header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

An inspector calls

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
02 October 2015 / Alec Samuels
Issue: 7670 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
printer mail-detail
web_samuels

Alec Samuels opens the case of the architect’s certificate

A block of flats is being built. The developers and their agents are keen to get prospective purchasers signed up as soon as possible. The flats are being built on borrowed money paying interest. Prospective purchasers are urged to enter into a reservation contract for a small sum to be set off against the ultimate price, or forfeited in the event of not proceeding further. Exchange must follow within 28 days. Expected release of the flats for occupation and the completion of the conveyancing process will be expected for next April (though we all know that this is very probably an optimistic forecast and will not actually happen until September).

There will be no NHBC 10 year warranty. But instead there will be an architect’s certificate based upon an architect’s inspection. This sounds good, comforting and reassuring.

The inspections and the certificates are somewhat delayed. Some are given to prospective purchasers before exchange, some after exchange but before completion, some after completion, some considerably after completion

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Trans pool player loses discrimination fight
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Fraud claims climb as courts brace for AI threats
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
NLJ this week: Traders’ convictions quashed in Libor shock
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
NLJ this week: Small firms call for tech clarity as AI looms
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: AI boom collides with courtroom reality
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll