Shared Ownership - defect/snag period

anony-moose

I moved into a shared ownership new build property almost a year ago. I have had difficulty during this time arranging for the developer to come and rectify snagging issues.

The house was built a while before I was able to move in and handed over to the housing association people ahead of me moving in also. I have sporadically been told that the defect period had expired/was expiring and that the developer was doing things as a good will gesture. I have now been told that it expired in June - only 9 months into me having bought the house and they are refusing to sort the snags; one of which has been raised before and seemingly wasn't properly fixed.

It doesn't seem right that this period is based on timings that don't align with when I moved in, is that right? Surely if I moved in last October, I should be covered until this October - 12 months?

Can anyone advise?

eddddy

I've seen something similar happen. The reason was...

• The developer completes the property and hands it over to the Housing Association. And the snagging period of 1 year or 2 years or whatever, starts.

• The Housing Association take a few months to get their act together and sell the property.

So in your case, it could be that the developer handed over the property to the Housing Association with a 12 month snagging period - but the Housing Association took 3 months to complete the sale to you.

The Housing Association should have made that clear to you, before you bought.


Did you report any of the snags in writing before the June deadline (or do you have evidence of reporting them verbally)? If so, those snags should still be fixed, as you reported them in time.

anony-moose

Yeah, got it all in writing. Some of the issues are newly reported though.

I was under the impression that there's a standard 12 months for all house buyers when buying a new house? Surely when the housing association got the house shouldn't affect my rights? The house was sat empty, so how could any of the defects or snags be reported during that time?

user1977

anony-moose said:

I was under the impression that there's a standard 12 months for all house buyers when buying a new house? 

Where did you get that impression from? It might generally apply where you’re buying a “normal” property from the developer. Didn’t your solicitor clarify this at all during the process?

eddddy

anony-moose said:

I was under the impression that there's a standard 12 months for all house buyers when buying a new house? Surely when the housing association got the house shouldn't affect my rights? The house was sat empty, so how could any of the defects or snags be reported during that time?

What "rights" are you referring to?  For example, the government haven't passed any laws saying that house buyers must get a 12 month snagging warranty.

Essentially, you agreed to buy what the Housing Association was selling. And it sounds like they were selling a house with 9 months remaining on a snagging warranty.


But if the Housing Association misled you - for example, by saying in the contract that you had a 12 month snagging warranty from the date of your purchase - you might have a case for a claim against the Housing Association.

Dizzy_Ditzy

I’m going though the process now and one of the documents the HA sent me clearly states when the 12 month defect period ends. It’s 12 months from when the developer handed the property to the HA. You’ll need to prove that the HA told you differently