Gateway 3 snagging: what to have on file before you apply

Snagging does not get you a Gateway 3 completion certificate, and a snag log is not on the list of documents you upload. But a closed-out, photographed log is the site-level evidence behind the declarations your client, principal designer and principal contractor sign. Get it clean before you apply, because a higher-risk building cannot be occupied until the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) issues the certificate and the building is registered.

What is actually known about timing

The statutory limit is 8 weeks. Regulation 41 of SI 2023/909 requires the regulator to determine a valid completion certificate application within 8 weeks of receipt, or within a longer period agreed in writing. Practice has run longer. The regulator's data for June to August 2026 shows a median determination time of 20 weeks for completion certificates.

The sample is small and the figures move between releases. BCIS reports the BSR determined 29 Gateway 3 applications in the 12 weeks to 1 August 2026, at a median of 16 weeks. The June to August 2026 dataset records 16 determinations over 12 weeks, with an 88% approval rate and a median of 20 weeks. The BSR's July to September 2026 page reports 9 determinations over its latest 12 weeks, all approved, with a median of 20 weeks.

The mix matters more than the headline. BSR had received 346 Gateway 3 applications by 31 August 2026, 260 of them internal refurbishments, and the regulator reports that no new-build project that has passed Gateway 2 has yet reached Gateway 3. Some commentators expected volume to climb. One law firm said Gateway 3 volume was likely to rise substantially as projects reach completion. Nobody has published a reliable new-build queue size, so this page does not offer one.

Weeks to plan

• Statutory decision period: 8 weeks from a valid application.
• Recent median in the BSR data: 20 weeks. Treat it as a planning figure, not a promise.
• Example only: if residents must move in on 1 September 2027, 20 weeks back is 14 April 2027. Your valid application has to be in by then, so snag close-out finishes before that date.
• Build UK's guide recommends giving the BSR at least eight weeks' notice of your application and arranging a final inspection if required.

Step 1: Check you are in the regime

Gateway 3 applies to higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England. A higher-risk building is at least 18 metres in height or has at least 7 storeys, and contains at least 2 residential units. Care homes and hospitals of that size are also caught during design and construction. If your block is below both thresholds, the normal building control completion route applies and the rest of this page is a good habit rather than a duty.

Step 2: Know what the application needs

You upload the latest versions of the agreed documents. These are drawings and plans, the construction control plan, the change control plan, the mandatory occurrence reporting plan, the building regulations compliance statement and the fire and emergency file. The application is signed by the client, principal designer and principal contractor, confirming that to the best of their knowledge the building as built complies.

Your snag log feeds that statement. The signatories will want to see that every fire and life-safety defect raised was fixed, checked by someone other than the fixer, and photographed.

Step 3: Split the log into two lists

Do not run one flat list. A cracked tile and an unsealed penetration through a compartment floor are different problems, and only one of them can stop an occupation date.

The table below is a suggested site triage, not a BSR list. Your fire strategy and compliance statement decide what counts as life-safety on your building.

Item	Example on an HRB floor	Treat as	Why
Decorative defect	Paint touch-ups, scuffed skirting	Practical-completion snag	Does not affect compliance.
Fit-out defect	Cracked tile, sticking door, loose kitchen drawer	Practical-completion snag	Clear before handover to the buyer or landlord.
Fire stopping	Unsealed pipe or cable penetration in a riser or compartment floor	Blocks sign-off	Compartmentation must match the as-built fire strategy.
Compartmentation	Missing cavity barrier, gap at wall head, damaged fire door set	Blocks sign-off	The fire and emergency file assumes these hold.
Life-safety commissioning	Fire alarm, smoke control, dry riser or emergency lighting not tested and certified	Blocks sign-off	No test certificate, no evidence.
Design change made on site	Different penetration seal or door set from the approved drawing	Blocks sign-off until logged	Needs to appear in change control and the as-built records.

For the mechanical and electrical side, use the MEP snagging checklist. For plot-level checks before handover, see the CML inspection checklist.

Step 4: Build the evidence trail per snag

Each blocking item needs the same chain: where it was, what it was, who fixed it, who re-inspected it, and a photo of the finished work. An illustrative extract from a fictional 11-storey residential block, level 9, looks like this:

Ref	Location	Trade	Snag	Fixed by, date	Re-inspected by, date	Photos
C9-014	Flat 9.03, riser cupboard	Fire stopping	Two pipes through the compartment floor with no fire stopping	Fire stopping sub, 12 Jan	Site engineer, 14 Jan	Before and after
C9-015	Level 9 corridor, above stair 2 door	Drylining	Fire stopping missing at the head of the corridor wall above the ceiling	Drylining sub, 12 Jan	Clerk of works, 15 Jan	Before and after
C9-021	Flat 9.03, bathroom	Tiling	Cracked wall tile beside the bath panel	Tiling sub, 20 Jan	Site engineer, 21 Jan	Before and after
C9-030	Level 9 lobby	Fire alarm	Detector zone not yet tested and certified	Fire alarm installer, 18 Jan	MEP engineer, 19 Jan	Test certificate ref

Three habits make this log stand up:

• Use one reference per snag and quote it on every photo, certificate and email about it.
• Keep the re-inspector independent of the person who fixed it.
• Never overwrite a closed snag. If it reopens, add a new entry that points to the old one.

C9-021 is a practical-completion item and can close later. C9-014, C9-015 and C9-030 should be closed and evidenced before anyone signs.

Step 5: Tie fixes to change control and as-built records

Some fixes change the design. If a different seal, door set or duct route goes in, raise it through the change control plan rather than just closing the snag. The completion application should also include as-built records of the plans, drawings, design information and specifications.

Put the snag reference in the change control log entry, and the change reference in the snag. That gives a reviewer a straight line from defect to fix to updated record. This is the same golden thread discipline you already apply to design information, applied to defects.

Step 6: Close out and freeze the log

Do this before the declaration is signed:

1. Filter for open items marked as blocking. The count should be zero.
2. Check every closed blocking item has a fixed-by, re-inspected-by, date and photo.
3. Match test certificates for life-safety systems to the log entries that reference them.
4. Export the log as a PDF and keep the editable version alongside it.
5. Store both with the other completion records, so the log is easy to find if the BSR asks.

Items left open at this stage should be genuine practical-completion snags only, with an owner and a date.

Step 7: Check the levy line

The Building Safety Levy is not a snagging task, but it can hold up the certificate. The completion certificate cannot be issued until the collecting authority confirms the levy has been paid in full or a valid notice of no charge has been issued. The levy applies where the building control application (the Gateway 2 stage) was made on or after 1 October 2026. A scheme whose application went in before that date is in most cases outside it, so confirm your position. Check with your commercial team early, because a clean log does not help if the levy line is open.

Where Snag AI fits

On site, the slow part is writing up and filing. With Snag AI you photograph a defect and it logs the snag, writing a professional description and tagging the trade, location and severity. It can also find other snags in the same photo and add them as extra snags.

It then turns a project's snags into a client-ready PDF report, with an editable Word copy. It works offline on site, and snags upload when signal comes back. There is a 14-day free trial on iPhone, then £19.99 a month or £149.99 a year, and a web app at web.snagai.uk. If you are weighing it against a spreadsheet, read snagging app vs spreadsheet.

In short

A snag log will not pass Gateway 3 on its own. A log with closed, re-inspected and photographed fire and life-safety items is what lets the people signing the declaration do so with confidence. Start the split and the evidence trail while the building is still being finished, not in the week before you apply.