Trusted building & small works in London

Who may legally do this work

Anyone may legally carry out general building work in England; there is no equivalent of Gas Safe Register or the electrical Part P competent-person framework that restricts who may physically do the labour. FMB's press release states plainly: 'no licensing requirements currently exists' for builders, and separately that homeowners commonly and wrongly assume otherwise. Building Regulations control compliance of the finished work, not who is allowed to pick up the tools — though notifiable work must still go through a competent person scheme or building control sign-off regardless of who does the physical labour.

Source — checked 21 July 2026

Certificates & records

• Building Regulations Completion Certificate / Compliance Certificate

  Who must hold it:

  Whoever commissions building work that is notifiable under the Building Regulations

  Frequency:

  One-off, per project

  Issued either by the local authority building control body after inspection, or by a competent person scheme after self-certification, confirming the work complies with the Building Regulations. Without it, gov.uk warns you 'will not have the certificates of compliance you may need when you want to sell your home.'

  Source — checked 21 July 2026

Commonly misunderstood

• Myth vs fact

  Myth: This is likely the single biggest misconception in the entire building-trades space, and it is directly evidenced: a May 2025 HomeOwners Alliance / FMB survey found '45% of UK homeowners wrongly believe that builders are licensed,' '65% wrongly expect builders to have insurance to cover accidental damage, but they don't,' and 'almost a third (32%) think they must register with a government or regulatory body' when 'no such requirements exist.' The same survey found 81% of homeowners support introducing a mandatory licensing scheme — none currently exists, so this is a live policy campaign, not a description of current law.

  Fact: There is no government licence, register, or mandatory insurance requirement for builders in England. Consumers should independently verify insurance and check voluntary trade-body membership (e.g. FMB) rather than assume either is guaranteed by law.

  Source — checked 21 July 2026

Penalties for non-compliance

• Gov.uk states for non-compliant building work: 'The person doing the work could be prosecuted and fined if they do not comply with building regulations,' and the building control authority 'could make you pay to fix faulty work.' No specific maximum fine figure was found on the gov.uk pages checked today.

  Source — checked 21 July 2026

How to check who’s legally allowed to do this

Because there is no statutory licence, verification relies on voluntary trade-body membership. The FMB's own consumer-facing tool lets homeowners 'Find a Builder' or 'Check a Member' against its vetted, inspected and monitored membership list — but FMB itself frames this as a voluntary quality signal, not proof of any legal status, since (per its own May 2025 research) 32% of homeowners wrongly believe builders must register with a government or regulatory body when no such requirement exists.

fmb.org.uk

Source — checked 21 July 2026

Where you are in London can matter here

Planning permission and building control enforcement are administered by individual London borough councils (or, for some works, by private approved inspectors as an alternative to local authority building control), so process, response times and local planning policy (e.g. conservation area rules, Article 4 directions) genuinely do vary by borough. The underlying national duties (Building Regulations, Party Wall Act) do not themselves vary by borough, but which local authority you must deal with, and any locally-specific planning constraints, do.

Find your borough’s council and local requirements