More than 250 live building projects have been caught in a building control transfer after Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited entered insolvent liquidation and was removed from the registered building control approver registers for England and Wales.
The Building Safety Regulator’s operational notice identifies around 250 affected non-higher-risk building projects and two higher-risk building projects. The non-higher-risk schemes have either transferred to another registered building control approver within the statutory window or reverted to the relevant local authority. The two higher-risk projects have reverted to the Building Safety Regulator.
For project owners, the immediate issue is not simply the loss of a consultant. Building control responsibility must remain legally and operationally clear. Depending on the project type and the action taken after the cancellation notice, work may continue under new inspection arrangements, revert to council control or stop until the regulator validates a new application.
LCM assessment: The collapse exposes a continuity risk that clients often treat as secondary when appointing private building control. On non-higher-risk projects, missing the seven-day transfer window can move a scheme automatically into local-authority control. On higher-risk projects, the consequence is more severe: relevant work must stop until BSR confirms that a replacement application is valid. The practical protection is complete project records, immediate action and a clear understanding of who now holds building control responsibility.
Jump to: The position at a glance | What happened | Non-higher-risk projects | Local-authority reversion | Higher-risk projects | Commercial consequences | Wider industry lessons | Project-owner actions | LCM verdict | FAQ
The Position at a Glance
| Project Position | Building Control Outcome | Immediate Requirement | Can Work Continue? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-higher-risk project transferred within seven days | A replacement RBCA submits a new initial notice within seven days of the cancellation notice. | The new approver must assess the unfinished work and complete the required transfer process. | Yes, provided lawful inspection arrangements are in place. |
| Non-higher-risk project not transferred in time | The project automatically reverts to the relevant local authority. | Notify the council, follow its reversion process and provide the required design and inspection records. | Potentially, but inspection arrangements must be agreed and maintained. |
| Higher-risk building project | BSR automatically becomes the building control authority for the affected work. | Submit a building control approval application to BSR and identify it as formerly overseen by Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited. | No. Work described in the initial notice must stop until BSR confirms the application is valid. |
| Work already covered by a part final certificate | The certificate remains valid where applicable. | Separate certified work from the unfinished scope when preparing the transfer or reversion information. | The remaining uncertified work follows the applicable transfer or reversion process. |
Critical distinction: The seven-day period runs from receipt of the cancellation notice, not from the date Corporate Approved Inspectors entered liquidation. Project owners should check the notice date and the status of any replacement initial notice rather than relying on assumptions about when responsibility changed.
What Happened to Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited?
Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 28 May 2026. The joint liquidators subsequently applied for the cancellation of the company’s registration as a registered building control approver, and the company was removed from the registers for England and Wales. Because the company could no longer continue its building control functions, cancellation notices were issued for remaining live projects. A cancellation notice ends the original initial notice and therefore ends the outgoing approver’s authority over the affected work.
The legal process exists to prevent a live building project from continuing without an identifiable building control body. It also creates a sharp administrative deadline. A client may have an active contractor, approved drawings and inspections already completed, but those facts do not preserve the original initial notice after cancellation.
The Seven-Day Window for Non-Higher-Risk Projects
For non-higher-risk work, a project owner could appoint another registered building control approver. However, the replacement approver needed to submit a new initial notice within seven days of the cancellation of the original notice. Appointment alone was not enough. The new initial notice had to be issued within the statutory period. Once accepted, the replacement RBCA must take reasonable steps to establish whether the unfinished work complies with the Building Regulations.
This may require reviewing drawings, inspection records, reports and certificates, as well as carrying out new inspections or asking for work to be exposed. The transfer certificate and transfer report normally need to demonstrate how the unfinished work was assessed before the replacement approver assumes continuing responsibility. LCM has previously examined why registered building control capacity has become a project constraint. A mass transfer can intensify that pressure because owners need appropriately registered professionals who are willing to accept responsibility for partially completed work within a very short period.
What Local-Authority Reversion Means in Practice
Where no valid transfer occurred within the required period, the non-higher-risk project reverted automatically to the relevant local authority. The authority cannot simply refuse a reverted project, but the client must follow the council’s process and supply enough information for it to take over building control. The expected information can include drawings, specifications, fire strategies, structural calculations, inspection plans, inspection records, test and commissioning certificates, correspondence and any accepted plans or part final certificates.
Record quality becomes commercially important at this point. If the local authority cannot determine whether concealed or completed work complies, it can require work to be cut into, opened up or pulled down within a reasonable period. Official guidance encourages a proportionate, risk-based approach, but it does not remove the client’s responsibility to demonstrate compliance. The likely consequences are additional professional fees, repeated inspections, programme disruption and possible opening-up works. Those outcomes are not automatic, but weak records make them more likely. The issue connects directly with LCM’s analysis of how regulatory status and evidence affect construction insurance risk.
Higher-Risk Projects Face an Immediate Work Stop
The two affected higher-risk building projects follow a different route. Higher-risk work does not revert to a local authority in England. The Building Safety Regulator automatically becomes the building control authority for the work covered by the cancellation notice. After cancellation, all work described in the initial notice must stop until BSR confirms that a new building control application is valid. The operational notice instructs affected applicants to mark the application title with “formerly Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited”.
