New build homes

Council Tax completion notices

A Council Tax completion notice is a document that specifies the 'completion date' for newly built properties. The notice has the date on which the property becomes a dwelling for Council Tax purposes, and is the date that is entered into the valuation list.

Building Control completion notices

You may also receive a completion notice from Building Control but this is for building regulations not Council Tax. The date may be different to the date on the Council Tax completion notice and it will come from the Building Control team.

Although this may seem confusing, it is important to remember that although they are both called completion notices, the reasons for their issue are different.

Setting the Council Tax completion date

Brent's Customer Services team are responsible for fixing the Council Tax completion date. They will contact you to arrange an internal inspection of the property.

You can help us to set the correct completion date by letting us inspect the property so we can see what works still need to be done. If it has not been possible to do an internal inspection, we will send you a completion notice based on an external visit only.

Deciding a completion date

The Inspections team will visit and assess properties that have been built or significantly altered. We will use evidence, for example photographs and checklists to decide a completion date.

We will consider issuing a Council Tax completion notice when: 

• a property is structurally completed
• the basic structure is complete with external walls and roof in place
• the internal walls have been built (not necessarily plastered)
• any internal staircases are in place
• the floors are laid (the screed or top coat of concrete may not have been laid)
• electric and plumbing works are at least partly installed, though not necessarily complete

The following work does not need to be completed for the notice to be served;

• internal decoration of the property, including the fitting of internal doors
• final fitting of bathroom and kitchen units
• final fitting of electrical fixtures, plug points and switches
• final connection of water, gas and electricity
• landscaping

All remaining work can be reasonably completed within three months (the notice will indicate the date of completion, which will be three months prior to the date of when the notice was served).