Part 4: Higher-risk buildings Registration and certificates Section 76: Requirement for completion certificate before occupation Background
The Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety made several recommendations for stringent new building control procedures to increase regulatory oversight of the design and construction of higher-risk buildings and of building work subsequently carried out on them.  Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommendation was that duty holders meet applicable building regulations’ requirements before starting building work and before occupation begins.
	Under the new regime, Gateway two will take place at the current deposit of plans stage before building work starts. Gateway three will take place at the current completion certificate stage when building work is complete. At Gateway three, the duty holder will make a completion certificate application reflecting the "as-built" building. The Building Safety Regulator will assess the application, carry out a final inspection of the building work and, if satisfied, issue a completion certificate as evidence that the building work complies with all applicable building regulations’ requirements.
	A completion certificate must be issued before the Principal Accountable Person can subsequently register the building for occupation as required under section 76 of the Act. It will be an offence to occupy a building that has not been registered. The Act therefore creates a "hard stop" to occupation via section 76. The registration of higher-risk buildings however will be a one-off process. As buildings are often occupied in stages, this means that registration would not be a "hard stop" for subsequent phases of occupation.
	This section ensures that the "hard stop" to occupation intended at Gateway three applies to high-rise residential buildings which are 18 metres or more in height, or at least seven storeys, including when buildings are occupied in phases.
Example
A new higher-risk building is to be occupied in phases where occupation commences in the completed part of the building while building work continues in the other parts of the building.
The Building Safety Regulator has issued a completion certificate for the completed part of the building under the Gateway 3 completion certificate application process. The Principal Accountable Person has then been able to register the building for occupation as it has the necessary completion certificate.
The building has multiple Accountable Persons and one of them begins to occupy another part of the building for which there is not a requisite completion certificate as evidence that the relevant building work complies with all applicable building regulations’ requirements.
The Accountable Person who has permitted occupation of this specific part of the building without the necessary completion certificate can be prosecuted.