How to accept the finished renovation and record the defects legally

The client’s most expensive mistake happens on the last day of the renovation — when a tired owner signs an act saying “works completed, no claims”, and a month later the tiles crack over the voids, the doors stop closing, and the contractor’s “warranty does not apply”. Acceptance is a procedure, and it starts long before the final act.

Accept in stages, not at the end

In professional construction, interim acceptance is a mandatory control point: that is how both public contracts under the Merloni Law and projects under the RIBA Plan of Work are arranged. For an apartment, four points are critical:

• after demolition and the erection of partitions — geometry, compliance with the layout;
• after the electrics and plumbing, before the walls are closed — routes, cable sizes, pressure testing;
• after the screed and plaster — flatness (the 2-metre straightedge), moisture before the finishes;
• the finishes — separately for each type of work.

Concealed works accepted “on someone’s word” can no longer be checked once the tiles are laid. Ask for photographs of the routes with a tape measure in the frame — it takes an hour and saves the walls from being opened up.

What to bring to the final acceptance

• The contract and the estimate — to check quantities and types of work item by item.
• The drawings — to check geometry, socket positions and heights.
• A 2-metre straightedge or level, a tape measure and a torch — raking light reveals waves on the walls.
• A defects list — record everything in writing, room by room.

How to record the defects

Do not sign an act “with no claims” if you have claims. The legally correct sequence is this:

• draw up an act listing the defects — for each one: the room, the description, the deadline for putting it right;
• both parties sign the act; if the contractor refuses to sign, record that refusal in the act itself, before witnesses;
• set a reasonable deadline for the remedial work and a date for re-inspection;
• tie the final payment to the defects being fixed — that is your only real leverage.

If the contract provided a warranty on the works, insist that it appears in the final documents: type of work, term, procedure for making a claim. A verbal “call us if anything happens” means nothing.

The main point

Acceptance is won not on the day of acceptance but on the day the contract is signed: the stages, the quality criteria and the procedure for recording defects must be written down in advance. A contractor agreement template, checklists for interim acceptance and a breakdown of the legal side are in module 3 of the course “Home of Your Dreams”.