New build snagging vs maintenance

Short answer: on a new-build, certain defects are the developer's problem under the structural warranty, and certain defects are the agent's problem under the maintenance scope. Routing a developer-warranty defect through the agent's contractor network means the landlord pays for something the developer was obligated to fix at no cost. Routing a maintenance issue through the developer's snagging team means the tenant waits weeks for something that should have been resolved in a day. Both errors are common; both are avoidable if the boundary is mapped at handover and held to throughout the warranty period.

The two timelines you're working against

A new-build flat sits under two warranty timelines simultaneously, both of which need to be tracked by the agent and the landlord.

The structural warranty. Almost every new-build in England is sold with a structural warranty from one of the major providers — NHBC Buildmark, Premier Guarantee, BLP, LABC, or one of the smaller schemes. The standard product gives a two-year "defects insurance period" from practical completion (covering most non-structural defects that emerge in early use) and a ten-year structural insurance period (covering major load-bearing failure, water ingress through the building envelope, and serious defects in the building fabric). The two periods run on different rules. The two-year defects period is where most of the agent-versus-developer routing decisions get made; the ten-year structural period mostly handles itself unless something significant goes wrong.

The standard repairing obligation. From the day the property is let, section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 imposes the standard repairing obligation on the landlord — to keep the structure and exterior in repair, and to keep installations for water, gas, electricity, sanitation, heating and hot water in repair and proper working order. This obligation is not extinguished by the existence of a structural warranty. The landlord remains legally liable to the tenant; the warranty is a separate financial recovery mechanism the landlord can call on after the fact.

These two timelines combine to produce a clear rule of thumb. If a defect emerges that the structural warranty covers, the landlord must still fix it within the s.11 timeframe to discharge the obligation to the tenant, and then claim reimbursement (or instruct the developer to perform the work) under the warranty. The defect cannot be left unrepaired pending a developer response. From 2027, Awaab's Law adds statutory response deadlines on hazards that fall under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which closes any remaining wiggle room on this point.

What the developer fixes (and what the agent does not)

The two-year defects insurance period covers most things that are visibly wrong with the unit at or shortly after handover and most things that fail prematurely in the first two years. The non-exhaustive list of typical claims:

Cracks in plaster beyond the normal settlement range
Doors and windows that don't close properly because of settlement or installation defects
Paint and finish defects called out during the snagging walkthrough
Tile chips, worktop blemishes, and finish-level issues identified within the snagging window
Mechanical and electrical installations that fail without external cause — most commonly heat-exchanger faults on communal-heat systems, MVHR units, and concealed plumbing
Leaks from the building envelope (windows, external doors, balcony drainage)
Leaks across demise lines from upstairs flats where the cause is original installation rather than tenant-introduced damage

These are routed back to the developer under the warranty. The agent's role is to document, route, and chase — not to fix.

The agent's maintenance scope (Essential Terms §47) covers everything that is consequential damage from tenant use, normal wear and tear, items outside the warranty, and items the warranty has rejected or where the warranty has expired. The non-exhaustive list:

Bulbs, fuses, batteries (smoke and CO alarms)
Tap washers, shower seals, blocked drains caused by tenant use
Appliance repairs where the appliance is under its own manufacturer warranty (routed via the manufacturer rather than the developer)
Locks, lock cylinders, and key replacement
Carpet cleaning and finish-level redecoration between tenancies
Pest and vermin issues introduced after move-in
Anything that emerges after the two-year defects period has expired

Essential Terms §47 sets out the procurement principles — multiple quotes for projects above £300, no mark-up on contractor invoices, no referral fees from contractors, and an emergency-maintenance float taken at move-in equal to one week's rent (Essential Terms §47.5) to enable contractor instructions without waiting for landlord-side fund release.

The grey zone — and how to handle it

Most defects fall cleanly on one side of the line or the other. A small subset don't. Three live examples we routinely deal with.

The wobbly worktop. A worktop edge has lifted slightly within the first six months. Is this a finish defect (developer warranty) or wear-and-tear (agent maintenance)? In practice it depends on whether the lift is at a seam (warranty — installation defect) or at an unsealed edge that has absorbed water from tenant cooking (maintenance — but with a quality-of-installation question for the warranty claim). The right move is to photograph, log, and submit to the developer as a defect with an alternative-finding note. The developer's snagging team rejects or accepts; if rejected, the agent fixes under the maintenance scope. Total elapsed time, if handled correctly: a fortnight. If routed straight to the agent's contractor: same fortnight, but the landlord pays. If routed and then re-routed: six weeks.

The leaking en-suite. Water staining on the ceiling below. Source could be (a) tenant-introduced — a blocked overflow on the bath above, sealant failure caused by tenant-introduced moisture, a leak from the tenant's washing machine; or (b) original installation — incorrectly installed waste pipe, defective seal at the bath-to-wall junction, cross-demise water from upstairs that originated as a building-fabric issue. The agent's role is to arrange access, get a plumber in to identify the source, and then route the resulting bill to the correct payer. If the source is original installation and the property is within the two-year defects period, the developer pays. If the source is tenant-introduced, the tenant's deposit absorbs the damage and the agent procures the repair. Mid-investigation, the agent must repair (s.11 obligation to keep installations in working order) regardless of who ultimately bears the cost.

