Completion Certificate confusion

camb76

Hi,

Any help and advise would be appreciated, as my own solicitor is unsure about how to proceed. I am in the process of buying a house where extensive alterations/additions have recently been done. The vendor has provided all the architect drawings that were submitted to the local council as a full plans application, and a recently dated Certificate of Completion.

The issue that has cropped up is that under the "Description of Work" heading in the Certificate of Completion the list of work that was carried out is not a comprehensive one. It is clear that several works described in the architect drawings have been omitted from the "Description of Work," though the Certificate does make reference to the full plans application. For example, the installation of a new bathroom in a former bedroom is not mentioned in the Certificate, but it is obvious in one of the drawings.

The vendor then further provided me with a letter from the architect in question who categorically states that the Certificate of Completion covers all the works as described in the drawings submitted under the full plans application.

To try to confirm this, I then personally called the local building control department, and the gentleman I spoke to stated categorically that the "Description of Work" is meant to be a comprehensive list. In other words, any work not expressly mentioned in the Certificate has not been approved.

So now I am totally confused. Do the documents the vendor has provided settle the building regs matter? Or should I request further documents?

I actually also had a building survey done, and the surveyor was quite pleased with the quality of the refurbishment. Thank you.