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New homes have more snags

from "UK Landlord" magazine, May 2007

With more than 185,000 new houses built in 2006 alone, buy-to-let investors need to be careful to choose developers with a good track record if they want to avoid buying a property that will be unlettable until snags have been dealt with.

According to latest research by academics at Glasgow Caledonian University and Inspector Home, a snagging company for new homes, the number of defects found in the average brand new home has risen from 68 in 2004 to 72 in 2006.

Supporting cautionary advice given by NLA regional representative Jeremy Hall , the figures for each property size are: one bed - best number of snags found 1, worst number of snags found 104; two bed - best 0, worst 195; three bed - best 8, worst 218; four bed - best 14, worst 405; five bed - best 32 , worst 298. Stephen Nancarrow, director of Inspector Home, said, "Buying a brand new home has become a quality lottery and that is totally unacceptable." Inspector Home acknowledges that some developers are taking steps to improve quality and has awarded certificates to those developers achieving high standards of finish throughout 2006. These include Bellway, David McClean, Cala, Fairview New Homes and several other regional developers.

Landlords interested in buying off-plan houses or flats are advised to find out as much as possible about the builder's track record, possibly even finding out about and visiting its older developments to see what state they are in now and talking to owners about their experiences when they moved in.

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