Martyn Maxwell Managing Director of snagging inspection company,  New Build Inspections  advises that the NHBC, once seen by new home buyers as “the arbiter of quality” in the new build sector is no longer the organisation that it used to be.

Evidence from New build inspections own client base suggests that the NHBC is having difficulty in coping with the sheer number of claims made during the builders defects liability period that’s the first two years after they move in , and in the following structural period years 3 to 10

The numbers of complaints being raised by new home buyers is on the increase.

Home buyers complaints start with the process of  trying to raise a dispute about the builders with the NHBC  arbitration service, many claim that they telephone handlers in the claims department  behave somewhat like doctors receptionist and and try to  triage homeowners telling them that they can’t make claims,  when they clearly can.

Furthermore the time taken to handle a  claim for arbitration is increasing

The NHBC has been is currently on a recruitment drive in order to increase the number of inspectors they have

Mr Maxwell a 20-year veteran in the snagging wars between new house builders and buyers states that increasingly the NHBC taken a harder line and often complaints NHBC inspectors fail to  follow their own procedure, or apply thier technical standards,  often contradicting their own procedures

He goes on to say that that his position of being generally supportive of the NHBC has eroded somewhat over the years given his experiences

And that even though they remain the leading warranty provider and a not for profit organisation ….they need to increase the separation between themselves and they big Nationwide builders

The NHBC still has the monopoly position in the new build warranty busines , issuing more that 90% of all warranties in any given year

He states , that Home buyers claim that warranty inspectors nationwide form relationships with local site managers

There there are over a dozen warranty companies in existence who who provide alternatives to the the NHBC warranty

Many solicitors fail to understand the often subtle differences between warranty providers and home owners enter into contractual relations unwittingly

The covid period has shown on many occasions the builders have been allowed to sign off their own work because the warranty organisations were unable to access the developments or did not have enough inspectors available to be able to check the work.

New build forums such as www.snagging.org catalogue the years of difficulty some new build buyers have in getting the quality of home they have paid for

So what’s happening to change all this ?

Well from June 2022 the government has appointed a New Homes Ombudsman , a body set with the task of protecting new home buyers and raising industry standards along with the new homes quality board, ( NHQB )

It’s early days …so let’s see how they get on !

www.newbuildinspections.com