Helping UK new home buyers

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SNAGGING AND QUALITY HOUSE BUILDERS

House builders refuse access to professional snagging inspectors

As we always advise every new homebuyer, it is essential that you use the services of a professional snagging inspector. He (or she) will find the defects and breaches of regulations the unsuspecting and trusting house buyer will miss.

However, the house builders are increasingly refusing to allow snagging inspectors access to the buyer's new home until it has legally completed, meaning any snags or defects cannot be corrected before occupation.  

What are the house builder's so frightened of? What are they trying to hide?  Not only is it against the policies of both the NHBC and the Office of Fair Trading, it is surely in everyone's interests to locate defects and have them rectified before the new home owner moves in.

At brand-newhomes we think we know why. In the run up to many house builder's end-of-year figures in December 2013, an inspector from Brickkickers found house builders denied access for nearly every inspection he had in the first instance. On one particular occasion, an unsuspecting house buyer legally completed with part of his roof missing, his bathroom half finished in terms of fittings and tiling and some of the kitchen fittings missing. He had used the builder's solicitor, which was compulsory under the terms of the part-exchange deal he agreed to. Despite builder's claims that it speeds up the process, using the same solicitor as the house builder (or even a firm they suggest) is something that we strongly advise against doing throughout this website.

It is highly questionable why the warranty provider/building control inspector, not the NHBC in this case, "signed-off" the home as "complete" under the CML final inspection rules, when it clearly was no where near finished when the buyer legally completed. The buyer has now agreed compensation with the building control inspector and is in the process of making a claim against the house builder.

All this because this house builder wanted to include an unfinished, rushed new home in their end of year financial figures. No doubt this house builder will receive a five star rating by the HBF survey in 2013!

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New home snagging inspections