Handover goes wrong when it starts at practical completion. Most of what is handed over comes from subcontractors and designers, and it is far easier to collect as each package finishes than to chase at the end.
This checklist runs from subcontract award to the end of the defects period. The legal deadlines are for England unless stated; Wales has its own versions of several Building Regulations duties. Which items apply depends on the work, the building and the contract.
Download the handover tracker (Excel) or as CSV. It lists every document from handover documents, with its basis, who supplies and receives it, and columns to track each one.
1. Before work starts
- Get the existing health and safety file from the client, if the building has one, and give it to the CDM principal designer. The new work adds to it.
- Agree what the client expects at handover: the O&M manual specification, the format of the health and safety file, asset data, training and attic stock.
- Decide what is owed by each package and put it in each subcontract: O&M information, certificates, as-built drawings, information for the health and safety file, training, spares. A deliverable that is not in the subcontract is hard to get later.
- Check whether regulation 38 applies: new building, extension or material change of use, covered by the Fire Safety Order, with Part B requirements. If it does, plan the fire safety information from the start. See fire safety information.
- Identify the building control route and the notifications it needs, and whether any work will be self-certified through competent person schemes.
- Higher-risk buildings: confirm which country's regime applies and what the golden thread requires at completion.
2. During the works
- Collect each package's handover information as it finishes, not at the end: manufacturers' data for what was actually installed, test results, as-built mark-ups.
- Record residual risks as they arise, with their location: anything that could not be designed out, and anything found or changed on site. These go in the health and safety file.
- Photograph work before it is covered up, especially fire stopping, cavity barriers, fixings and buried services.
- Record asbestos found during the work, and anything left in place, and tell the client promptly.
- Keep the as-built drawings up to date as changes are made, rather than reconstructing them at the end.
3. Testing and commissioning
- Commission each system and collect its certificates: see test certificates by system.
- Air pressure test for a new building: results to building control within 7 days of the final test (regulation 43).
- Mechanical ventilation air flow rates for new dwellings (in Wales, also existing dwellings where mechanical ventilation is provided or extended): results to building control within 5 days of the final test (regulation 42).
- Sound insulation testing, where required (regulation 41): for ordinary work, results to building control no later than the date the completion notice is given, so giving that notice early brings the results forward; for higher-risk building work, with the completion certificate application; under a registered building control approver in England, within 5 days of completion.
- Commissioning notice for fixed building services (regulation 44). The deadline depends on the route:
- higher-risk building work: with the completion certificate application;
- local authority route: no later than the date the completion notice is required;
- where no completion notice is required: within 30 days of completion;
- registered building control approver (England): within 5 days of completion, or earlier if the initial notice ceases to be in force; self-certified work follows the scheme deadline.
- Lifts: thorough examination after installation and before first use (LOLER, regulation 9). Escalators and moving walkways are not covered by LOLER; get their inspection and maintenance records under PUWER.
- Pressure systems, such as steam, compressed air or hot water above 110°C: a written scheme of examination in place before the system is operated (PSSR, regulation 8), and, where the scheme requires an examination before first use, that examination and its report (regulation 9).
- Water systems: flushing, and disinfection where needed, before use.
4. Practical completion
| Item | To whom | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Health and safety file | The client | At the end of the project (CDM 2015, regulation 12) |
| Fire safety information, where regulation 38 applies | The responsible person, who acknowledges receipt and confirms it is sufficient | By completion, or by occupation if earlier where the building is unoccupied during the work. Under a registered building control approver in England: the earliest of completion, occupation and the initial notice ceasing to be in force |
| Notice that fire safety information was given | Building control (the approver, under a registered building control approver) | 5 days after that (30 days under a competent person scheme; see fire safety information for third-party certification) |
| Golden thread information, for higher-risk building work | England: the accountable person and any responsible person. Wales: the responsible person | No later than the date the work is completed, or the date a part is to be occupied under a partial completion certificate |
| Energy and maintenance information, where Part L applies | The owner | Within 5 days of completion (regulation 40) |
| Ventilation information, where Part F applies | The owner | Within 5 days of completion (regulation 39) |
| On-site electricity generation information, where it is installed | The owner | Within 5 days of completion (regulation 40A) |
| Overheating information, where Part O applies | The owner | Within 5 days of completion (regulation 40B) |
| Energy Performance Certificate, for a new building, or where the work changes the number of parts designed or altered for separate use and provides or extends fixed heating, hot water, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation | The owner, with notice to building control | Within 5 days of completion (Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012, regulation 7A) |
| O&M manual | The client | As the contract says |
| As-built drawings | The client, with an index in the health and safety file | As the contract says |
| Training, keys, spares and attic stock | The client's team | As the contract says |
- Golden thread information for higher-risk building work is handed over no later than completion, not when the completion certificate is issued (England: Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, regulation 38; Wales: the 2025 Welsh regulations, regulation 37). Work to an existing higher-risk building that is only self-certified scheme work, exempt work or notified emergency repairs is excluded.
- Ask for the building control completion or final certificate once the evidence is in, and pass a copy to the client.
5. After practical completion
- Competent person scheme certificates reach the occupier within 30 days of the work being completed (regulation 20). Chase any that have not arrived.
- Add late certificates to the O&M manual as they come in.
- Update the health and safety file if defect work or late information changes anything in it, and pass the update to the client.
- Record the handover: what was given, to whom and when, so a later reader knows what the client received.
Sources
- CDM 2015, regulation 12
- Building Regulations 2010, regulations 20, 38 to 44
- Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, regulation 38
- Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (Wales) Regulations 2025, regulation 37
- Building (Registered Building Control Approvers etc.) (England) Regulations 2024, regulation 5
- Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, regulation 7A
- LOLER 1998, regulation 9
- Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, regulations 8 and 9