The National House Building Council (NHBC) is the leading provider of ten year warranties (or insurance) for new build homes in the UK. The warranty should mean that any issues with the new build property are dealt with by the builder and covered by insurance over the first ten years of the building’s ‘life’.
However, even a ten year warranty has left some new build home owners with problem homes.
The NHBC warranty has two elements:
- The initial insurance covers the two year warranty period during which the builder is responsible for rectifying their own failure to meet building regulation requirements.
- The home owner is insured against structural issues for the remaining eight years, up to the end of the ten year period.
If the developer fails to address any issues that arise within the property during the first two years, the NHBC offers a resolution service which can be acted upon as long as the home buyer has first followed the builder’s complaint’s procedure. After this time, the responsibility for any failures remains the company’s responsibility.
The fact that new build problems have not been resolved, and continue beyond the NHBC cover period, has led to some home owners feeling helpless and claiming that there is no structure in place to help them.
Housebuilder, Cala Homes, has recently been reported after causing several home owners to seek help beyond the NHBC after the company’s failure to address a huge number of issues within their properties. Home owners had reported problems which remained even after several years.
Independent Chartered Surveyors found a vast number of property defects, including failed mastic expansion joints, low water pressure and inadequate fire blocks.
Cala Homes apologies for their customers’ frustrations but said they were “committed to resolving matters”.
A spokesman for NHBC said: “While we cannot comment on individual cases, we appreciate that a house is the biggest single investment many people will make and understand how frustrating it can be when things are not right.
“Whether NHBC is providing warranty or building control services, the builder still has primary responsibility to ensure the homes they are building meet building regulations.
“We inspect new homes at key stages of the build and this process is only finalised when we are satisfied, as far as practicable, that the builder has met our quality standards.”