When buying a new-build property, you’d expect to avoid all of those structural and cosmetic issues you find in older homes. Everything should be pristine. This isn’t always the case, however. The speed and large sites at which homes are constructed today often leads to issues and defects throughout the property.
A snagging survey is a detailed inspection of a new build home to identify any defects, unfinished work, or quality issues. It’s essentially a “quality control” check before you move in, ensuring the property meets the expected standards.
A must for any newly constructed home
A snagging survey is designed to check for problems with a new-build home.
The best time to have a snagging survey done is the period between building work being finished and your legal completion date, so the developer has time to fix any snags before you move in.
However, some developers won’t allow snagging inspections to be done before completion, and may deny access. If this is the case with your purchase, your conveyancer may be able to intervene with the developer and arrange access by invoking your legal interest in the property.
If this isn’t possible, you should book the snagging survey as soon as you can after you’ve moved in. That way, the developer is still likely to be onsite, building the other houses, and you’ll generally have a bit more leverage with them at this stage than further down the line.
That said, you can technically have a snagging survey done at any time during the first two years of living in a new-build home, and the developer must repair any defects reported during this period. It might just take a bit longer to get things sorted.
More Information on Snagging Surveys (PDF Format):
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