New build house certificates

Midlandsmaid

Has anyone had a successful claim on NHBC or any other building certificates. My new build had a surveyors certificate that the solicitor said would be an equivalent to an NHBC. But my house builders refused to fix a minor issue with the roof. On asking Citizens Advice they told me it was extremely difficult to get any redress on any of these sort of certificates. Didn't the Government ought to make sure that some sort of definite guarantee should be adhered to by builders of new properties. After all, a new car usually comes with a 3 year guarantee and electrical appliances with 1 - 2 year guarantee. Why should a house costing thousands of pounds more not have something similar.

nidO

Midlandsmaid wrote: »

Has anyone had a successful claim on NHBC or any other building certificates. My new build had a surveyors certificate that the solicitor said would be an equivalent to an NHBC. But my house builders refused to fix a minor issue with the roof. On asking Citizens Advice they told me it was extremely difficult to get any redress on any of these sort of certificates. Didn't the Government ought to make sure that some sort of definite guarantee should be adhered to by builders of new properties. After all, a new car usually comes with a 3 year guarantee and electrical appliances with 1 - 2 year guarantee. Why should a house costing thousands of pounds more not have something similar.

Your problem is probably:

Midlandsmaid wrote: »

minor issue

NHBC and the other similar warranties tend to be in place for major structural issues, not minor problems. You may want to have a thorough read of whatever documentation your warranty provider sent you to see exactly what is and is not covered.

Also are you still in the warranty period offered by the builder themselves, and what is their reason for refusing to fix your problem?

kingstreet

Surveyors don't certify new properties, architects do.

Is that what you meant?

Was the "minor issue with the roof" a build defect, or a wear and tear/weather issue?

gld73

I was trying to buy a house the year before last, and pretty much the day before we were meant to exchange the bank pulled out of lending the mortgage because the sellers couldn't provide the acceptable builders guarantee. The seller's solicitor kept saying they'd get the paperwork, but when they finally provided it, it was just certification from an architect or surveyor or something - I assume it must have been acceptable to some lenders as the house had sold when built 3 or 4 yrs earlier, but certainly HSBC didn't accept it as a guarantee for their mortgaging purposes. I was told verbally when the mortgage got pulled that the letter was barely worth the paper it was written on; I or the bank would never be able to claim anything back if there was something wrong with the house.

Not sure if NHBC is any more use when it comes to claiming in practice, but at least banks accept it for mortgages for new or newish houses....