The Certificates That Follow You Home: What Buyers Forget to Ask For Before Completion

Completion day is a strange moment to discover a problem. The contracts are signed, the funds have moved, and the seller's solicitor is no longer returning calls with quite the same enthusiasm. Yet a remarkable number of property defects surface precisely then — not because they were hidden, but because nobody thought to ask.

This is a guide for buyers who would rather ask awkward questions early. Ten documents, ten reasons they matter, and a route through each one when the paperwork turns out to be missing.

1. The Fensa Certificate for Windows and Doors

Any replacement glazing installed after April 2002 should comply with building regulations, evidenced either by a Fensa certificate or a certificate from a registered installer. Without it, a future sale can stall and insurers may take an interest.

If absent: a building regulations compliance certificate can sometimes be retrieved from the installer or local authority. Otherwise, an indemnity policy is the usual fallback.

Who chases: your conveyancer, ideally before exchange.

2. Building Regulations Approval for Structural Work

A loft conversion, a removed chimney breast, an open-plan kitchen created by knocking through a wall — all of these required approval at the time. A completion certificate is the proof.

If absent: a regularisation application through the local authority can legitimise past work, though it involves inspection and a fee. Alternatively, indemnity insurance, provided the local authority has not already been alerted.

3. Planning Permission and Consent for Extensions

Large extensions need planning consent; smaller ones may fall within permitted development. Either way, written confirmation is valuable. Lawful development certificates can be obtained retrospectively if nothing was ever submitted.

4. Electrical Work Certification

Electrical work carried out since 2005 in England and Wales should be certified under Part P. A certificate from a registered electrician is the gold standard; a retrospective inspection report is the remedy when none exists.

5. The Boiler and Heating Records

A new boiler should come with a benchmark logbook, commissioning certificate and warranty registration. Ask for the service history too — an annual service record tells you more about a heating system than any surveyor's glance.

6. New Home Warranties

Buying a new build? The warranty (typically NHBC, Premier or similar) should be assigned to you at completion. It covers structural defects for a decade, and losing track of it is surprisingly common.

7. Guarantees and Warranties for Damp-Proofing, Roofing and Tanking

Specialist works often carry long guarantees that are transferable but only if the transfer is registered with the contractor. A guarantee sitting in the seller's drawer protects nobody.

8. Searches and Their Caveats

Your solicitor will run local authority, drainage and environmental searches — but read them. A chancel repair liability, a planned road scheme or a contaminated land notice buried in the results is far easier to address before contracts bind you.

9. Indemnity Policies — Explained, Not Just Purchased

When a document cannot be produced, a solicitor will often suggest an indemnity policy. These are useful, but understand what they cover: they compensate for loss, they do not make the missing work compliant, and they typically become void if you contact the local authority about the issue after purchase. Ask for the exclusions in writing.

10. The Title Documents and Boundary Information

For unregistered land, or where a property's boundaries have shifted over decades, the deeds and any historical conveyances matter. Fences in the wrong place cause disputes that cost far more than the paperwork would have.

A Practical Protocol

Raise these requests at the point of offer, not the week before exchange. Sellers and their agents respond better to a single consolidated list than to a drip-feed of demands. Your conveyancer should be chasing certificates and indemnities; the surveyor should be flagging works that required consent; you should be reading what arrives.

The Bottom Line

None of these documents is glamorous, and several can seem like bureaucracy for its own sake — right up until a remortgage, a resale, or an insurance claim makes their absence expensive. The buyers who fare best are those who treat the paper trail as part of the property itself. A house without its certificates is not quite the house you thought you were buying; establish early which parts of the file are missing, and negotiate accordingly.