Taking handover of works from abroad: pre-inspection, power of attorney, snags and retention

What handover actually commits you to

Handover is the moment you declare that you are taking possession of the completed works. It starts the statutory guarantees, completion for one year, proper functioning for two years, ten-year cover for ten years, and the quote or building contract organises how it unfolds: snags are cleared before the balance is paid. As long as the handover certificate is unsigned, the tradesperson remains bound to complete and to put right what has been listed; once it is signed without snags, apparent defects become very hard to raise afterwards. Hence the simple rule, doubly valid from abroad: never pay the full balance before the joint clearing of snags, and never sign blind.

Handover is not a duel: it is a contractual stage that serious professionals practise routinely. A tradesperson who pushes you to sign without a joint visit, who contests every observation as a matter of principle, or who promises to "sort it later" what is visible right now, is telling you something important about the rest of the relationship.

A project split into phases sometimes gives rise to partial handovers, phase by phase, on the same principle at a smaller scale: each phase balance follows the clearing of that phase’s snags, and the final certificate brings everything together. This practice protects an absent owner all the better as it multiplies documented control points, instead of concentrating everything on a single deadline.

Preparing a documented pre-inspection

Before any signature, a pre-inspection visit takes a joint inventory of defects: cracking finishes, sticking doors, repainted patches, equipment not matching the quote, unfinished site cleaning. At a distance, this visit is entrusted to a representative equipped with a simple checklist:

• Go room by room, in the same order as the quote, so nothing is missed.
• Photograph every defect, with a location marker in the frame.
• Note every observation on a single line, without comment or interpretation.
• Compare the list with the tradesperson present, or send it to them in writing straight away.

The result is a numbered, dated, illustrated list: your snag file. This is the principle of the presence provided by the Home Select concierge service: being on site, looking on your behalf, and sending you enough material to decide from abroad.

Taking handover by power of attorney

You can perfectly well complete handover without being present, by granting power of attorney to a representative, a trusted relative or a mandated intermediary. Three precautions make the proxy solid:

• A written, dated and signed power, specifying the works concerned and the extent of the authority.
• Written instructions: what may be signed as it stands, what must remain listed as a snag, any balance that may be paid.
• A prepared representative: they must know the quote and the snag list, not merely open the door.

The representative does not improvise a technical judgement: they apply the checklist you prepared together. If they discover an unexpected defect on site, the standard instruction is to list it rather than accept, a wrongly listed snag can be cleared, a blind signature cannot be taken back.

In practice, the standard sequence amounts to little: your representative visits with the tradesperson following the checklist, they raise the listed snags, they sign only what you have authorised, and they send you the certificate straight away for decision. You keep control of the balance, which is paid after your own validation, once the snags are cleared.

In what order should snags, retention and final payment be handled?

Snags are the defects noted at handover: they are put right, verified, then removed from the final certificate. The building contract may provide for a retention, five per cent of the price at most, kept back until the snags are actually cleared and at the latest one year after handover, unless you lodge a reasoned objection. When it exists, it is your main lever: once the balance is paid unconditionally, completing the small repairs rests entirely on the tradesperson’s goodwill.

Every line of the table follows this order, never another: documentary discipline is what replaces your physical presence.

A practical remark to close this section: agree on the timeline for clearing snags when you send the list. A snag without an agreed deadline drifts, because each party believes the other is waiting. Two lines in an email are enough to set the rhythm and to date the follow-up if needed.