How the fee is set
Building warrant fees are national. The Building (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 set them, and amending regulations change the figures. The latest change took effect on 1 April 2026, as the Scottish Government’s 2026 fees update explains. Councils charge the scale and check the value you declare for the works.
For most building work the fee depends on the estimated value of the works, not the type of job. A £40,000 loft conversion and a £40,000 kitchen extension are charged the same. Applications that are only a conversion or only a demolition have their own fixed fees, listed in the tables.
The 2026 scale in bands
The City of Edinburgh Council’s table of fees and West Lothian Council’s 2026 fee scale show the same figures. Both tables also have bands between £5,000 and £20,000 that are not repeated here.
Estimated value of works, and the fee:
- Up to £5,000: £215
- £20,001 to £30,000: £780
- £30,001 to £40,000: £865
- £40,001 to £50,000: £950
- £50,001 to £60,000: £1,035
- £60,001 to £70,000: £1,120
- £70,001 to £80,000: £1,205
- £80,001 to £90,000: £1,290
- £90,001 to £100,000: £1,375
The scale can change from one April to the next. Check the council’s current table before you budget.
Work started or finished without a warrant
Work that needs a building warrant must not start until the warrant is granted. Starting without one is an offence under section 8 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, and the person doing the work, the person it is done for and the owner can all be guilty. Paying a higher fee later does not undo the offence. We never start such work before the warrant is granted.
Where it has happened, both councils charge more. Work started after the application went in but before the warrant was granted is not charged the higher fee, but it is still an offence. A late application, where work started before the application was made, costs 200% of the normal fee. A completion certificate for work that never had a warrant costs 300%. On the City of Edinburgh Council’s own worked example of £52,000 of work, the normal fee is £1,035 and the late fee is £2,070. At 300%, the same job comes to £3,105 by the same arithmetic. The tables also describe discounts where a certifier is used, so the figure you pay can be lower than the undiscounted ones here.
Other fees on the tables include £150 to amend a warrant for a cost increase of up to £5,000, and £150 to extend a warrant. See work done without a warrant for what the late routes involve.
What the fee does not cover
The fee is paid to the council for its building standards checks on the work, from the application through to the completion certificate. There is no separate fee for submitting a completion certificate for work done under a warrant. It does not include the architect’s or structural engineer’s design work, any drawings or calculations the application needs, or the cost of the build.
Neither council’s table mentions VAT. If that matters to you, ask the council.
Both councils check the value you declare. City of Edinburgh Council says on its apply for a building warrant page that its surveyor checks the value against BCIS tender prices, and its cost of works guide gives those rates per square metre. West Lothian Council’s fee table says it may ask for evidence of your figure and compare it with BCIS, and its guide says to value the work as a contractor would price it, even if you do some of it yourself.