What the New Homes Quality Code requires on snags and defects

The obligation, in the Code's own words

The New Homes Quality Code states that all registered developers must aim to make sure there are no snags or defects in their properties before the keys are handed over to a customer, and that 'if there are any snags or defects, regardless of who identifies them, these must be put right within the agreed timescales'. The phrase that matters operationally is 'regardless of who identifies them': a snag raised by the buyer's own inspector carries the same obligation as one your site manager found. The Code is published by the New Homes Quality Board; the version behind this guide is Version 2, March 2026, read on 15 August 2026.

The pre-completion inspection, and why it can be digital

The Code requires the developer to give the customer the opportunity to undertake a pre-completion inspection, or to appoint a suitably qualified inspector to carry it out, after the notice to complete has been served and before the completion date. There is a standard NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist that must be used. Then the sentence that makes snagging software relevant: 'The inspection must be carried out and recorded in line with the Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist. The checklist can be reproduced in an electronic or digital format. However, they must carry out the checks shown on the original template.'

That is a permission, not an endorsement of any product. If you digitise the checklist, the checks on the original template still have to be the checks your app performs, in the same terms. A configurable inspection template that quietly drops or reworks items is a compliance problem wearing a productivity feature's clothes.

The 30-day rule after a pre-completion inspection

The Code states that if issues are identified that breach the warranty technical standards, the developer is responsible for addressing these, ideally before legal completion or within 30 days if this is not possible. That is a hard, dated obligation attached to a specific list of items, which is exactly the shape of work a defect management system should be tracking. It also explains why an aftercare system and a construction snagging system are not interchangeable: this obligation crosses the handover line.

Two years of after-sales service

Part 3 of the Code requires a developer to give the customer a full and accessible after-sales service for at least two years following the date of completion. The developer must supply a clear written statement of its after-sales procedures, an explanation of its responsibility for putting right any issues including snags and defects arising in the first two years, an explanation of how it will manage problems and service calls including timescales and named contacts, details of how to make a formal complaint, and an explanation of the process for emergency issues. Every one of those is a record-keeping obligation as much as a service one.

How the inspection itself is specified

• Internal walls must be inspected in natural daylight, from a minimum distance of two metres, and not by shining a light on the surface. If your digital checklist does not carry that instruction, it is not reproducing the template.
• Developers must tell a customer inspecting themselves that the inspection was designed to be carried out by a professional, and that they may miss or interpret differently some of the requirements or standards.
• A third-party inspector engaged by the customer must be a member of a recognised professional association experienced in residential surveying, and the Code names CABE, CIOB, ICWCI, RICS and RPSA as examples.
• That inspector must hold relevant professional indemnity insurance, work only within their competency, and use only the standard template checklist.

What the Code does not cover

The Code applies to developers registered with the New Homes Quality Board, and the NHQB maintains a public Register of Developers. It states that areas not covered include homes bought by a commercial entity such as a company, trust or charity, and claims for issues that could be dealt with through the structural warranty. Enforcement runs through the New Homes Ombudsman Service, and the Code notes that action against a developer can range from fines to requiring employees to be retrained to removal from the Register of Developers.