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September 8, 2014Certificates of acceptance are certificates issued retrospectively by a local authority (‘Council’) for unconsented building works.
A certificate of acceptance will only be issued if the Council is satisfied that those works comply with the building code at the time the application is made. So, if you were to apply today, the works would need to comply with the current building code to receive the certificate, not the building code as it was at the time the works were completed.
A certificate of acceptance is only available for works done after 1 July 1992, and it is important to note that the existence of the certificate of acceptance regime does not alter the requirement for you to obtain a building consent for building works you wish to have done in future.
It is also important to note that a certificate of acceptance is inferior to a code compliance certificate. Furthermore, where the Council inspector has not been able to fully inspect all aspects of the completed unconsented building works, the certificate of acceptance will be qualified to that extent. As such, a certificate of acceptance may not always be sufficient comfort that the building works are absolutely compliant – ie. it may not be acceptable to a potential insurer or mortgagee of the property.
