Home sweet home

We discover five important things you need to know when buying a new build home.

Holly King, a Cornish lawyer in the Residential Property Team at Stephens Scown LLP, is an expert in buying new build homes and has helped thousands of buyers through the process. We caught up with her to find out what we should be considering when purchasing a new build.

“Help to Buy, part exchanges and other affordable housing schemes have helped millions of people buy their first home or move up the property ladder,” explains Holly. “However, over the years I’ve seen some common things crop up which can take people by surprise.”

Holly gives us her five tips for people who are thinking about buying a new build home.

Timescales

Be aware that timescales given by developers will often be an estimate. There are many factors that are outside of a developer’s control such as weather, availability of materials and availability of trades on site.

Visit the site

Most developments will not have been built on a perfectly flat site and the gardens to those properties will not be perfectly flat either. To get the best idea of what your garden will be like, it is important to visit the site.

Alterations

Be aware that developers may make minor alterations to the property if materials are not available or are discontinued. Depending on the developer, there will be different contract provisions to provide for this and how it is dealt with.

Building works

Unless you are the last house on the development, it is likely that you are going to have building works going on around you after you have moved in. Affected areas will be fenced off, and the amount of time trades are allowed to work will be covered by planning conditions. However, you will need to tolerate a degree of disruption until the development is completed.

Wait for a fixed date to be agreed

Handing in your notice on a rental home and booking removal services should only be done when a fixed date has been agreed. Making any of these arrangements before you have a fixed date is at your own risk as you can only contractually rely on a completion date once it has been fixed or notice has been served on you.