Hi there, is it possible for new home owners to move into a completed house...

Yes you can. Depends usually on your bank and your insurance company but we have found that most will now accept the final inspection certificate and will give you the final payment and insurance (we are with ANZ and they have accepted the final inspection) and we have insured in the past with Vero but I think most will accept now. You would usually have to sign a waiver for the building company. Enjoy your new home! 🙂

You can, but… Code of Compliance is the Council’s reassurance that the building complies with the Building Code. It requires statements from relevant trades and their registration numbers etc. for accountability purposes. Technically you’re not supposed to move in as it could be deemed unfit for habitation until Code of Compliance is issued. If your builder has used a relevant sub-trade that isn’t licensed then CoC may be refused (i.e. unlicensed electrician or blocklayer). That said, if you’re confident it will pass, then your local council is hardly going to issue an eviction notice within a month and most will usually let is pass. It has become fairly common practice for building companies to hand over the keys on receipt of final payment rather than Code of Compliance.

Concurr re insurance and bank. Another option is get the builder to issue a Safe and Sound through the council. This is basically a cert of public use and gives legal entitlement to occupy. This would be acceptable under insurance.