Building Act 1984

126 General interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “Act” includes an enactment contained in a local Act;

• “approved inspector” has the meaning given by section 49(1) above;

• “authorised officer”, in relation to a local authority, means—

  (a)

  an officer of the local authority authorised by them in writing, either generally or specially, to act in matters of a specified kind or in a specified matter, or

  (b)

  by virtue of his appointment and for the purpose of matters within his province, a proper officer of the local authority or a district surveyor;

• “cesspool ” includes a settlement tank or other tank for the reception or disposal of foul matter from buildings ;

• “closet” includes privy ;

• “contravention” includes failure to comply, and “contravene ” has a corresponding meaning;

• “district surveyor ” has the meaning given by section 4 of the [1939 c. xcvii.] London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939;

• “drain ” means a drain used for the drainage of one building or of buildings or yards appurtenant to buildings within the same curtilage, and includes any manholes, ventilating shafts, pumps or other accessories belonging to the drain;

• “earth-closet ” means a closet having a movable receptacle for the reception of faecal matter and its deodorisation by the use of earth, ashes or chemicals, or by other methods;

• “enactment” includes an enactment contained in a local Act;

• “factory ” has the meaning given by section 175 of the [1961 c. 34.] Factories Act 1961 ;

• “fire authority ” has the meaning given by section 43(1) of the [1971 c. 40.] Fire Precautions Act 1971 ;

• “functions ” includes powers and duties ;

• “highway authority ” means, in the case of a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, the council in whom the highway is vested ;

• “house ” means a dwelling-house, whether a private dwelling-house or not;

• “inner London” means the area comprising the inner London boroughs, the City of London, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple ;

• “joint board ” has the meaning given by section 343(1) of the [1936 c. 49.] Public Health Act 1936 ;

• “limits of supply ”, in relation to statutory water undertakers, means the limits within which they are for the time being authorised by or under an Act to supply water;

• “local Act” includes a provisional order confirmed by Parliament, and the confirming Act so far as it relates to that order;

• “local authority ” means—

  (a)

  for the purposes of Parts I and II above, and of this Part so far as it relates to them—

  (i)

  a district council,

  (ii)

  the Greater London Council,

  (iii)

  a London borough council,

  (iv)

  the Common Council of the City of London,

  (v)

  the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple, or

  (vi)

  the Under Treasurer of the Middle Temple, and includes the Council of the Isles of Scilly,

  (b)

  for the purposes of Part III above, and of this Part so far as it relates to it—

  (i)

  a district council,

  (ii)

  a London borough council,

  (iii)

  the Common Council of the City of London,

  (iv)

  the Sub-Treasurer of the Inner Temple, or

  (v)

  the Under-Treasurer of the Middle Temple:

• “modifications ” includes additions, omissions and amendments, and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• “officer ” includes servant;

• “owner” means the person for the time being receiving the rackrent of the premises in connection with which the word is used, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for another person, or who would so receive it if those premises were let at a rackrent;

• “plans ” includes drawings of any other description, and also specifications or other information in any form;

• “prejudicial to health ” means injurious, or likely to cause injury, to health;

• “premises ” includes buildings, land, easements and hereditaments of any tenure;

• “prescribed ” means prescribed by building regulations ;

• “private sewer ” means a sewer that is not a public sewer ;

• “proper officer ”, in relation to a purpose and to a local authority, means an officer appointed for that purpose by that authority;

• “public sewer ” has the meaning given by section 20 of the [1936 c. 49.] Public Health Act 1936 ;

• “rackrent”, in relation to property, means a rent that is not less than two-thirds of the rent at which the property might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, free from all usual tenant's rates and taxes, and deducting from it the probable average annual cost of the repairs, insurance and other expenses (if any) necessary to maintain the property in a state to command such rent;

• “rating district” has the meaning given by section 115(1) of the [1967 c. 9.] General Rate Act 1967 ;

• “relevant period ” has the meaning given by section 16(12) or 81(4) above, as the case may require ;

• “sanitary convenience ” means closet or urinal;

• “school” includes a Sunday school or a Sabbath school;

• “sewer ” does not include a drain as defined in this section, but otherwise it includes all sewers and drains used for the drainage of buildings and yards appurtenant to buildings, and any manholes, ventilating shafts, pumps or other accessories belonging to the sewer;

• “standard scale ” has the meaning given by section 75 of the [1982 c. 48.] Criminal Justice Act 1982 ;

• "statutory maximum'" has the meaning given by section 74of the [1982 c. 48.] Criminal Justice Act 1982 ;

• “statutory undertakers ” means persons authorised by an enactment or statutory order to construct, work or carry on a railway, canal, inland navigation, dock harbour, tramway, gas, electricity, water or other public undertaking;

• “statutory water undertakers” means water undertakers who are a company, board, committee or person empowered by or under an Act to supply water;

• “street” includes a highway, including a highway over a bridge, and a road, lane, footway, square, court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not;

• “substantive requirements ”, in relation to building regulations, means the requirements of building regulations with respect to the design and construction of buildings and the provision of services, fittings and equipment in or in connection with buildings (including requirements imposed by virtue of section 2(1) or (2)(a) Or (b) above), as distinct from procedural requirements;

• “surface water ” includes water from roofs;

• “water-closet” means a closet that has a separate fixed receptacle connected to a drainage system and separate provision for flushing from a supply of clean water either by the operation of mechanism or by automatic action;

• “workplace ” does not include a factory, but otherwise it includes any place in which persons are employed otherwise than in domestic service.