If you as a purchaser find a house which has had building work or a vendor whom has had building work carried out and no Building Consent has been given there is a remedy.
As a purchaser you may feel that the building work has not been carried out in accordance with the building code requirements. Usually you can get a engineer or some professional to let you know if the building work is up to scratch or not. This can also give you a good negotiating position. However if you are concerned about the building and want the council to give you some reassurance, you can have the council issue a Certificate of Acceptance. The certificate certifies, to the best knowledge of the building authority, that the building work complies, as far as could be determined, with the building code.
The certificate is not building consent and therefore does not have the assurance of consent.
The buyer needs to beware as although you know that the building work may be perfectly safe, the purchaser can use this as a huge bargaining chip to lower the sale price.
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