If you bought a new build

[Sunsetsupernova]

What would you advise looking for in a plot? And what questions should we be asking the developer?

We have a meeting this weekend with the sales office of a development which we absolutely love. We saw another development last year by the same builder and loved the houses but the location wasn’t quite right and now they have a development coming up in a much better location for us. It’s very early stages, there’s currently only a couple of houses built and they have no windows or anything like that.

I believe she said the meeting is to look over the plans and decide whether we want to have first refusal when they come to be released for reservation. I may have got that a bit wrong having never bought a new build before!

So what should we be asking about and what should we be looking for in our preferred plot? The only thing I can really think of is a big sunny garden as we have that currently and it’s very important to us. Someone also said being a bit further into the development so there’s not lots of cars going past your window. I believe there will be about 70 houses made up of 3,4 and 5 beds. We’ll be looking for a 3 bed.

Thanks in advance!

Are you going to be detached ?
I’d say no shared drives, or shared anything.
Can you fence the front garden ?
Is there a no caravan rule on the deeds.

Great questions, thank you!
Not sure yet as we haven’t seen the pricing information. Either detached or semi detached.

Definitely no shared drives
No access rights for neighbours.

Check your see how other houses round the plot will affect your garden, our garden is north facing but due to size and the placement of the other houses it gets loads of sunlight.

Id always prefer being near to the front of the development as usually the roads get tighter, parking gets less the further you go into the site. (We're in our second new build)

Check if there are any childrens play areas out first house was directly opposite one and it was mainly ok but could be noisy.

Visit other sites by same builder to a feel for their estates and if you're brave ask people living there how they like the houses/development

It's all about the parking. You want parking and you want your neighbours to have parking too so there are no parking wars.

We are on the edge of an estate with a brook facing us, it is protected so can never be built on so very quite and lots of birds.
I’d check what plans they have for flooding and what shops/community spaces are in the estate, I think that can change how an area feels.
Also worth asking about fibre internet!

Yes, definitely see how other people who have bought from this builder feel. If it's a major builder they have multiple brands. We bought a Copthorn house in 2000 and I think they were a Countryside Properties brand.

I wouldn't buy anything from Countryside Properties again and probably nothing from any major builder. The finishing was definitely done to a budget, not to a standard. The sales department was clearly much better funded than the 2 men and a dog they had to deal with snagging. I hope the structure was better than the finishing, but I wouldn't care to bet on it.

Buying new once was once too often. The extended 1960s property we have now isn't perfect but I didn't pay through the nose for perfection and support that weren't provided.

I'd be checking how many houses overlook your garden, or can even see into your house. Where we are now we have a woods behind us, so not overlooked. We're looking to move, but I'm discounting most houses on the basis the garden is too overlooked.

If its a new estate there will most likely be a service charge to cover the upkeep of the green areas and road. Ask how much it is and if there's a clause to stipulate how often this will increase.

We've just bought a new build and it's very complicated so listen lots 😂

Agree with shared drive way, that's was a big no for us

We will have a maintenance fee but it's only about £200 per year and is only until the council fully take on the roads so won't be forever

Try and get free upgrades / add ons we got absolutely nothing so would be a bonus if you did (especially flooring as it's super expensive!)

Think about being looked on, the plan might say not but is another phase going to be added at a later date etc

Also check if the developer are installing street lamps, I know someone that lives on a new build estate without street lamps, quite dangerous IMHO.

Maintenance charges - particularly if you sell on what the company will charge you to provide sales 'packs' to your buyers, we had to pay £400 for a sales pack for our buyers which consisted of not a lot!

Extension possibilities- nearly every other house on our old new build estate was putting an extension on their property within a couple of months

Parking - the further in the estate you are the narrower the roads seem to be and the cars are packed in like sardines, a few houses have guests such as over Christmas etc and suddenly it becomes like a car park!

can you walk to shops / a park / buses / kids school etc? Or are you 100% dependent on your car?

I wouldn't myself as I think they're roughly built, badly finished and not good value for money. They notoriously lack storage which is easy to overlook in perfect showrooms without 'stuff' & check out if there's enough space in the kitchen for the appliances you have/want. So many of these things seem obvious, but honestly are easily overlooked in show rooms.

Loft space if it's important to you. My friend has a big roof but f'all loft space!

But a few more things to consider if you do...

Oncoming headlights. I work (for a private company) within an old (? C12 years) 'new build' estate. I often arrive/leave in the dark and really feel for the houses where the headlights are direct in their windows. It's not something I'd overly have thought about previously.

Parking!!! Not just your own, but the general provision. It's bloody awful. Cars parked both sides & people driving far too fast through the middle & around blind corners!!

Are they responsible for 1 Yr snagging? How much longer & what exactly. One friend had huge crack through lounge wall & another has a back gate that doesn't close (due to the way the land falls. They have 'fixed' it a few times (sent local botched sling). It needs a post replacing.
What are the restrictions if you want them to do snagging? They're not allowed to decorate/hang anything in the walls or snagging agreement is void.

Quality of kitchen/bathroom/other fittings, flooring. Where I work the quality is crap, looks SO cheap.