The communal-heat system fault. The heat exchanger in the flat develops a fault that produces inconsistent hot water. The system is communal so the building-level energy services provider has primary responsibility for the network. But the in-flat heat exchanger sits inside the demise and may be under a separate warranty from the unit itself. Working out which warranty applies, in what order, takes a phone call to the building's energy services manager. Then the appropriate party performs the repair, which may not be the developer at all. It may be the heat-network operator.

The common factor: routing decisions are made on the evidence rather than the default. The agent who routes everything to the developer by default loses time on the maintenance items the developer rightly rejects. The agent who routes everything to a maintenance contractor by default leaves the landlord paying for things the warranty would have covered.

Why this matters more under Awaab's Law

Awaab's Law (in force in social housing from October 2025; extending to private rented sector from 2027 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025) introduces statutory response deadlines on hazards that fall under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The exact deadlines for the private rented sector remain subject to secondary regulation, but the structural framework — short fixed timeframes to investigate, longer fixed timeframes to remedy — is settled.

For new-build defects this matters because some of the developer-warranty defects on the list above are also potential HHSRS hazards. Damp from a building-envelope leak (Category 1 hazard). A communal-heat system failure that leaves the flat without hot water in winter (Category 1 hazard). Cross-demise water ingress that destabilises the structure (Category 1 hazard).

Under Awaab's Law, the landlord cannot wait for the developer's snagging team to respond on the developer's timetable. The s.11 repairing obligation is reinforced by a statutory deadline. The agent has to repair within the deadline (under the maintenance scope) and seek reimbursement under the warranty after the fact. This is the single biggest operational shift that Awaab's Law introduces for new-build landlords, and it is not yet widely understood among generic letting agents.

For more on the wider Awaab's Law framework see Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard.

What we capture at handover

Our New Build Handover & Key Collection service (Essential Terms §44) is the procedural moment where the boundary gets set. The standard handover deliverables:

Photographic record of every visible defect at handover, logged against the snagging schedule
The warranty provider, policy number, and defects-period end date captured in the property file
The developer's site-manager and snagging-coordinator contact details captured for the warranty period
The building's energy services manager contact captured (for communal-heat queries)
The block managing agent contact captured (for common-parts and cross-demise queries)
The opening meter readings captured against the inventory
The lease's heat-network and utility-supply provisions read and noted

Once those are in the property file, the routing decisions over the next two years run on documented evidence rather than guesswork. The handover service is the cheapest insurance against the routing errors above.

Where to look next

This post is part of a six-post series on new-build lettings in London:

What's distinct about new-build lettings in London — the anchor post for the series.
How utility management works on a London new-build — communal heating, prepayment meters, Bills Included.
Pricing a new-build first let when comparables are thin — the valuation methodology for first-lets.
New-build deposit claim clauses — the tenancy clauses (8.7-8.10) and the wider luxury-compliance stack (HIU/MVHR servicing, fire-door inspections, specialist contractor network) that protect a landlord at deposit adjudication.
What annual new-build servicing actually costs — a worked example for MVHR plus A/C plus F-Gas leak-check certification on a typical central-London luxury flat.

For the wider operational positioning, see New-Build Specialists. For the post-RRA repairing-obligation framework that runs underneath everything in this post, see Awaab's Law and the Decent Homes Standard. For the fee architecture that covers the handover and ongoing-maintenance work described here, see Landlords — how our 10% fee works.

Sources

Essential Terms and Charges v2.1.5 — §44 New Build Handover & Key Collection; §47 [REPAIR-001] Procurement; §47.5 [REPAIR-001-A] Emergency Maintenance Float; §47.6 [REPAIR-001-B] Uninhabitable Tenancy Management.
Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 — section 11 (landlord's repairing obligation).
Defective Premises Act 1972 — section 1 (duty to build dwellings properly).
NHBC Buildmark scheme — two-year defects insurance period and ten-year structural insurance period; equivalent schemes operated by Premier Guarantee, BLP and LABC.
Housing Act 2004 — Housing Health and Safety Rating System.
Renters' Rights Act 2025 — Awaab's Law amendments to HA2004 (sections 2A and 2B), in force for the private rented sector from 2027.

This post reflects Harvey W James' operational understanding of new-build snagging, the developer warranty regime, the standard repairing obligation under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and the forthcoming Awaab's Law framework. It is not legal advice. For the published Act text refer to legislation.gov.uk; for warranty-specific advice consult the warranty provider directly; for your specific situation seek independent legal advice. Last reviewed against Essential Terms and Charges v2.1.5 (7 May 2026).

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