Who gets the Completion Certificate

[kevindgas]

not sure on the building side but as a guide the notification for gas work can be done to either the customer or as i do the certificate is sent to me (to do so i have to fill in page 2) the reason i do it has nothing to do with payment just i like to have a copy of the cert in case of dispute over its issue.
i copy it then send the original to the customer usually about 2 weeks to get it and then a week for me to forward it on.

because i do this i recently got a customer out of trouble as he was selling and had mislaid the original (a faxed copy was sent to the buyers solicitor and everyone was happy.

as for payments i would expect you to withhold a reasonable amount if work was unfinished / needing remedials, but it should be proportionate to the work.
holding £3,000 for £500 worth of work would be unreasonable but 50% on top of the agreed money wouldn't in my mind.

 

[JohnD]

if he is bullying you and you are intimidated he will not stop. Some people are like that. You need someone to help. Try CAB or council Trading Standards. Buy a tape recorder or concealed video camera. If he threatens you call the police

 

[spursfan323]

holding £3,000 for £500 worth of work would be unreasonable but 50% on top of the agreed money wouldn't in my mind.

Yes, but when dealing with a clearly untrustworthy builder, i have been told it's prudent to hold back more...

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

How much was the job worth and how much are you holding back as a retention?

 

[noseall]

The completion certificate and any other relevant inspections is the legal responsibility of the homeowner.

The builder is just a convenient go-between because he is on-site whilst inspections are being carried out.

The only input (as a builder) i have regards the completion certificate is if the officer has a query that he feels only i can answer, otherwise the relationship is purely betwixt b.c. and the homeowner.

 

[spursfan323]

How much was the job worth and how much are you holding back as a retention?

Entire house has come to about £100k - I am now holding about £4k - although I should admit that we never formally agreed a retention at the onset. Then again, he never made me sign any sort of contract, and merely emailed me a description of the works which he titled 'Contract'.

Is that a reasonable figure to withhold?

 

[ajstoneservices]

How much was the job worth and how much are you holding back as a retention?

Entire house has come to about £100k - I am now holding about £4k - although I should admit that we never formally agreed a retention at the onset. Then again, he never made me sign any sort of contract, and merely emailed me a description of the works which he titled 'Contract'.

Is that a reasonable figure to withhold?

In west London and Norfolk on completion of the works I have been involved in BC has sent the completion certificate to the home owner as a matter of course.

You had a contract when you agreed to his "description of works" and presumably the cost of those works when you employed him. Why are you now holding a retention, his work not up to scrtch? Has he perhaps become aggressive because you have become difficult? It is not unusual for builders and clients to fall out at or near the end of a large project, mostly, over "extras" the client expect for free.

Perhaps you should both kiss and make up

 

[marsaday]

What exactly has he cocked up on. It is normal for mistakes to be made and corrections done.

You are female i take it and have no knowledge about the industry at all. you really should get another opinion on the matter. you cannot base your actions on what a bulletin board has to say.

get some professional help in!

if you are not going to pay the £4000 why are you still paying. If he has done a bad job he will not take you to court for the money, but if all is well then you know he has the right to the money. i think that is why you are posting here. All is well really.

but to make things easier get in some help

 

[xSuEx]

You are female i take it and have no knowledge about the industry at all. you really should get another opinion on the matter. you cannot base your actions on what a bulletin board has to say.

Nothing like stereotyping a whole gender. Best get back to my washing and ironing.

 

[kevindgas]

How much was the job worth and how much are you holding back as a retention?

Entire house has come to about £100k - I am now holding about £4k - although I should admit that we never formally agreed a retention at the onset. Then again, he never made me sign any sort of contract, and merely emailed me a description of the works which he titled 'Contract'.

Is that a reasonable figure to withhold?

4% is very reasonable if you aren't happy with his work

 

[abuildingsite]

The original application form will have had two boxes for contacts- one for your agent and one for you, as the applicant.

Most BC application forms will have a box on them which asks whether you want the Completion Certificate sent to the agent or application (owner). Whoever filled out the original application should know which box they ticked. I would be astounded if a BC dept sent the original cert to someone without express permission from the one of the two parties named on the application form.

 

[DevilDamo]

Most BC application forms will have a box on them which asks whether you want the Completion Certificate sent to the agent or application (owner)

I've never seen that before. I think the nearest to that was there is or at least used to be a box asking if a completion certificate is required upon completion of the works, but I "think" they may have removed this option and the issuing of completion certificates is now a standard procedure.

And as for where certificates are sent. They are "normally" sent to the applicant c/o the agent and it's then up to the agent to forward the certificate on and they can choose whether or not they have a copy for their file. Unless however, the application or agent has agreed to something else with regards to the issue of the completion certificate. If no agent was down on the BR application form, then the approval, letters and completion certificate would go straight to the applicant.

 

[abuildingsite]

Most BC application forms will have a box on them which asks whether you want the Completion Certificate sent to the agent or application (owner)

I've never seen that before. I think the nearest to that was there is or at least used to be a box asking if a completion certificate is required upon completion of the works, but I "think" they may have removed this option and the issuing of completion certificates is now a standard procedure.

It should be part of the form as Regulation 14 (5) states that a request for a Completion Certificate should be made at the time of application where an Full Plans Notice is submitted. Interestingly, this caveat is not included in the rules for Building Notices, allowing some unscrupulous BC depts to charge extra for a Completion Certificate under a Building Notice (perfectly legally).

 

[DevilDamo]

LA's may overcome that by automatically issuing the certificates. An LA I deal with a lot do not have the option on their FP form...

http://www.woking.gov.uk/planning/building/forms/full.pdf

I have just checked another LA's website who I also use and the option is on theirs and I'm pretty sure I have always ticked that box and even if I didn't, a certificate would still be sent out by them.

Oh well.