Dutyholder responsibilities
New duties are proposed for those who procure, plan, design, manage and undertake building work. The new duties apply to all building work to which the Building Regulations 2010 apply.
Under the new duties, the client is the person responsible for commissioning the building work and is considered to have overall control over the project. The client, the person commissioning the work, has a duty under the new regulations to take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that any and all dutyholders acting on their behalf are competent.
However, for domestic projects, it is considered unlikely that the client will have sufficient competence to carry out this duty and therefore most of the client duties will be placed on those undertaking the design work and the building work as appointed by the client. The person(s) appointed by the client must then give notice to the relevant authority, with a statement explaining it is on behalf of a domestic cient and providing the client details.
Although the client can delegate tasks, they:
- cannot delegate responsibilities
- must ensure that those they appoint have the right competencies to take on these roles
The client as the dutyholder or the appointed dutyholder(s) needs to ensure that there are arrangements and systems in place to plan, manage and monitor design work and building work to ensure compliance with building regulations.
If at any point during the application or construction process, or at any time after a building control approval application is made, or a building notice is given, the client for a project changes, the outgoing client must give notice to the relevant authority of the change and details of the new client.
Where the client is a domestic client, the outgoing dutyholder(s) must provide information to the domestic client within five calendar days of their appointment ending.
See the below links where you can find further information about dutyholders.