CC, completion certificate and OC: which one lets you move in

Three documents, similar names, very different meanings. Buyers are handed keys against the wrong one every year, and the consequences arrive later.

Commencement Certificate

Permission to start building, issued by the planning authority once the plans are sanctioned. It is the first of the three and the one to ask for before you pay anything.

A project being marketed without one is being marketed ahead of its permissions. That is not automatically fatal, since permissions do come through, but it is a fact you should know before your money is in rather than after.

Completion Certificate

Issued when the building is finished and the authority is satisfied it was built to the sanctioned plan. It confirms the structure is legal.

It does not say the building is fit to occupy. Those are different tests and this is the distinction most people miss.

Occupancy Certificate

The one that matters at handover. It confirms water, drainage, electricity, fire safety and lifts are all in place and signed off, and that the building may legally be occupied.

Do not take possession, and do not make the final payment, without it.

What a “part OC” means

On a phased scheme, a developer may obtain an occupancy certificate for some towers or some floors before the rest are done. That is normal and it is legitimate.

The thing to check is whether the part OC covers your flat. A certificate issued for towers A and B does nothing for a buyer in tower G. Ask to see the document and find your tower and floor named in it.

The order things should happen in

1. Occupancy certificate issued, covering your tower
2. You inspect and snag the flat, in writing, with photographs
3. Defects agreed and either fixed or scheduled, in writing
4. Final payment made
5. Possession letter issued and dated, which starts your five-year defect liability

Developers frequently want step four before step two. That ordering is a negotiation, not a rule, and it is worth having the conversation before you are standing in the flat with a cheque.

What to ask for, in writing

• A copy of the occupancy certificate naming your tower
• The completion certificate, and the sanctioned plan it was issued against
• The fire NOC and the lift licence
• The possession letter, dated
• The specification annexure, so you can check what was delivered against what was sold

None of these are unusual requests. A developer who has them will hand them over in an afternoon, and a developer who does not is telling you something useful.

This is general information rather than legal advice. Have a lawyer read your own agreement and the certificates before you take possession.