No completion certificate

28tsw

We bought our shared ownership in 2014 new. It was bought by our housing association first of course. We are selling now and found out there never was a completion certificate requested by the builder. Local authority say they won’t take action as they have records of inspections and are happy with those records. Solicitor says it should be accepted.

Any reason this wouldn’t be accepted? I’ve googled it and scared myself with all the things about invalid building insurance and mortgage lenders needing it. Indemnity insurance seems to cover legal action which the LA said they wouldn’t do. 

I don’t understand how it went through housing association and our solicitors when we bought and it never came up.

Cordell2014

We had a similar situation a few weeks ago. We bought a house that Hill Reed built in 2015. The first owner sold it back to Persimmon (who bought out Hill Reed). Persimmon couldn't find the completion certificate. What they did was produce a completion certificate with that days date on it (August 2020).
Our solicitor didn't seem worried about it, so we accepted it. I wonder if they only did it as the sale relied on it though...
Has your solicitor not contacted the original builders/housing association to request one?
I thought your mortgage lender has to have the completion certificate but could be wrong.
Good luck!

28tsw

No they have sent a letter from the council to our buyer that states they won’t take action and the visits they did were satisfactory but can’t do a certificate as it’s over 5 years. 

davidmcn

28tsw said:

No they have sent a letter from the council to our buyer that states they won’t take action and the visits they did were satisfactory but can’t do a certificate as it’s over 5 years. 

Well that's fine. Like your solicitor has said.

28tsw

davidmcn said:

28tsw said:

No they have sent a letter from the council to our buyer that states they won’t take action and the visits they did were satisfactory but can’t do a certificate as it’s over 5 years. 

Well that's fine. Like your solicitor has said.

They haven’t gone that far! They have said they won’t comment on whether it will be acceptable.

davidmcn

28tsw said:

davidmcn said:

28tsw said:

No they have sent a letter from the council to our buyer that states they won’t take action and the visits they did were satisfactory but can’t do a certificate as it’s over 5 years. 

Well that's fine. Like your solicitor has said.

They haven’t gone that far! They have said they won’t comment on whether it will be acceptable.

Sorry, you had said "Solicitor says it should be accepted."

28tsw

Yeah I realise that but I have checked back and I misremembered their exact wording and when I clarified today they wouldn’t say 

AdrianC

28tsw said:

No they have sent a letter from the council to our buyer that states they won’t take action and the visits they did were satisfactory but can’t do a certificate as it’s over 5 years. 

I'm not sure what you want, but I really can't see them providing any better confirmation than that.

If your solicitor isn't saying "Woah, this is a showstopper", and your lender is happy to go ahead, then...

It's entirely possible that with the construction being done for/by the HA, that makes a difference because there isn't a first "normal" buyer - the HA is retaining an interest at all times.

28tsw

Cordell2014 said:

We had a similar situation a few weeks ago. We bought a house that Hill Reed built in 2015. The first owner sold it back to Persimmon (who bought out Hill Reed). Persimmon couldn't find the completion certificate. What they did was produce a completion certificate with that days date on it (August 2020).
Our solicitor didn't seem worried about it, so we accepted it. I wonder if they only did it as the sale relied on it though...
Has your solicitor not contacted the original builders/housing association to request one?
I thought your mortgage lender has to have the completion certificate but could be wrong.
Good luck!

We’ve approached the builder and they have escalated to the senior architect to discuss with council. Is this how yours was sorted? We have also sent a formal complaint to our last solicitor who was very surprised they wouldn’t have checked for this before allowing us to proceed.

Buyer has gone silent but their normal solicitor is on leave this week. My solicitor came back from leave this week and opened the conversation with me with “it’s not great is it”.