You would hope that receiving Completion notices for building work carried out on a property that you wish to buy, would mean that the work had been passed by Building Control and hence comply with The Approved Documents.

A recent RICS Level 3 survey in Sholing, Southampton, left me wondering whether a Building Control Completion Certificate, proudly left on the kitchen table by the vendor for me to see, along with a guarantee for Woodworm treatment in the loft, were fake documents, as clearly, the extension had not been completed and the loft not treated.

Rainwater from the rear roof slopes of both properties (semi) including rear extensions, discharged via one downpipe to the rear corner of the extension - no gulley or soakaway and the builder had “forgotten’ to supply a cavity tray where the extension abutted the rear wall - two big school boy errors! Add to that, roof lights that consisted of single panes of glass siliconed to upstands a third of their approved height, backward sloping waste pipe runs, blocked sub-floor ventilation to the existing building and lack of ventilation to the flat roof were enough to make me pick up the phone the Eastleigh Borough Council and ask for a site meeting - they have yet to reply.

The roof timbers were affected by a recent and widespread outbreak of common furniture beetle and large areas of the woodwork were covered by building paper, yet, there on the kitchen table, was a spanking new piece of paper, declaring that the loft had been treated!

Simple moral to the story really - don’t take things at face value and expect your surveyor to question the veracity of completion certificates and guarantees.