Following a market survey in February 2024, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has reported an increasing number of property complaints from home owners over the snagging issues in their new build properties. Complaints noted included service charges, properties handed over in an unsafe condition and housing estate infrastructure left unfinished after the buildings were completed.
Owners of newly built homes often face stressful situations during which developers complete road surfaces and pavements, but in some cases problems were more severe, with with cracked and uneven walls, incomplete or unconnected plumbing and drainage systems, and missing roads and pathways.
Gabriel and Lauren Pisani are a newly wed couple living in a new build Taylor Wimpey home in Reading, who bought their property in February 2023. New problems have arisen since they moved in, including leaking upstairs toilets and gaps between the wall and floor in a bedroom where the two were not connected. The developer said it was “working closely” with the family “to resolve a number of issues and are fully committed to completing all outstanding work”.
Julia Dowd moved into a Persimmon property in December 2020 and reported uneven upstairs flooring, and problems with brickwork, and complained of incomplete public spaces for which home owners were paying a fee. An independent snagging surveyor’s report gave her leverage with the developer to get the problems resolved. She said: “I hadn’t appreciated how much of a fight you would have to put up with to get things done. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.”
So much so, that in January she started a petition for government accountability over substandard infrastructure and housing across the country. She said people had more rights over a faulty toaster than they did for buying a home, and called for a complete overhaul in the process.
Kevin Graham’s Persimmon home is situated on an estate which for ten years has had unfinished roads, pathways and children’s play parks, despite paying an estate fee to a management company appointed by Persimmon. The developer said: “We are dedicated to meeting our commitments at our developments, and work programmes are well under way” and apologised for the “inconvenience our customers have experienced” while they were “committed to addressing their concerns as we aim to complete our developments to a high standard.”
The developers certainly say the right things – but is this good enough? The CMA survey found at least 16 faults for each new-build property, and a growing number of homeowners in England reporting a higher number of snagging issues. It also highlighted problems over estate management charges and the actual build quality of some new homes. Sarah Cardell, its chief executive, said that “significant intervention” was needed over house building.
Recommendations from the report include streamlining the planning system and increasing consumer protections, with the expectation that this would increase the number and quality of homes completed annually and help towards making homes more affordable or even abolish estate management charges in some cases.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said:
“We want to see the quality of new build homes continue to improve and have legislated to set minimum standards for all new build warranties with penalties for those not complying. All house builders are expected to do their part, treating house buyers fairly while submitting proposals for high quality developments which meet local need.”
That would be very nice, but with new build homeowners reported as being asked to sign non-disclosure documents if they want to see the details of their estate charges and being prevented from photographing them, surely something is seriously wrong.
If you need a snagging survey for your new build property, ask an independent Chartered Surveyor for a snagging survey: A surveyor’s guide to the snagging survey.