Advice on buying a brand new home > NHBC Warranty

Leaking roof NHBC have accepted the claim

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New Home Expert:
Shocking brush off. NHBC Warranty now worthless as "Peace of Mind" for new home buyers.
Now it would appear the "policy" is just send cheques for claims and escape managing the actual works to correct defects!

Caz37:
I responded with this.

"To whom it may concern,

I am not willing to accept a cash settlement I wish for the NHBC to rectify the defects at my property.

At no point has anyone adequately inspected the roof to ascertain the cause of the problem.
Speaking to a few roofer firms they said scaffold is required to get access to the roof to thoroughly inspect & find what the problem is before anyone can rectify the issue.
This hasn't happened. An educated guess has been given to what the problem is & that is all.
As far as I am aware I may need an entire new roof & new rafters due to how long the leak has been going on.

A repair of the roof to this property has already taken place by the NHBC and the roof is still leaking.
Which makes me question how adequate this type of roof is for the property?



NHBC response

"Thank you for your email of 08 December 2023 about your concerns over your roof.

Unfortunately, we no longer have any registered contractors on our books so our only option now is to cash settle your claim. This is the quickest way to resolve your roof issues.

I agree that with most building issues there is an element of the best educated guess to what's happened based on experience and similar issues.

However, the exact cause may not be apparent until it is fully opened up. Where there are any additional issues or the cause of the problem is different to what was considered then these are treated as unforeseen works.

Where unforeseen works are identified and it is covered under the policy, a variation order is then raised for cost of that additional work.

If you wish to obtain some quotes for a cash settlement (normally a minimum of three) for your roof repairs which can then be sent into us for consideration. If any unforeseen work should arise during the repairs, then you can submit evidence in the form of photographs etc for us to review."

New Home Expert:
A diabolical reply from the NHBC.
The once heralded Buildmark warranty is now little more (probably at lot less) than a standard insurance policy.  It would appear that the poor new home buyer must now do all the legwork and admin and just get a cheque covering only the cost of the works!

Your first course of action is to carefully check your new home warranty policy and the wording thereof.  It may have changed since your policy was issued.
I still find it hard tp believe this is the only way the NHBC settle warranty claims.

Next up you need a drone survey of the roof. That will show any gaps in tiles, broken tiles, missing leadwork etc.

Then you need to get three quotes, all of which need to be inflated by say 20-30% to cover everything.
This is standard when you tell a trades "it's a quote for an insurance claim"

As for anyone reading this thread, it does seem the NHBC warranty policy is pretty much now useless, after the first two years!

Caz37:
What's the timeline for moving to a ombudsman claim?

Is there a minimum wait time before I can start.

Admin:
You need to check NHOS website and the Code of Practice Conduct.
You have to have used the housebuilder's complaints procedure first and have reached a point where they have failed.

Plenty of hoopps to jump through before NHOS will accept a complaint.
Most builders are still promoting the should be defunct Consumer Code for Home Builders which has failed new home buyers for over a decade. Now revised to mirror what the New Homes Ombudsman does or was set up to do.

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