After a lot of dithering we're buying a house. Previously we've always owned ~100 year old houses with a string of issues as long as your arm so have a rough idea of what I'm doing there, but this house is 6 years old and has ~3 years left on the warranty.
What would you do about getting a survey done? Is getting the lowest level of survey daft? I have zero experience of houses built this side of WW1!
Get one but treat it as insurance in case of a major issue that's missed. New builds can be built to very low standards depending on the developer.
But they are all so full of caveats and arse covering they're barely worth the paper they are written on.
^ that
this house is 6 years old
Make sure its freehold
^ that too! 🙂
Possibly even use a snag list company to check all the problems that are common with new builds. This will give you something to take to the developer if it's still in warranty.
A colleague is still resolving issues on his new home from 2019.
And look at the house yourself !
Neighbour sold their house (16 years) old. Has a ridiculous lean to one side - 10 to 15 degrees, maybe more. Looks like it's about to capsize.
You can roll a bottle from one end to the other it's so tilty. Survey just said the floors were uneven.
New buyers were distraught when they moved in.
Me - but just look at it!
But they are all so full of caveats and arse covering they’re barely worth the paper they are written on.
On the note of things that are barely worth the paper they are written on:
and has ~3 years left on the warranty.
This will give you something to take to the developer if it’s still in warranty.
It'll be NHBC at this point rather than the developer
New buyers were distraught when they moved in.
Did they not even visit it themselves before putting an offer in?
Apart from that yes to survey, ours was full of photos and things so it's a handy reminder for me to the state of the house when we bought it (also 100+ years old but with a very recent extension) apart from anything else.
Also yes to the freehold check, don't want any of that service charge/ground rent malarkey.
That's great thanks. In terms of level of survey, is a home buyers report/level 2 about right?
Already checked for leasehold/service charge BS fortunately.
In terms of level of survey, is a home buyers report/level 2 about right?
That's what we got, for what that's worth. Still came out at 62 pages!
One of my colleagues just bought a new build and had a professional snagger do a survey - hundreds of items including insufficient headroom where the staircase goes under the small bedroom - should never have passed building regs. And a gable wall with no wall ties. Presumably his neighbors that didn’t get the snagging done professionally are just bumping their heads and living in blissful gnorance that their kids could be crushed by a falling wall at any moment
Id be very very wary of buying anything built by a volume builder in the last decade or so
One of my colleagues just bought a new build and had a professional snagger do a survey – hundreds of items including insufficient headroom where the staircase goes under the small bedroom – should never have passed building regs. And a gable wall with no wall ties.
As a matter of interest, now that your colleague knows about these problems what is he doing or able to persuade the housebuilder to do about them?
On the note of things that are barely worth the paper they are written on:
and has ~3 years left on the warranty.
This will give you something to take to the developer if it’s still in warranty.
It’ll be NHBC at this point rather than the developer
I’ve claimed £25k worth of work on a roof and chimneys when sand / cement mix was incorrect. NHBC were great and sorted out the whole job. They’ll also intervene if the Developer decides to go radio silent or gone bust.
Get one for peace of mind. If you know what you’re looking for then a flood risk one isn’t necessary (and extra £35 for us in November) but once it came it just said the same as I could find online when I checked before.
Did they not even visit it themselves before putting an offer in?
Maybe, but probably drove up and walked straight in.
Walk 20m away and the lean becomes very obvious.
Possibly even use a snag list company to check all the problems that are common with new builds. This will give you something to take to the developer if it’s still in warranty.
this
Where is this 10 -15deg house?
Italy I believe
Possibly even use a snag list company to check all the problems that are common with new builds. This will give you something to take to the developer if it’s still in warranty.7
I’ve claimed £25k worth of work on a roof and chimneys when sand / cement mix was incorrect. NHBC were great and sorted out the whole job. They’ll also intervene if the Developer decides to go radio silent or gone bust.
One of my colleagues just bought a new build and had a professional snagger do a survey – hundreds of items including insufficient headroom where the staircase goes under the small bedroom – should never have passed building regs. And a gable wall with no wall ties.
Are new builds all *that* bad? We had a new house in Killin, and it was fine but from smaller builder. We are kicking around changing house soon, and newbuild for the first time ever is a 'possible'... Surely of the thousands of houses built, some are ok?
I’m in a new build it’s been fine. Some folk love to exaggerate issues with new builds.
Watch some of this guys vids. Its scary how badly built some new houses are
But are videos like that not a self selective and worst scenario example?
Surely there's thousands of happy/happy enough people with new builds?
Ive been in new builds and houses with extensions and spotted loads of stuff that is not right. A lot of it is small details that many folk will not notice but some is really bad.
