Buying a new build - what to look out for?

And no drainage system in place in the garden so it's unusable for most of the year as it's practically a swamp.

I didnt know that. So someone buying in a situation like that has to pay council tax and a service charge for their own area. And I presume the service charge can be whatever the management company feel like charging?

It's for maintaining the green spaces and verges etc on our development because the council have refused to take on the maintenance on new estates. The roads are adopted but the park, green area, public bins, verges and open spaces are all for the management company to maintain.

get a professional stagger. Keep chasing ( you can report issue for two years) good news is , anything that goes wrong in that time is their problem not yours!!

also, make sure you push for incentives , free flooring stamp duty contribution etc. I’ve have 2
new builds and it’s lovely having everything new and shiny. No regrets here.

What is the service charge for if they're freehold?

Don’t all new builds bought directly from the builder come with a service charge? The problem with service charges is they are hard to get rid of at a later date, everyone has to agree to it, you can’t just decide to stop paying. Check what it covers, how many and which houses will be paying it. You don’t want to be paying a service charge for flats (more expensive) when you live in a house.
Make sure you get any snagging seen to quickly. Once you’ve moved in you’re no longer as important to the company as they have your money. Speaking to the site manager directly usually gets quicker results.
Consider what the area will look like like once finished, specifically around your property.
Don’t pay too much heed to the ‘I’d never buy a new build’ brigade, they haven’t done it.
There are a lot of positives, such as lower heating bills due to good insulation.
They aren’t all tiny shoeboxes, ours is big and well laid out with plenty of space for storage options (check for that).
The main things for us is that everyone nearby is at a similar life stage so DS has grown up with lots of friends nearby, and an added bonus is that we have made friends too. There’s a good community feel to our area, as everyone was new to it, even if they were originally from the local area. The primary school is nearby. The high school is further but a walk along nice, safe paths through the estate. There are good facilities nearby and easy access to the motorway for work.
For us the pros have far outweighed any cons.

My advice would be don't. Get a house 30+ years old and pay for a good survey.

New builds are hit and miss, look nice but the finishing and quality of materials is usually really poor. The NHBC warranty is rubbish as I found out with our 8 year old house. NHBC won't pay current market rates for labour so no one is willing to take the work on for warranty repairs. I've been in limbo for a year with a leaking roof and damaged render due to a fault with the way the roof is constructed which affects every house on the estate.

I'd never ever consider buying a house of this age again, get one where someone has already been through all the snags and structural issues, you'll get better VFM in an older property too.

Bought a new build 8 years ago, small development, award winning developer. Been super happy with it, cul de sac and kids playing out etc No snags at all. You just have to pick carefully.

The developers often margin the hell out of a site (meaning no ability to extend etc) so make sure you really have a ten year need in your head when you buy.

I was able to extend mine as my DD grew to a teen I realised I needed two spaces, lounge and a big family room/kitchen/diner so think about your family in 5-10 years not what you necessarily need now.

Snags are things like cracks, sockets that don’t work, wonky walls, leaks, boundary fence being in the wrong place.

Remember that there are pros and cons to new and older builds.
A tactic I was aware of was the use of mirrors in the show house to make space look much bigger than it actually was

I bought a new build on a tiny development of 6 houses within an established area. Developers were a kitchen company who branched out. No service charge. House was completed when we viewed it. Snags sorted literally same day (there were 2- shower not connected to hot water and a broken tile). No issues with unadopted roads.

cons- the turf was laid on uneven and frankly rubbish land which was infilled with hardcore.

Thats literally it!

I was very anti new builds and would never buy one on a large estate with ongoing works but 5 years on I don’t regret buying this house.

They do charge a service fee, which is about £90 every 6 months. But they do seem to do a pretty good job of keeping things tidy and fixing things people break. Of course this should be covered by our council tax but 10 years ago this was the only house on the market that suited our requirements.

We bought our house new build, 10 years ago and it’s been a wonderful home!

Make sure you snag thoroughly, and get written records of any extra work (date stamped).

Everywhere has trouble with parking. My parent’s 1930s house, you can hear the neighbours constantly. Our area is very quiet the vast majority of the time, and most of the houses have plenty of parking (the areas with parking issues are like that because several residents choose to park on the street when they have perfectly good driveways.

I’ve had friends buy older homes of various ages and they’ve all had many problems with previous owners doing random dangers “upgrades” or not getting the proper planning permission, or boundary issues. It’s all a gamble when you’re buying a house.

We live on a large estate, there are loads of lovely new green spaces around, plenty of kid’s playgrounds etc.

Mumsnet is very anti new build for some reason. I don’t know where they think their kids will go when they grow up, as they all chuck them out the moment they turn 18 as well.

Ive never seen a new build estate, right back to the 90s, to have adquate parking or big enough garages. The cars end up parked half on the pavement, the road isnt wide enough.

Lots of these estates are little off shoots from a busy A road, the A road having no lighting, no pavement or public transport. So people coming to you have no choice to drive, cant walk there, cant get the bus there, but also no where to park.

Reading the comments it must depend on the area but there are a lot of new builds being built where I live and they go down in price massively after a year or two. We were recently house hunting and went to see some second-hand new builds which were brought for £530-£540k 2/3 years ago and the owners are now struggling to sell them for £480-£485k. If you are planning to stay for the long-term then that's not so bad, I imagine they eventually go up in price again.

