There are many types of insurance policies involved in the construction, purchase, and ownership of both residential and commercial properties.
When looking for affordable cover for the construction or renovation of a building, which can be transferred between sellers and buyers with the ownership of the building, smaller companies and contractors would often turn to CML certificates.
However, this term isn’t used as much nowadays, with Professional Consultants’ Certificates (PCCs) taking over their market share – but with some referring to them interchangeably, it can lead to confusion about the difference between CML certificates and PCCs.
Here’s what you need to know to clear up that confusion when choosing your cover.
CML Certificate vs Professional Consultants’ Certificate
A CML certificate was a document approved by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, an industry body that advised mortgage lenders in the UK on loans for residential property purchases.
This certificate would be issued and signed by someone qualified to confirm that the property in question had been completed to the required standards for building safety. It was also known as an ‘architect’s certificate’, as architects often provided them.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders and their documents lasted from 1989 to 2017, when it was absorbed into a new trade organisation along with five other financial industry bodies.
As the merged associations became UK Finance, the Professional Consultants’ Certificate replaced the older CML certificate, while still fulfilling the same purpose.
Therefore, you could say that a CML certificate and a PCC are the same thing, but PCCs are the current format that is accepted by UK Finance-approved lenders.
Most building societies and banks in the UK will accept a Professional Consultants’ Certificate if it is provided and signed by an authorised professional consultant, such as a surveyor or engineer, who is registered with an institution that can verify their qualifications.
The issuance and signing of a PCC commits the consultant to maintaining their professional indemnity insurance cover for the duration of the document’s validity, so the building owner can claim against this if a problem arises that resulted from the consultant’s negligence.
Is a PCC the same as a Structural Warranty?
So, while the changing of names after the UK Finance merger can still cause some confusion, a CML certificate is basically the older version of, and outdated name for, the current PCC – but what about building warranties?
No doubt, when researching policies to find the best cover for your project, you will also come across the term ‘structural warranty’ or something similar.
However, this is something completely different to a PCC, which – though PCC providers can also supply structural warranties – does not provide the same service. For example, limited-coverage PCCs last for 6 years only, while structural warranties can cover latent defects for 15 years.
If you want to learn more about the difference between these options and which type of cover would suit your needs best, you should contact leading UK Finance Professional Consultants’ Certificate providers to discuss your build and request tailored quotes.
