Dangerous structures
The Council has experienced and qualified officers on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year to deal with dangerous buildings or structures. A dangerous structure can be anything from a loose slate to a collapsing building.
Report a possible dangerous structure
If you see a building or structure you think may be dangerous call us straight away on 020 8871 7620 during the day or 020 8871 6000 out of hours.
When calling please let us have as much information as possible including an exact location and details of the nature of the problem. Your call is confidential and we will not pass on your personal information to anyone else.
What action can the Council take?
We will get an experienced engineer or surveyor there as soon as possible to assess the situation and if necessary we can have our own contractors remove the danger.
We can serve a Dangerous Structure notice which requires the owner to remove the danger.
If we see a structure which is defective but not immediately dangerous we will contact the owner and give them a limited time to deal with it.
If emergency work is needed the costs can be considerable but we will give the owner the option to have the work done themselves where this is possible.
Who pays?
All of our costs are charged to the owner of the building concerned. In this way they are not a burden on the Council Tax payer generally.
We will send a demand which will include the total cost of the work carried out. We also include a breakdown showing time spent and materials used.
We would recommend that owners contact their insurers as soon as possible once they are aware of a problem.
Where can I get more advice?
- Building Control Team: telephone 020 8871 7620
- Trading Standards: telephone 020 8871 7720
- The Fire Service: telephone 020 8555 1200 ext 37639
