Awaiting building completion certificate from the council

Chrissiep

Hello, hope someone out there maybe able to help.

We sold our leasehold flat back in January and finally a couple of weeks away from completion date of 1st Sep. However another spanner thrown in the works!!

The block of flats, which includes 12 flats, had the roof repaired 3 years ago. The final query which our buyers solicitor is waiting on, is wanting a completion certificate for the roof works.

I have decided to chase the council for this
as our solicitors just seem to be sitting on it. When I finally got through to the right dept they have said it doesn’t look like there may be a completion certificate!

The council have provided us with a 20 year guarantee for the roof works which I have forwarded onto the solicitors. It does seem though that the buyers solicitor is insisting on the completion certificate.

So my question is, is there any way round this if there is no certificate. Would it be the buyers lender insisting on this. It’s not as if it is our sole roof and we did the work.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 👍

user1977

The buyers' lender won't know or care about it, it's their solicitor who may need persuading. I would normally say that they (or your solicitor) can probably get indemnity insurance, but that's problematic now you've gone and tipped off the council about it...

Chrissiep

Thanks User1977. Please ignore my ignorance, but how will tipping off the council affect us getting the indemnity policy?

user1977

Chrissiep said:

Thanks User1977. Please ignore my ignorance, but how will tipping off the council affect us getting the indemnity policy?

Because the point of the insurance is to cover the risk of the council taking enforcement action - and the insurers figure that's more likely if somebody has recently pointed out to the council that the works were never signed off.

(in practice though, it's still very unlikely to make a difference)