Builders working on my building made a series of glaring errors on a 2 million exterior renovation from no roofing felt and no headlap on the slates to gutters that didn't drain to capping off gas flues
An older building is no guarentee of course and at least with a new build you have some recourse
Are new builds all *that* bad? We had a new house in Killin, and it was fine but from smaller builder. We are kicking around changing house soon, and newbuild for the first time ever is a ‘possible’… Surely of the thousands of houses built, some are ok?
Most people wouldn't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to the build of their house. I'm guessing these building firms rely on this to let this shit pass. I bet only 1 in 10 get a professional snagger in to check things over though. I assume the house builder foots the bill to bring things up to spec ?? Is it a case of most of this stuff is bought off plan, and from that point they just want them up as cheaply and quickly as possible ?
It's not only standard houses , I have seen some stainless steel handrailing on multi million pound apartments that has been welded together by a pigeon shitting on the joints. They are investments for overseas clients who will never see the thing in real life , so they don't give a shit.
we had a new build house off-plan and its been great. Was from a high-end builder and wasn't cheap though.
no point with a snagging company, snagging-type issues have to be reported within the first 2 years. The 10 year warranty is only for structural issues. You'll probably have to have a quick valuation survey, which tbh will cover most of what you need, if you find a structural issue in the next 2 years you're covered anyway
Hey.
Mae sure the house itself is freehold.
Also, also, make sure the ground that its sitting on is also freehold.
(There were some cases recently, where the land was leasehold, and all sorts of price rise tricks were being played).
10-15 degrees?
It'd fall down. None of the doors or windows would open (or close). The living room would have a 1 in 6 gradient in the direction of the lean.
I'd love to see a picture of that...
Don't know about all but ours (and our neighbours) had
- missing ducting in the loft from the bathroom ceiling fans, so warm wet air was venting straight into the loft, rather than out the roof tile vents
- missing fire resistance between the houses (they are timber frame with brick cladding). This is a nationwide issue with Persimmon and they had to come back to check every house to see if it was present and undertake remedial works if not.
https://www.forbessolicitors.co.uk/news/45735/cavity-barriers-persimmons-review
I’m in a new build it’s been fine. Some folk love to exaggerate issues with new builds.
my old man was a site manager for a large football club affiliated building company in your area
he was escorted off site due to refusing to sign off on houses with (quite serious) issues. Directive at the time was it was cheaper to remediate issues brought up by the new owner once they identified them than fix them prior. Not all issues would be spotted/not all owners would complain and thus it became cheaper
the developer and their conscience are key.
id be more inclined to get a higher level of survey on a new house.
10-15 degrees?
It’d fall down.
Nah, it's what estate agents call "character".
Im more intrigued to know how many bricks or window frames that surveyor removed to check for cavity wall ties. The clue is in the name. Cavity
New build, get an old school builder to go tp the house with you. Allow 2 hrs ish. He will be able to tell quickly if its ok or low end. At 6 years though there's every chance the previous owner has sorted all the issues and it should be OK. There's a chance that they will have missed the glaringly obvious though ig they are not savvy.
I hear horror stories pretty much every day from trade guys from people who have spent £350k on a lemon that is unlivable in. They are emotionally broken as you would think that much money foe something brand new is going to amazing.
What they dpnt know is the house builder has scheduled 2 days for a bathroom and 3 days for the kitchens frpm start to finish so care and attention to detail simply isnt there. The bath isnt level, the shower screen leaks, the kitch cupboards knock together the ight switches are upside-down, the hot and cold taps are plumbed backwards. The central heating has a mind of its own.
I know an entire estate where the windows were installed so badly they had to pay a glazing firm to go and re install pretty much every window as they were just glued in with low expanding crazy foam., same as the front door..
Im more intrigued to know how many bricks or window frames that surveyor removed to check for cavity wall ties.
Fibre optic scope
Also a thermal image survey will show where the ties are.
If you’re buying a home on a development, then best go for the show home as chances are it’s been inspected and signed-off by building control. Problems often arise as new homes are built in batches by trades being paid for piecework and no concern for handing-off to following trades - they’re not interested in spending time/losing money talking to the next guy, so those key finishing details get missed and very little inspection of in-progress work. Developers don’t care if they sell a lemon, their insurance/ warranty pays out.
Big firms self certify as well. Some of them have their own salaried building control officer. Who is clearly impartial and puts in loads of enforcement notices.
Endoscope for cavity walls ties, yep can sort of see that. Thermal camera, dunno but my mates got a decent one you plug into a tablet so will attempt to find mine.
