About 80% of newly built homes in the UK are supported by a National House Building Council (NHBC) Guarantee. The NHBC guarantee is an insurance policy which provides cover to purchasers of new-build properties for risks that could prove expensive to repair. Those risks include:
¢ Failure to complete the construction of a new home due to builder insolvency or fraud
¢ Damage or defects to the property
¢ Damage to certain parts of the home after the first 2 years
¢ Contaminated land in, on or under the land on which your home is built
¢ Certain breaches of some building regulations.
Claims by persons who have purchased properties with defects sometimes find their claims rejected by the NHBC for various reasons. Many of such people think, wrongly, that if rejected all is lost.
Just because the NHBC provides a guarantee does not mean that any purchaser with a grievance cannot still take action against the builder or designer of the house or indeed take action against the NHBC if a claim has been rejected wrongly. My colleagues’ and my advice to purchasers with problems is don’t be brushed off too easily, and make sure all avenues of recovery have been exhausted before giving up.
