Building Standards
Building Warrant Fees 2026
March 17, 2026 by Simon Moore 2 Comments | Category Building Standards, Building Warrant Fee, Futures Board
Building warrant fees will be changing from 1 April 2026, marking the final stage of the 3-year building warrant fee model, designed to support continued investment in verification services across Scotland.
The model which has increased fees annually from 1 April 2024, was developed following a public consultation in 2023. Introduced by Building Standards Division (BSD) through the Building Standards Futures Board Programme (FB), the fees are intended to support verifiers and strengthen the system.
The income generated by the increase to fees will provide additional resources to support verifiers to strengthen the building standards services through investment in staffing, technology and training. It is expected that local authorities will primarily use this additonal resource to increase investment in their building standards workforce. The Scottish Government continues to undertake additional monitoring and reporting of building warrant fee reinvestment with all 32 local authorities.
Upcoming changes
Changes across the 3-year model include:
- an average of 8% increase in building warrant fees from April 2026
- warrant fee for conversions or demolition increases from £210 to £215
- late demolition‑only warrant applications increase from £300 to £350
- submission of a completion certificate for demolition or conversion without a warrant rises from £500 to £600
- fixed certification discounts for works up to £100,000 increase in line with the equivalent cumulative fee uplift, while the discount rates for works over £100,000 stay the same at 10% for Certification of Design, and 3% for Certification of Construction.
- the lowest starting fee rising around 2% from £210 to £215. Most fixed fees will remain the same e.g., amendments to warrants under £5,000, demolition only fees and extensions to warrants all remain at £150.
Overall, the structure and application of building warrant fees remain the same. The 3-year model is designed to deliver a cumulative increase of £11.5 million nationally for local authority verifiers. This is around a 30% cumulative increase in fee income since the model was introduced in 2024.
The revised table of fees will be available in the new version of the Building Standards Procedural Handbook from 25 March 2026. Additionally, the free online building standards fee calculator, used to assist applicants in estimating their warrant fee, will be updated from 1 April 2026.
More information on the new fee rates from 1 April 2026 can be found at Building (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026.
If you would like any further information on changes to building warrant fees or any other work carried out by the Futures Board workstreams, please contact us at BuildingStandards@gov.scot.
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