (Caerphilly)

Would you consider a 10 year period of the issue of an Informal Notice without addressing a dangerous structure so identified acceptable?

No 4

Cardiff, Bridgend and Torfaen - There is no ‘Informal Notice’ facility in the legislation

Cardiff - the period referred to is unlikely

Dependent 2 (Monmouthshire and Swansea)

No comment 2 (Caerphilly and NPT)

8. In exercising powers under Section 77, how long would the period usually take to apply to court if necessary?

28 days 1

Newport - 28 days, an extension may be given if it seen that procedures are in place to alleviate the danger

Dependent 6

Cardiff - Each case is unique and must be assessed individually

Caerphilly - We do not record an average and this would vary from case to case

Torfaen - It depends on the risk/vulnerability/exposure of each individual dangerous

Swansea - This will depend on risk and whether the owner was cooperative in undertaking work

Bridgend - Depend how long it takes to ensure that the Authority have sufficient expert evidence to proceed

NPT - This varies and is dependent on availability of court and other personnel

Don’t know 1 (Monmouthshire)

9. In exercising powers under Section 78, how long would the period usually take to apply to court and procure for the necessary works on average?

No provision in legislation / N/A / would proceed as a Council 6

Bridgend - There is no provision in the legislation to apply to the Court under this section to do the works

Caerphilly
Under Section 78 we would not apply to a court to obtain an order for the work to be carried out by the owner and then by the Council in default if required. Under Section 78 the work would be carried using our emergency powers and not via the courts.

Torfaen - Section 78 is used for emergency works

NPT - It is not necessary to go through the courts to exercise powers under section 78

Swansea
We use our powers under S78 to get dangers removed quickly. We do not apply to Court for action under S78. We ask the owner to remove the danger or carry out the work using a contractor if immediate removal is deemed necessary

Don’t know 1 (Monmouthshire)

Do not record 1 (Cardiff)

10. What are the reasons you would exercise your powers under Section 78 in line with the Building Act, Dangerous Structures?

Referred to the Building Act 8 – ‘emergency measures’

Swansea - Clear imminent risk and danger to people or property

11. In raising a Section 77, would you survey and identify ownership in order to legally issue any notice?

Yes 8

Cardiff - Where the local authority is or becomes aware of a potential danger which is not deemed to pose an immediate danger to the public, then a survey of the structure combined with measures to identify the owner would be followed

12. Do you have internal resource to assess ownership?

Yes 8

13. Have you ever used external boundary specialists?

No 8

14. If the answer is yes, at what stage in the Dangerous Structures process and in what scenario have you used external boundary specialists?

N/A 8

15. Would you alternatively leave the view up to the courts regarding ownership, with neutrality and to recover funds?

N/A / No 3 (Bridgend, Monmouthshire and Swansea)

Swansea
It is our experience that the Magistrates Court will not consider making orders under S77 unless ownership has been established. If there is a dispute or the parties do not acknowledge or reject our assertion that they are the owner, Determination of Ownership proceedings should be undertaken

Options considered 1 (Cardiff)

Yes 1 (Torfaen)

No comment 3 (Newport, Caerphilly and NPT)

16. Noting building history is recorded on your planning register, what information would you update the register with for the public, when exercising your powers under section 77 and 78 respectively?

Noted not part of planning function 2 (Cardiff and Torfaen)

Building Control Dangerous Structures register 2 (NPT and Swansea)

Swansea
We record any details of pending Court Action, Notices served and any outstanding costs relating to a dangerous structure on each relevant property

When case closed 1 (Bridgend)

Not in public domain 1 (Newport)

On Local Land Charges Register 1 (Caerphilly)

None 1 (Monmouthshire)

17. Have you ever had to undertake a condition survey for a dangerous structure?

Yes 3 (Cardiff, Torfaen and Swansea)

Swansea
All reported Dangerous Structures are inspected shortly after they are reported. This may involve a brief site visit, or a more involved survey of the structure by one of our team of surveyors, or structural engineers if necessary

No 2 (Bridgend and Newport)

No comment 1 (Monmouthshire)

Don’t understand question 1

Caerphilly
We do not recognise the term a condition survey. Can you please clarify what you mean by this term and we can consider this question

Survey undertaken 1

NPT
It is unclear what you mean by condition survey, but for information, all dangerous structures are surveyed by Building Control professionals

If the answer is yes, at what stage do you usually undertake this?

When aware of issue / dangerous structure 3 (Cardiff, Torfaen and Swansea)

Swansea
All reported Dangerous Structures are inspected shortly after they are reported. This may involve a brief site visit, or a more involved survey of the structure by one of our team of surveyors, or structural engineers if necessary.

N/A / No 4 (Caerphilly, Newport, Bridgend and Monmouthshire)

Newport - haven’t undertaken any condition surveys to date

No comment 1 (NPT)

When exercising your powers under Section 78, if you progress a condition survey at this stage, which survey preference do you have, noting if this is under the RICS or not?

Own authority’s survey / Building Control survey 2

Swansea
As we use S78 for dealing with imminent danger, the survey is undertaken by the inspecting officer. Whilst we have a mix of RICS and MCABE qualified surveyors, the survey are based on our own Authority’s procedure for dealing with dangerous structures. In our experience the only time a Condition report will be required is progressing action through the Court to obtain an order under S77

NPTC - All dangerous structures are surveyed by Building Control professionals

Variable 2

Cardiff
The type and extent of such a survey would depend on the nature of the risk, together with the size and complexity of the building

Torfaen - It depends on the risk/vulnerability/exposure of each individual dangerous structure

N/A 4 (Bridgend, Newport, Caerphilly and Monmouthshire)


Size of Local authorities in Wales

Rank District Population Population
density/km² Style
1 Cardiff
361,500 2,565 City and county
2 Swansea
244,500 644 City and county
3 Rhondda Cynon Taf
238,300 561 County borough
4 Carmarthenshire
185,600 78 County
5 Caerphilly
180,500 650 County borough
6 Flintshire
154,400 352 County
7 Newport
149,100 782 City and county
8 Bridgend
143,200 571 County borough
9 Neath Port Talbot
141,600 320 County borough
10 Wrexham
136,700 271 County borough
11 Powys
132,200 25 County
12 Vale of Glamorgan
128,500 388 County borough
13 Pembrokeshire
124,000 76 County
14 Gwynedd
123,600 48 County
15 Conwy
116,500 103 County borough
16 Denbighshire
94,800 113 County
17 Monmouthshire
92,800 109 County
18 Torfaen
92,100 732 County borough
19 Ceredigion
74,100 41 County
20 Isle of Anglesey
69,700 98 County
21 Blaenau Gwent
69,600 640 County borough
22 Merthyr Tydfil
59,800 536 County borough

Yours sincerely,

Ms B Bailey