Validation is the point at which work may restart under this specific reversion route. It should not be confused with final approval of every technical issue. The application still needs sufficient information to explain the project’s status, the work already completed and how compliance will be controlled going forward. For a wider explanation of the regime, see LCM’s simple guide to building control approval for higher-risk buildings. The present incident also demonstrates why BSR’s status as a permanent standalone regulator matters when private building control arrangements fail.
The Commercial Consequences for Clients and Contractors
Building control reversion does not automatically mean the construction work is defective. It does mean that a new authority must become satisfied about work it did not originally inspect or manage. That transition can affect programme, preliminaries, professional fees, access arrangements and the release of payments linked to inspection or certification milestones. Contractors may also need to preserve completed work, revise sequencing and provide additional evidence while the new building control body assesses the project.
Contract terms should be reviewed carefully before responsibility for time or cost is assigned. The liquidation, cancellation notice, record handover and client response may each affect entitlement differently. BSR expressly states that it and the liquidators cannot provide project-specific legal advice.
The Wider Lesson for Building Control Appointments
The incident is not only about one failed company. It shows that building control continuity should form part of project risk management from appointment onwards. Clients should know where inspection records are stored, who owns the project data, how information can be transferred and what happens if the approver loses registration or stops trading. Waiting until a cancellation notice arrives is too late to discover that reports, photographs or correspondence are inaccessible.
The Building Safety Regulator’s detailed guidance confirms that clients and local authorities can require an outgoing RBCA to provide project information. However, the most resilient arrangement is for the client and dutyholder team to maintain their own complete, current and traceable record throughout the job.
What Affected Project Owners Should Do Now
Confirm the legal status: establish when the cancellation notice was received and whether a replacement initial notice was submitted within seven days.
Identify the current building control body: obtain written confirmation that responsibility sits with a replacement RBCA, the local authority or BSR.
Protect the records: secure drawings, specifications, inspection reports, photographs, calculations, test certificates, correspondence and part final certificates.
Control site activity: do not allow assumptions about the transfer to drive construction. Higher-risk work covered by the cancelled notice must remain stopped until BSR validates the application.
Review programme and contracts: record delay, additional inspections, access requirements and instructions before allocating responsibility or cost.
Seek project-specific advice: the new approver, local authority, BSR application team and legal advisers have different roles. Do not treat general regulatory guidance as a substitute for advice on the specific contract or building.
LCM Verdict: Building Control Continuity Is Now a Core Project Risk
The liquidation of Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited has moved more than 250 projects into a statutory transfer or reversion process. For most non-higher-risk schemes, the central question is whether a replacement initial notice was submitted within seven days. For the two higher-risk projects, the position is stricter: affected work must stop until BSR confirms a valid application.
The immediate priority is continuity of lawful inspection and control. The longer-term lesson is that project owners must treat building control records and exit planning with the same seriousness as design appointments, insurance and contractor solvency.
Final LCM assessment: A failed building control provider can create consequences far beyond replacing one consultant. It can change the statutory authority supervising the project, expose gaps in inspection evidence and stop higher-risk work altogether. The strongest protection is immediate action supported by records that allow another regulator or approver to understand exactly what has been designed, inspected and built.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the projects revert?
Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited entered insolvent liquidation, issued cancellation notices for remaining live projects and was removed from the registered building control approver registers.
Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited entered insolvent liquidation, issued cancellation notices for remaining live projects and was removed from the registered building control approver registers.
How many projects are affected?
BSR identifies around 250 non-higher-risk building projects and two higher-risk building projects.
BSR identifies around 250 non-higher-risk building projects and two higher-risk building projects.
Can work continue on a non-higher-risk project?
Work can continue where proper inspection arrangements have been made. The project will either be overseen by a replacement RBCA appointed through the transfer process or by the relevant local authority following reversion.
Work can continue where proper inspection arrangements have been made. The project will either be overseen by a replacement RBCA appointed through the transfer process or by the relevant local authority following reversion.
What happened if the seven-day transfer deadline was missed?
If a replacement RBCA did not submit a new initial notice within seven days of the cancellation notice, the non-higher-risk project automatically reverted to the relevant local authority.
If a replacement RBCA did not submit a new initial notice within seven days of the cancellation notice, the non-higher-risk project automatically reverted to the relevant local authority.
Must work stop on the two higher-risk projects?
Yes. Work described in the cancelled initial notice must stop until BSR confirms that the new building control application is valid.
Yes. Work described in the cancelled initial notice must stop until BSR confirms that the new building control application is valid.
Do existing part final certificates remain valid?
Where applicable, part final certificates already issued remain valid. The remaining uncertified work must follow the relevant transfer or reversion process.
Where applicable, part final certificates already issued remain valid. The remaining uncertified work must follow the relevant transfer or reversion process.
Sources and methodology: This article was prepared using official information available on 31 July 2026. The facts specific to Corporate Approved Inspectors Limited were checked against the Building Safety Regulator’s operational notice for project owners, updated 21 July 2026. The transfer, cancellation and reversion processes were checked against the official building control practice guidance on cancellation notices, transfers and reversions and the official reversion FAQs. Confirmed regulatory requirements are distinguished from LCM analysis of likely programme, documentation and commercial consequences. This article does not provide legal advice.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus
Founder, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |
