Shared Ownership Snagging issues - Guidance needed

[gambitgsy]

Good morning everyone,

Apologies if this has been answered previously, I have searched for answers prior to posting this.

I have recently entered a Share to Buy arrangement with a local housing association and because of this, I cannot go directly to the building company with any issues I have. The process I need to follow is to submit a 'defect' request via the housing association which does cause delays and some confusion. It is also worth noting that the housing association have conducted their own QC and accepted the handover from the builder to them, which should mean there are no snagging issues!? (This does not include settlement defects)

First issue
I started to notice cracks/movements on the wall next to the stairs and after lots of onsite meetings, it looked like the floor level was causing this. An 'operative' was assigned, and they admitted that there were no movement joints, so cut one into the wall and then placed a plank of wood on top of it (approx 10ft long by 1ft wide) and painted it. This has been 'signed off' as complete and no acknowledgement of what caused it. I have expressed my dissatisfaction and this is being investigated!

Question - Has anyone else experienced this and any guidance on what my next steps should be if the investigation shows that this is acceptable? (no other houses have this and also could it be structural, but now hidden by this plank of wood)

Second issue
The bathroom/shower tiling is not up to standard and the silicone joints are not covering the expansion joints and already peeling away, allowing water to pass them. My previous trade was as a Ceramic and Natural stone tiler, so I have some knowledge in this area and can tell them what is wrong.

Question - It has been a long time since I was in this profession, but even then we would waterproof the wet areas before tiling and this does not seem to have been done. I checked Building Standards and this is now a requirement, but does not provide much detail on to what standard it should be done to? Anyone have experience or knowledge of this area?

Third issue(s)
The rest of the issues are the 'usual' finish of walls and woodwork, door seals, faulty items etc. I am managing these separately.

Thanks for reading and any help/guidance is welcome

[New Home Expert]

It is not unusual to have a crack at the junction of the stair string and wall finish. Normally, this is filled with decorator's caulk when re decorating. If the stair string is fixed with screws to the adjacent wall, the cracking is usually minimal if any.

I have no idea what you are saying about "movement joints" internally, as these are normally only on external masonry walls.
However, there are movement joints in timber frame, which allow for the shrinkage of the time frame (vertically) as it dries out. These are at soffit level and under the windows.
I also cannot begin to understand what the builder is doing by "adding a 10ft x 1ft plank of wood" above the staircase!

Regarding the silicone to the tiling, again I assume you mean between the tiling and bath and/or shower tray.
These are not designed movement joints.
As the floor joists dry out they will shrink with the bath dropping. The best way to solve this is to jack up the bath or shower tray from underneath, fill a bath with water and then re silicone the junction around it. Leave water in the bath until the silicone is hard.  You may be indicating the silicone at internal tiling corners is coming away. This would be due to the tiling being greasy or not cleaned before the silicone was done. It would be easy to strip it and re do it properly.

Regarding snagging and the fact that the Client (Housing Association) had a QC process means nothing if defects are found or develop. Staff on the end of the telephone at the HA will not understand about how to action work for defects. In fact most plc housebuilder's customer care departments are lacking in experience too.

Your tenure is shared equity, meaning you own a proportion of the property and as such you should be able to deal with the builder directly although the HA will have more sway as they will/should be holding retention monies from the builder.

"Settlement" is a term used by those that either don't know anything about snagging or try to minimise it and make snags inevitable and unpreventable.  All so called "settlement" is actually shrinkage - cracks appearing as a result of the building drying out either after being too wet during construction or drying out too quickly. Within the first 6 months these are "defects" if wider than the thickness of a 10p coin.