Top Tips for Buying New Build Homes
  • Get your home professionally inspected by an independent snagging company that has no relation to the developer, such as MDR Home Inspections. Ideally you want this before legal completion so that the developer has a chance to rectify the faults. Important.
  • Ensure you have a competent conveyancing solicitor who has a sound record of negotiating retentions and delaying completion dates until defects are complete. Do not always use the solicitor the developer offers, they may have hidden agenda's often to do with speeding up the process of legal completion.
  • Check the property has a warranty from a well recognized provider, for example,Zurich,LABC. These do not guarantee your home will be defect free but provide a ten year insurance policy for the property to cover structural defects etc.
  • Do some homework on the house builder. Look at their website and look at reviews of the builder.
  • Check to see if there is any affordable housing on the development and who it will be managed by. This may affect your decision to purchase on the development. The sales team may not always tell you about this as a sale is a sale.
  • Negotiate. Most developers are happy to add something as an incentive, usually in the way of landscaping ( turf ) or appliances or carpet/ karndean. Never appear too keen. Let them do the work, they want your business.
  • If you need a fixed legal completion date, ensure your conveyancing solicitor is aware of this so they can get a completion date written into the contract.
  • Check all house plans, drainage plans, landscaping plans carefully especially if you buy off plan. Artist impressions off the boards in the sales centre often do not reflect how the site will look in the end.If you feel you have been mis-described about the property, you can contact trading standards.
  •  As with all new builds, you can tour the show homes, however this may not be the style of your home and you should look at going to another development so that you can walk around the property you are buying.
  • Check how well the site is being managed. If it looks untidy that tells you that care and attention is not being controlled. See if the site manager has got any accolades and try to speak to residents on site who have moved in to get a feel for after care etc.
  • Make sure you check ceiling heights on the property, stair heights,car park widths. Most single garages now are very tight for normal sized cars.
  • If you have a warranty provider,it is worth re-inspecting your house every six months during the first two years of the house life. This will give the developer the necessary time to be able to correct faults. If they are not prepared to correct them, the warranty provider will engage the developer to act on your behalf. Normal shrinkage cracks caused by artificial heat are worth waiting six to twelve months to allow the building to settle.

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