Buying a new build: the parts nobody warns you about

Instead of making an offer, you pay a reservation fee to take a specific plot off the market — typically £500 to £2,000, usually deducted from the purchase price at completion. The reservation agreement commonly runs for around 42 days: a short cooling-off period followed by a window in which you're expected to exchange contracts.

Read what happens to that fee if things go wrong. Some is often non-refundable if you withdraw, but you should be entitled to a refund in defined circumstances — check the agreement rather than the sales pitch, and have your solicitor look at it before you pay.

Developers often prefer their recommended solicitor and mortgage broker, and there may be an incentive attached to using them. You are not obliged to. A conveyancer experienced in new builds is genuinely valuable, but they should be working for you, not for the developer's timetable.

This is the single most common way new build purchases go wrong. Mortgage offers are typically valid for six months. If you're buying off-plan and construction runs late — which is normal rather than exceptional — your offer can expire before the home is ready, and you have to reapply.

Reapplying isn't a formality. Rates may have moved, your circumstances may have changed, and lending criteria may have tightened. In the worst case you no longer qualify for the loan you were relying on, having already committed a reservation fee and legal costs.

Protect yourself by asking the developer for a realistic completion window in writing rather than an optimistic one, looking for lenders offering longer new-build offer validity, and building in contingency. If you're buying off-plan, treat the developer's estimated date as a best case.

A snagging list records everything wrong with the finished home — misaligned doors, cracked plaster, poor paintwork, damaged units, faulty seals, drainage that doesn't drain. Almost every new build has snags; the question is how many and how quickly they get fixed.

Inspect thoroughly before completion if you're allowed to, and photograph every room. Many buyers pay for a professional snagging survey, which typically finds far more than an untrained eye and gives you a documented list the developer takes seriously. Submit your list in writing, promptly — within the first week or two of moving in at the latest.

Your leverage is highest before you complete. Once you've handed over the money and moved in, you're relying on the developer's goodwill and process to come back and fix things, which can take months. Anything you can get resolved pre-completion, get resolved pre-completion.

Most new builds come with a 10-year structural warranty — NHBC Buildmark is the most common, though there are alternatives. The developer pays for it as part of the build, so it isn't a separate cost to you, but understanding its shape matters because cover narrows sharply over time.

In broad terms it works in two phases. For roughly the first two years, the builder is contractually responsible for putting right defects you report in writing — this is where the bulk of ordinary snags fall. From around year three to year ten, cover typically drops back to major structural defects only: foundations, load-bearing walls, the roof.

The practical implication: things like cracked plaster, poor finishes and misaligned doors are a year-one and year-two matter. Report them in writing while the builder is still on the hook, keep copies of everything, and don't let a defect drift past the point where it's covered.

Developers frequently offer incentives rather than discounts — help with your deposit, stamp duty paid, upgraded kitchens or flooring, or a part-exchange on your current home. These have real value, but they must be disclosed to your lender, because they affect the true price and therefore the valuation.

Be alert to down-valuations. A surveyor may value the property below the price you agreed, especially where heavy incentives are involved, leaving you to cover the shortfall in cash. Ask what similar plots on the development have actually sold for, not what they're listed at.

Finally, consider resale. New builds can carry a premium in the same way a new car does, and if you sell within a few years you may be competing against the developer still selling later phases of the same site at full price with fresh incentives. If you might move again soon, factor that in.