New-build handover:
what is snagging?

What snagging is, and what it is not

The New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) describes snagging as spotting minor issues in new-build homes and putting them right. The Code defines a snag as a minor imperfection or fault that does not meet the quality or finish set out in the contract of sale.

Emergencies are not snags. Under the Code, an issue that poses an immediate threat to safety, security, health or well-being is an emergency, and the developer must explain how it deals with emergencies.

Not every flaw is a snag either. The NHQB guide says most developers will not class cracks narrower than a £1 coin as a snag. NHBC Buildmark excludes gradual deterioration, wear and tear, neglect and failure to maintain.

Before completion: the right to inspect

Under clause 2.8 of Code V2, the developer must give you the opportunity to inspect the home before completion or to appoint a suitably qualified inspector to do it. The inspection takes place after the notice to complete is served and before the completion date, or earlier if both sides agree.

The Code expects the completion notice period to be usually at least 14 calendar days. If you inspect yourself, you use the NHQB pre-completion inspection checklist. An inspector you appoint must belong to a recognised professional body such as RICS or CIOB and hold professional indemnity insurance.

If the inspection finds issues that breach the warranty provider’s technical standards, the developer is responsible for addressing them, ideally before legal completion or within 30 days if that is not possible. The Code is clear that the inspection is not meant to delay or prevent completion.

For homes reserved before 2 March 2026, the first version of the Code (V1) applies: an inspector appointed on your behalf inspects within the five days after the notice to complete. If the developer follows the Consumer Code for Home Builders instead, its fifth edition also requires the builder to offer you a pre-completion inspection in writing.

What you should receive at completion

Under the Code, legal completion must not take place on a home that is not complete. A complete home has evidence that new home warranty insurance is in place, and any remaining work can only be decorative or to correct faults. Under clause 2.11 of Code V2, at completion the developer gives you:

• A Schedule of Incomplete Work
• A home demonstration
• Full details of the warranties that apply to the home
• The warranty certificate and policy, including exceptions, limits, excesses and conditions
• The complaints procedure
• The building regulation completion certificate, if available

How to record and report a defect

The NHQB guide suggests a detailed log of every potential snag: a description and the date you reported it. Report in writing and include photographs where you can. NHBC also asks you to keep a record of what you said, who you wrote to or spoke to, and when.

• Where the defect is and what it is: room, surface, appliance
• Photographs and, where useful, measurements
• The date reported, to whom and how
• The developer’s reply, the date they gave and the day the work was done

NHBC’s guide to your new home says cosmetic damage must be reported to the builder within seven days of completion, because it later becomes hard to prove who caused it. Your own policy may set a different period.

If you will manage the home from Türkiye or let it, decide at the start who reports defects and where the records are kept. Once a tenant moves in, they may be the first to notice a problem.

The developer’s duty: two years and 30 days

Under Code V2, the developer provides a full and accessible after-sales service for at least two years after completion. In most situations it must be able to settle an issue within 30 days; if there is a delay it explains why and updates you at least once a month until it is settled.

If a defect you reported is not put right within 30 days, you can take it into the developer’s formal complaints process. The developer acknowledges the complaint in writing within five days, sends a path to resolution within 10 days, and its assessment and response within 30 days.

What the warranty policy covers

A new home warranty is an insurance policy, separate from the developer’s after-sales service. Providers include NHBC, LABC Warranty and Checkmate; mortgage lenders make their own assessment of which providers and policies they accept.

Take NHBC Buildmark as an example: the first two years are the builder warranty period, in which the builder must put right defects reported to them that breach NHBC requirements. In years 3 to 10, cover applies to damage caused because the builder did not build specific parts of the home to NHBC’s requirements.

The details are in the policy documents. Read the cover, exclusions and excess of your own policy from the documents you receive at completion. What protects you before completion is covered in our guide to off-plan delays.

Separately from any warranty, the Defective Premises Act 1972 requires work on a dwelling to be done in a workmanlike manner, with proper materials, so that it is fit for habitation. For homes completed after 28 June 2022, the time limit for a claim under that Act is 15 years from completion.

If it is not resolved: complaints and the Ombudsman

For a home under the Code, a complaint that arose within the first two years after completion can go to the New Homes Ombudsman Service once 56 days have passed since the complaint start date. It is free for the buyer, and the final decision becomes binding when you accept it.

NHBC also has its own Resolution Service, but you first need to complete the builder’s complaints process. Builders under the Consumer Code have a free dispute resolution scheme too. Add the question of which code applies to our questions before reserving.