Answer

Who is responsible for defects after practical completion?

Under most building contracts the builder stays responsible for rectifying defects in their work that are notified during the defects liability period, usually twelve months from practical completion, and the owner’s side is responsible for noticing them, notifying them in time and giving access. Once the period ends, anything still wrong is a warranty or statutory matter rather than a contract item, and the record of what was notified and when decides which it is. In IssuesId the handover record keeps running after completion: residents report on a QR card, each item is typed Warranty or Maintenance, the builder is still the party it is issued to, closing stays with the owner’s side, and the post-completion list comes out as a report.

ANSWERED FROM THE PRODUCT DOCS·UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Before the tool

Responsibility moves. The record should not.

Practical completion changes who is in the building, not who built it. The builder demobilises and the owners move in, and for the next year defects arrive one at a time into a process that, at most builders, has nobody on it. The owner emails the office; the office forwards it; somebody writes “I think that was Dave” from a car park. The question of who is responsible is usually clear enough in the contract. The thing that is actually missing is a record that survives the change of occupants: what was reported, by whom, on what date, what the builder said, and whether it was fixed. That record is what the retention conversation at month twelve is about.

Who holds what

Three parties and a contract

01
The builder rectifies what is notified
During the defects liability period the builder comes back for defects in their work that the owner’s side notifies, within the time the contract sets. They can argue a particular item is wear, misuse or a variation, but the obligation to attend what is a defect is theirs, and retention money usually sits behind it.
02
The owner’s side notices and notifies
The owner, the owners corporation or the facilities manager is responsible for reporting defects in time, giving the trades access, and keeping the building maintained in the meantime. A defect nobody told the builder about is not one the builder failed to fix.
03
The occupants are where the defects turn up
Residents and tenants find the dripping mixer and the lifted seal. They are not a party to the contract, but their report is the start of every DLP item, and the record of when they reported it is the thing both parties will want later.
04
The contract decides the edges
How long the period runs, how a defect must be notified, what happens if the builder does not attend, and whether the owner can have it fixed and recover the cost are all set by the contract. This page describes the usual shape; your contract and your state’s building law are what apply to your job.
How it runs in IssuesId

The same register, with the owners in it

The builder’s handover record and the building’s post-completion register are the same product. Handover is a change of role, not a change of system: the committee or the facilities manager takes the client seat, residents get cards, and the builder’s trades keep receiving work the way they did during the build.

  1. 1Residents report on a card, not a phone call
    At handover each resident gets a printed QR card. Scanning it logs them into their own portal with no password. They raise the item with a photo and it lands in the register already filed against their lot. A stranger scanning a lobby code gets a short form and a pending request; nothing is live until a manager approves it.
  2. 2Every item is typed before anyone argues about it
    The record carries a Type: Defect, Warranty, Maintenance, Incomplete Works and so on. A dripping mixer filed as Warranty is a different conversation from a blocked drain filed as Maintenance, and the register separates them from the first minute rather than in a dispute six months on.
  3. 3The builder stays the party it is issued to
    The item is issued to the builder or their trade, who gets an email with a link that opens the job without a login, attaches a photo of the fix, and can dispute it on the record if they think it is wear and not workmanship. The dispute and the ruling both stay on the file.
  4. 4Closing stays with the owner’s side
    The trade cannot close anything. A building manager or manager verifies the fix and closes it, with their name and time on the transition. The resident watches the status move in their portal, with cost and contractor identity stripped out.
  5. 5The post-completion list is a report, not a reconstruction
    The report catalogue includes a Post PC Issues report, items raised after practical completion grouped by category, and a Purchaser Report, one page per defect with photos written for the owner. Filter to the DLP window, read the count, and the month-eleven inspection pack is already written.
Related questions

Asked alongside this one

Who is responsible for defects after practical completion?
Under most building contracts the builder remains responsible for rectifying defects in their work that are notified during the defects liability period, usually twelve months from practical completion, and the owner, owners corporation or facilities manager is responsible for noticing them, notifying them in time and giving the trades access. The contract sets how long the period runs, how notice is given and what happens if the builder does not attend. In IssuesId the handover record keeps running after completion, with residents reporting on QR cards, every item typed, the builder still the party it is issued to and the owner’s side the one that closes.
Is a dripping tap after handover a defect or maintenance?
It depends on why it drips, which is exactly why the record should say which it was called at the time. In IssuesId every item carries a Type: Defect, Warranty, Maintenance, Incomplete Works and others. A mixer failing in month three is usually filed as Warranty and issued to the builder’s plumber; a blocked drain from what went down it is Maintenance and issued to the building’s own contractor. If the builder disagrees, they dispute it on the record and the dispute and the ruling both stay on the file.
How do residents report a defect to the builder after they move in?
With the printed QR card they were handed at handover. Scanning it logs them into their own portal with no password or app; they describe the fault, attach a photo, and it lands in the register already filed against their lot. They see the status move as the builder attends, with cost figures and contractor identity stripped out. Someone without a card who scans a lobby code gets a short form and a pending request that a manager approves before anything is live.
Who closes a DLP defect, the builder or the owner?
The owner’s side. The builder’s trade marks the work complete with a photo of the fix, which puts the defect at ready to inspect; a building manager or manager on the owner’s side verifies it and closes it, with their name and time on the transition. The post-completion list comes out of the report catalogue, which includes a Post PC Issues report of items raised after completion grouped by category and a Purchaser Report written for the owner.
Read on

Where this answer comes from

The docs behind this answer are defects (Type, the reporter directory, disputes), trades, tenants and clients (the QR card and the pending request), roles and dashboards (who can close) and reports. For running the whole period as a job, read tracking DLP defects after the trades have gone; for the owners corporation’s side, strata and owners corporations; for the resident’s, how do tenants report maintenance without calling the office?

IssuesId