If you’re one of those who is contemplating on buying a new house or have already bought one in the past, then this article is especially meant for you. Often first time home buyers end up making the mistake of not researching enough on the kind of legal documents required while buying a house. Out of these documents, one of the most important ones is Occupancy Certificate or Completion Certificate.

Since this document isn’t required while registering a property, a majority of the home buyers end up neglecting it and forget to collect to it from the builders of the apartment or previous owners. There are numerous cases where builders get the building plans approved but they do not get the occupancy certificate or completion certificate because they fail to stick to the approved building plan during the construction process or due to other violations made by them.

Obtaining a Completion certificate or Occupancy Certificate can be mandatory under respective State laws.

The builder or the developer of the housing project is required to apply for the ‘Completion certificate’ with the local authorities (like PMC, PCMC or PMRDA in PUNE) once the building construction is duly completed.

While the project is under construction, the builder has to obtain various No Objection Certificates (NOC) from civic, municipal and competent authorities. A proper occupancy certificate is given out by the local authority after it does a thorough evaluation of the constructed building. If the building constructed meets the building approval plan and other building standards like height of the building, distance from road, number of floors, quality of the structure, rain water harvesting system etc., and various other terms & conditions as per Commencement Certificate an Occupancy certificate is awarded.

This Occupancy certificate holds testimonial to the fact that the builder has fully adhered to the National Building Code of India 2005. Further, the certificate is also important for getting basic amenities such as electricity, water and others for the structure.

A proper occupancy certificate is also necessary in order to get important paper work such as property tax and housing loans etc. In case of the non-availability of the same, the buyers can come to their own rescue by getting in touch with the local authorities or by forming a resident’s association.

So, if your builder has the occupancy certificate in check, then congratulations, you’re a smart home buyer.