Dangerous and defective buildings

It is the responsibility of the building owner(s) to maintain their property in a good state of repair and address any defects that may occur, for instance: as the result of extreme weather conditions, major incident or age related defects. In cases where owners fail to take the required action or when emergency action is required Aberdeenshire Council can take appropriate steps to resolve defects

Report a dangerous or defective building

Our Building Standards team provide a 24-hour call-out service in partnership with the police and fire services, providing advice on the condition of buildings in an emergency.

To report a dangerous or defective building please call 01467 534333 during office hours (9am to 5pm). If the issue cannot wait until the next day, to report it out-with office hours please call the emergency call centre on 03456 08 12 03.
Please do not report potentially dangerous buildings by email as your email may not be picked up until the next working day.

Dealing with dangerous buildings

The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 gives local authorities powers to deal with buildings which pose a danger to the public or which have been neglected. These powers range from:

  • discussing with an owner what must be done to repair the building
  • serving a notice on an owner requiring work to be done
  • serving notice to remove
  • undertaking work to secure or prevent access to the building or site
  • to demolishing buildings in cases where the danger is immediate

The costs of any action taken by Aberdeenshire Council in dealing with dangerous or defective building are recovered from the property owner(s).

What happens after reporting the issue

We will take any necessary action to make safe any buildings or part of a building which has become dangerous. If practical we will contact the property owner(s) and give them the chance to undertake the required works. There may be occasions however when this is not possible. In such cases we will instruct a contractor to either undertake the work or secure the site to prevent access to or around the affected property. Where the operations are carried out by our contractor, the costs incurred will be recovered from the property owner(s).

Dangerous or defective buildings notice

If immediate action is not required, we may serve a Dangerous or Defective Buildings Notice on the property owner(s). This notice requires the owner(s) to commence and complete such operations as are deemed necessary to remove the danger within specific time periods. If these time periods are not met or the danger still exists Aberdeenshire Council will appoint a contractor to undertake the relevant work and the costs incurred will be recovered from the property owner(s).

Building Standards Register

Where a formal enforcement action results in a Dangerous or Defective Building Notice, the details will appear in the Building Standards Register.

Other dangerous structures

Where reports of dangers fall out-with the scope of Building Standards, reports are passed to the relevant section of Aberdeenshire Council (for example, the Roads Service) or to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).