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Dangerous and defective buildings

Building owners have a legal responsibility for preventing their buildings falling into a dangerous condition. If owners fail to act, or emergency action is needed, we can take appropriate steps to prevent any danger to the public.

If the emergency or crisis is life threatening, phone 999.

Please note our Building Standards team is not an emergency service. For the safety of our staff, we will not attend a live fire, or in extreme weather conditions.

What is a dangerous or defective building

To be considered dangerous, a building or structure must actually pose a threat of causing harm to a person.

What is not a dangerous or defective building

Buildings which are dilapidated would not necessarily therefore be considered dangerous. Minor items (damaged timber fencing panels for example) are also unlikely to make a building dangerous. Other examples that would not be considered dangerous may include, but are not limited to:

  • Overflowing gutters
  • Missing downpipes
  • Weeds
  • Flooding, including to roads and pavements
  • Street lighting

Report a dangerous or defective building

Council owned building

Building Standards will only deal with privately owned properties. To report a dangerous building that is council owned contact the relevant team:

Privately owned building

Before reporting please make sure that you have as many details as possible, as this will help us assess appropriately, including:

  • The full address of the dangerous building 
  • The owners details (if known)
  • Complete details of the danger
  • Evidence of the danger such as photographs

To report a dangerous or defective building during office hours: 8.45am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays), email building.standards@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or phone 01467 534333. 

Out of hours, if the issue can't wait until the next working day, please contact 03456 08 12 03.

How we can deal 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 include:

  • 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
  • Demolishing buildings in cases where the danger is immediate

What happens after reporting the issue

The costs of any action taken by us in dealing with a dangerous or defective building are recovered from the property owner, where possible.

If immediate action is not required, we will contact the property owner and give them the chance to undertake the required works. We may serve a Dangerous or Defective Buildings Notice to them. This notice requires owners to complete all of the needed works to make the building safe, within specific time periods.

If it is not possible to contact the owner, we will instruct a contractor to fence off, prevent access or secure the site. Only in very urgent situations we would carry out any works.

Building Standards Register

When a formal enforcement action results in a Dangerous or Defective Building Notice, the details will be noted on the Building Standards Register.