Final handover and final payment for your house

Final inspection and handover

The final stages of the building project may appear difficult just because of the inspection process and also you are so near to the end. It is essential that you don’t get impatient through the final handover because it’s your last opportunity to target any work that is not completed yet, or anything you think hasn’t been delivered according to what is been agreed upon in your contract.

The final handover may be the last phase of any building project. It is the stage where:

• You take possession of the house.
• You opt for the final payment towards the builder

The builder will normally contact you a week before the handover date to arrange access for a pre-handover inspection known as final inspection. When you’re ready for the final handover stage, you should have:

A certificate of occupancy issued by the building surveyor.

• Done with the pre-handover inspection
• Had work done to resolve any problems from your final inspection, as agreed in your notice of completion.

On handover day you will get:

• Your occupancy certificate from a building surveyor
• Warranty and instruction certification for appliances and fixtures
• Documentation from service providers (e.g. for supply of electricity, water, sewerage, gas etc.)

Final payments before tasks are finished

The most crucial aspect of the final handover for the builder will be your final payment. This usually amounts to about 10% of all of the overall price of the contract as well as in practical terms, probably represents a substantial quantity of the builder’s profit regarding the project.

To place it bluntly – this is certainly your last part of leverage. When you have made that final payment, the builder has one less reason to review your problems. Regardless of how much you trust your builder, if there are still things to be fixed, you shouldn’t just make your final payment in good hope. Most of the time, your bank won’t release the funds for the final payment before the tasks are finished anyway.

If this is the situation with your contract and you are really not satisfied that the problems have been fully addressed, you need to talk to your individual consultant, your neighborhood building authority or a lawyer well before the due date to find out what the better course of action is. A lawyer may possibly not be cheap, but could help you save lots of money during these kinds of situations.

Moving in before final payment

In several cases, it’ll sound right for you to move around in just before the final payment’s made, while you are hoping for defects to be fixed. This might be pretty common with no big deal, but remember that taking possession of the home without written endorsement before final transaction is made can legitimately be considered as a failure of contract – which in turn can act against you in several different ways. In case your builder’s pleased with you taking possession before you have made your final payment, ensure that the details are clear, and make certain that both parties have consented to this in written format.

Undertaking

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