The responsibility for dangerous structures and dangerous buildings rests with the owner of the structure or building. If your building or home has suffered damage as the result of an incident you are advised to contact your building insurers in the first instance.

Where we are notified that a structure may be dangerous, depending on the nature of the danger and the risk to the public the Building Control team may visit a site and give relevant advice to the owner with a view to ensuring safety to the public.

If there is no risk to public safety the council will not take any action.

Dangerous structures can include:

• loose or falling roof tiles
• walls or fences facing public highways that are in danger of collapse
• unstable chimneys
• buildings that have become unstable because of their age, storm damage, fire damage, or vehicle impact
• buildings that have become dangerous due to negligent actions of builders or other persons carrying out alteration works

The council can use powers in situations where the owner of the property is unable or unwilling to make the building or structure safe. 

Reporting a dangerous building or structure

If you need to report a dangerous building or structure, you should contact the Building Control team on 023 9244 6015.

We will aim to carry out a risk assessment on dangerous structures within 24 hours of notification.

This number is only available during office hours.

When assistance is required out of hours please call the emergency out of hours number on 07442 453670 and we may be able to help. We do not guarantee that we will be able to help until office hours.