A snagging list alone shouldn't delay your practical completion certificate – UK case law is genuinely clear that minor, trifling defects don't prevent certification, provided they don't affect the building's use or safety. Yet the final retention held back afterward, commonly 5-10% of your entire facility, can still sit unreleased for months, and understanding exactly why matters considerably before you rely on that final tranche in your own cash flow planning. What Practical Completion Actually Means Legally Our UK Development Finance hub covers the wider lending landscape; this piece focuses specifically on what happens at the genuine final stage of a scheme. Practical completion describes works completed free of patent defects, save for those so minor they can genuinely be disregarded – established through case law including William Press and reinforced in Mears v Costplan Services. A snagging list on its own shouldn't block certification, though a significant non-compliance or missing information genuinely can. Standard JCT-style contracts don't provide a precise definition of when works are practically complete, so whoever administers your specific contract must genuinely exercise professional judgement on this point. Why Your Lender's Retention Is Genuinely Different From Your Contractor's It's worth understanding these are two entirely separateRead more →
