Completion certificate

No41edwardianhouse

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

eddddy said:

I guess you could look at it this way...

Having the correct planning consent (if required) and the correct completion certificate is an indication of professionalism and doing things properly.

In particular, having a completion certificate means that the local authority building control should have checked the plans and inspected the work being done on the extension. (Although they would be pretty cursory checks and inspections.)

If the builder and/or homeowner didn't bother with planning consent and a completion certificate, there's a risk that they might be cowboys. If they don't do the legal stuff properly, I guess there's a risk that they might not do the building stuff properly either.

In the worst case, they might even have knowingly done something 'dodgy', so they didn't involve Building Control because they knew it would not be passed and no completion certificate would be issued.


As a result, some people might consider the property to be a bit more risky - and therefore feel it's worth less than a similar property which had an extension built more 'professionally'.



(As an aside, if you have concerns about the quality of the extension, you can get it inspected by a surveyor. But the surveyor probably won't be able to see things like joists - to make sure that the correct ones were used.)

it appears it’s as simply as a lost certificate! They said they couldn’t find the certificate. 

Ah! And you have a search showing that the council did issue a completion certificate? You just haven't seen the certificate itself? That's not even an issue then.

Checked on the local council search portal and there is planning permission there but no indication of a completion certificate. Would it say if one had been issued on the council planning portal? 

No41edwardianhouse

The reason I say it appears as if they have lost it is because on the TA6 the seller has said “cannot find completion certificate” 

user1977

No41edwardianhouse said:

The reason I say it appears as if they have lost it is because on the TA6 the seller has said “cannot find completion certificate” 

So you don't yet have a local search covering building control matters? 

No41edwardianhouse

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

The reason I say it appears as if they have lost it is because on the TA6 the seller has said “cannot find completion certificate” 

So you don't yet have a local search covering building control matters? 

Oh hold on, yes we do. Would it be on that?!?

user1977

No41edwardianhouse said:

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

The reason I say it appears as if they have lost it is because on the TA6 the seller has said “cannot find completion certificate” 

So you don't yet have a local search covering building control matters? 

Oh hold on, yes we do. Would it be on that?!?

It ought to be. But you're the one who's got it, not me...

No41edwardianhouse

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

The reason I say it appears as if they have lost it is because on the TA6 the seller has said “cannot find completion certificate” 

So you don't yet have a local search covering building control matters? 

Oh hold on, yes we do. Would it be on that?!?

It ought to be. But you're the one who's got it, not me...

Haha very true

No41edwardianhouse

There is an entry on the local search for building control regulation from 2008. Does that mean it’s gone through building control and therefore it’s ok? 

user1977

No41edwardianhouse said:

There is an entry on the local search for building control regulation from 2008. Does that mean it’s gone through building control and therefore it’s ok? 

Tell us what exactly it says.

No41edwardianhouse

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

There is an entry on the local search for building control regulation from 2008. Does that mean it’s gone through building control and therefore it’s ok? 

Tell us what exactly it says.

As above

user1977

No41edwardianhouse said:

user1977 said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

There is an entry on the local search for building control regulation from 2008. Does that mean it’s gone through building control and therefore it’s ok? 

Tell us what exactly it says.

As above

Looks like it had consent but not sign-off then. As you were.

I presume from your username that the rest of the house was built before building regulations even existed, so you may be overthinking this!