---
id: KB-CS-016
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/construction/residential-building-and-handover
idioma: en
categoria: sector-construccion
subcategoria: obracivil
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-CS-006, KB-CS-017, KB-CN-009]
citadoPor: [KB-CS-015, KB-CN-001, KB-CN-002, KB-CN-004, KB-CN-006]
---

# Residential building and handover

_From the building file to the keys, with buyers who are not professionals._

**Responde a:** housing handover documentation · digital building file · property handover certificate · new-build aftersales

Residential building adds an actor other construction does not have: the buyer, who is a private individual, does not read technical documentation, and will dispute the finishes two years later. That changes what has to be proved and how it has to be written.

## The three modules on a development

| Phase | Module | For what |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Subcontractors and supplies | Trackline | Company, personnel and materials documentation |
| Handover to the buyer | Consigne | Handover certificate and key receipt, signed by the buyer |
| Condition at handover | SmartCheck | Certified photos of each home, on the day it is handed over |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Certified photos from handover day are what decide an aftersales claim. Without them, telling a construction defect from later damage caused by the buyer is one person's word against the other's.

## Frameworks cited

Building regulation and the building file, new-build warranties, and consumer protection rules in dealings with the buyer. What must be handed over and within what periods depends on your case and your region; ask your adviser. What matters here is that all of it is handed over once and you must be able to prove it was.

> [!WARNING]
> The handover certificate signed by the buyer is also the document that fixes when warranties start running. Having it signed with a certified time avoids the argument about the date, which is the first one to appear.

> [!NOTE]
> Handing over the building file digitally, with a signed receipt, also solves the perennial problem: the buyer who says three years later that they never received it.

**Can the buyer sign from a phone?**

Yes, and it is usually easiest on handover day.

**What if there are two owners?**

Both as signers, in parallel.

**Does it help with aftersales?**

It is what lets you scope what was a defect and what was not, with dates.

## Ejemplos

**A developer receives aftersales claims for damage that was not a construction defect.**

- Certifies photos of each home on handover day
- Signs the handover certificate with the buyer

→ Claims are settled against the dated photos, with no surveys.

**Handover arrives and documentation from several trades is missing.**

- Requests documentation as each trade finishes

→ It is chased while the trade is still engaged.

**A hundred buyers ask about their home.**

- Organises the file per unit

→ You answer in the terms the question is asked.

**An owner says they never received their documentation.**

- Records what was handed to each and when

→ Handover is demonstrable.

**The same issue appears in several homes.**

- Views issues together by development

→ The pattern shows before the fourth visit.

**A complaint arrives two years later.**

- Keeps the file beyond handover

→ The warranty period is faced with the record from then.