ANY restriction on the development - planting/bins/pets/washing lines/satellites/window dressings/outside lights/numerous mental things such as no lawn mowing on Sundays.

As I said, I just wouldn't. Buying an established home is a much better idea IMO, but obviously others disagree... just be very very careful.

Let us know how you get on at the weekend.

Position of drains in the garden and access manholes.

Light to the garden

Tree preservation orders affecting your garden or nearby ones

Do they fence the garden and install gates. Some only mark the boundary now.

Freebies like blinds, doorbells, turf.

Love my new build incidentally heats up within 10 minutes of putting heating on and I barely need central heating after that. Very insulated and space is well used. Cupboards everywhere.

Also depth of kitchen cupboards. Mine are slim depth. Can't fit standard. Plates in lol

I'd also add check about water easements - we have one at the bottom of our garden, we were told btw, but it means no permanent structures in that bit of the garden or trees. Plus our useless solicitors didn't even mark it on our plans - we had to tell them!

Parking, parking, parking! If a lot of the houses have parking behind them people won't use them and the roads will be a nightmare with people parked everywhere!

Make sure all the house have a min of 2 parking spaces. On our estate everyone has 2. We chose the plot with the biggest driveway. We could fit 3 on our driveway if we park right up to the garage door. Our driveway is shared but big enough that it's not a problem. The ones without shared driveways are really tight next to each detached house. We have a semi and share the drive with the next door unattached house.

Other than that think about how you're going to place furniture when you look at plans and ask where radiators will be. You'd be amazed at how stupid the layouts of doors and radiators can be!

You need to think about your ability to sell on one day. That may mean considering what other people might object to that would make your house hard to sell in future. Town houses can be hard to sell, as can be the ones that are next to social housing (depending on what the rest of the area is like).

Exactly what people say about having no shared drive.

It depends on your preferences, some people would love a cul de sac but having lived on one previously I’d want be to on a ‘main road’ area to avoid the insular small cul de sac vibes and wild playing out kids that I’ve had before.

I personally don’t rate south facing but some people love it.

I’d check what the future plans are in terms of development size, I’ve known people promised new schools, GPs, shops and parks and for it all to be scaled back to the detriment of residents.

Ask about the standard finish and extras to scope whether it’s going to cost you £££ to upgrade fixtures and fittings to what you’d want.

Sounds daft but check how many drain covers will be in your garden.. we seem to have everyone's!
Check how much parking spaces there will be , does everything have drives , how many spaces does each house get , most houses have two cars or expect parking on the roads .
Check which way the back garden faces so you'll get plenty of sun.
Ask how level the gardens will be , we have a smallish back garden that was totally unusable due to a massive slope down to the neighbours gardens . We had to pay for landscaping it was so bad.
I can probably think of loads more as our new build was a nightmare.

Lots of interesting pointers here. Agree with drains - we have an outside tap but with no drain under it. In fact no open drains anywhere, so when you wash the car there's nowhere to tip the dirty water.

Warranty of the boiler and heating system was dependent on you having a maintenance contract with an approved engineer. Otherwise, if anything goes wrong they can (and will) walk away.

Look carefully at parking - we are in a row of 5 bed houses, just one garage each. There are designated parking areas (just enough) but the developer didn't get planning permission for them.

Make sure that what you see on the plans stacks up with the planning permission and is what is actually built. My house plans showed a side gate, but it wasn't built, just a plain fence. Which is a pain for moving dustbins in and out.

Read carefully if the builder is putting any covenants on the property and for how long. In my case we need the developers consent to build an extension. Anyone's guess how much they might want to charge for that. Also read carefully any restrictions the council made when giving planning permission (pp). Keep reviewing the pp, there are often variations during the course of construction.

Do the garages have an entrance into the house? Mine doesn't, you have to go out of the garage door, close it and walk in the front door.

Especially for 3 bed houses, are they "link-detached"? That is, the garages share a wall, but not the houses.

Sorry, the list is endless...

Sorry, it's a bit of a read....
Not only the style of house, but also the location in the estate.
My house is worth more than similar houses on my estate because I am effectively on a corner plot (road at front, pathway to one side) and have my back garden actually behind my house - similar ones have the garden at the side and have apx 3 metres between the back of the house and the one behind them. (They all sold for the same price initially.)
What view will you have - directly on to other houses, or a road opposite?
Ask about the adoption of roads by the council. My house is now over ten years old and will only finally be adopted this year due to an extension to the estate. The original builders have to come back and fix any issues before the council will adopt. This didn't bother me, but can put off some buyers, conveyancing solicitors (and mortgage companies) don't like it. (Mine caused delays due to it and I had to kick up a stink about it.)
What covenants will be in place? Fencing at the front as PP have said, no parking of commercial vehicles (potentially great in theory, doesn't work in practice). Satellite dish placement, building of conservatories, for sale or other signs, re-siting fences etc (I had a bit of wasted land on the path side of the fence at the side of my house but re-claimed it when my fence blew down - I shouldn't really have done it apparently, but several people have here.)
Will there be further development in the future?
I'd also look at the local GP surgery as well as schools etc.

No cul de sacs.

And don’t buy anywhere near a children’s playground. They are a juvenile nuisance magnet.