I loved the spacious rooms in the new builds but what put us off were the very over-looked gardens, lack of parking, estate maintenance charges and just generally disliking the feel of new build estates. However, I have friends that live in the new builds who are very happy, apart from some garden issues.

I’ve been happy with new build for the past 7 years. Some snags that were easily sorted. Only invoiced for the annual service charge from this year. Had house valued recently and it’s gone up in line with local prices.

Things I would point out:
Extras at the point of deciding your exact spec can really put the price up
There are opportunities to negotiate esp depending upon the plot/ where they are at in terms of the development and how easy your situation is

In terms of depreciation - my nextdoor neighbour sold 18 months after we both bought at a £55k profit so they don't all depreciate.

What phase are you in? Will they definitely complete the development or will you need left in a building site for years?

Service charge for communal areas - your house may be freehold but the communal areas may be leasehold so you may get a new freeholder at some point who will increase charges etc. You’ll also have to pay to have your ownership registered with the management company so you’ll pay them several £££ to cut the grass half a dozen times a year then another 333 when ou join, your new buyer will have to pay them etc.

Check what additional amenities the site has proposed and at what stage they’ll be included. All the things they sell estates on make them zero money so they always fall off the Build List. Is that wonderful play park actually going to be anything other than a depressing slide and the frame for a swing? Our estate was started in 2007. Shops, pub, allotments, new school, fab park all included in Phase 2 in the plan. They’re about a 1/3 of the way through Phase 2 and started last year. I know they’re going to say there isn’t enough call for the school and the shops would take away business from the local shops etc. Looking forward to the dystopian playground though!

I wouldn’t actually ever buy a new build due to the depreciation (we paid £3k less than what they bought it for 6 years prior) and the build quality will be shocking. The only developers I would only consider are small, independents with a proven track record but they cost way over my budget.

If you are a keen gardener, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! New build gardens are basically garage piles. They might turf it, but it’s likely not to last as it’s laid on rubble with minimal trashy top soil. If you must, ask for a discount on an unfinished garden but ask them to take away the lumps of mortar there will invariably be.

Access arrangements with your neighbours.

Will it have a garage? Are you expecting to get your car in the garage because you won’t be able to.

Reservation fees/cancellation fees - READ THE SMALL PRINT.

Wangle some upgrades if you can.

Be prepared to complete on a number of days notice ie they tell you today you’ll be completing on June 6 so you’ll need your funds to be available. If you’re using your current house as funds you won’t know when you’re moving which will drive your buyers nuts. Sell and move into rented knowing you have no actual idea of when you’ll move in. They’ll tell you “very soon”…”within 4 weeks”…”just another couple of weeks”…”I’m afraid completion date has been pushed back by 8 weeks”…”Right, you’re moving in in 5 days. Get you £500k to us by 5pm Tuesday’.

Question everything. Don’t use a bucket shop conveyancer unless they’re used to dealing with new builds.

DON’T USE THE CONVEYANCER THE DEVELOPER SUGGESTS. Choose your own and don’t go for the cheapest. Ask around and get a recommendation from someone you know.

Don’t do it.

Oh, and watch some videos of that New Build Inspector on FB! He’ll tell you everything to check. Might be an idea to ask to see around a nearly finished house rather than the show home (when you’re looking at the show home be forensic when you’re looking at things. Check the calking up the stairs, open/close doors, run the taps, open and close windows, check the pointing, are the light switches straight, give everything a bit of a shoogle, are there those little vent thingies and are they correctly installed etc. It’s like Van Halen burying no brown M&Ms deep in their rider. They did that because they had an incredibly technical & complex show that needed a lot of attention to detail. If they walked in and saw brown M&Ms they knew they were working with a rubbish crew and could potentially die so they’d rip everything up and start again. If the developer can’t get basics right like doors that close then it’s only going to get worse. You shouldn’t be able to find anything wrong with a show home, it should be their absolute best work).

Final thing, DON’T DO IT 😬

Make sure you have a good survey and personal walk through before you complete. I’d not personally touch a new build with a barge pole, but my dad bought one once and then died a year later. I cannot tell you the ridiculous things that were wrong with it that needed to be fixed before we could sell it. Like one of the bedroom windows was visibly crooked. It was like being in some sort of trippy funhouse. 😂

Also don’t get one of those ones with the back gardens that feel like a prison yard or dog kennels. Just row upon row of 10’x10’ boxes with high fences. My friend lives in one like that and it’s so depressingly claustrophobic.

Read online reviews. Check local facilities. The new builds in our town have all been built with no pavements to walk on to get anywhere. So many kids walking on like a 60mph A road to school with no pavement around blind bends. No public transport options, etc. Just no planning at all seemed to go into it.

Get as many free extras added as you can. Don’t pay for turf because they do a terrible job laying it. It’s generally cheaper to get flooring done yourself rather than paying the developer. Get a snagging survey done and then don’t get off their case until they have fixed them all.

Be prepared for it to take some time for the value to return to what you pay for it. I know someone who sold three years after they bought their newbuild and got less than they paid for it.

When looking round think about - where will the bin go? Ironing board? Are there wardrobes in the bedrooms? Is the furniture ‘small’ to give the impression of space?
What about coats and laundry?

Walls are usually thin, and awkward layouts to give the impression of space -

Gardens, are they just full of rubble underneath?

Take care looking at the show house. Sometimes the beds they use look like a double making you imagine a certain size of room but they aren’t a full double- look at the dimensions of the house you would be buying.

The spec will also be high on the show home.