What to do if your developer will not fix the snags
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Start with a written, itemised list sent to your site manager or customer care team, and ask them to confirm in writing which items they accept and when they will be done. If that stalls, use the developer’s formal complaints procedure, then escalate to your warranty provider or the relevant consumer code body. Keep a dated record of every message throughout, because the timeline is the first thing you will be asked for.
Put it in writing, and keep it in one place
Forward the report as it was issued rather than retyping items into an email. The photographs are what make it difficult to argue with, and they get lost the moment somebody summarises the list.
Ask for a written response confirming which items are accepted and the dates they will be dealt with. A verbal assurance on site is not something you can refer back to in three months.
Use the formal route rather than chasing informally
Most developers have a defined customer care and complaints process. Informal chasing feels faster and almost always is not, because nothing in it creates a record or starts a clock.
If you are getting nowhere, say explicitly that you wish to raise a formal complaint and ask for the procedure in writing.
Escalation beyond the developer
If your developer is registered with the New Homes Quality Board and shown as active on its register, you can take an unresolved complaint to the New Homes Ombudsman Service. It is free to use. You will normally need the developer’s final closure letter, or to have waited at least 56 days since you first complained to them, and where you have that letter you have twelve months from it to go to the Ombudsman (New Homes Quality Board, 2026).
There is a time limit on the problem itself: the issue has to have arisen within two years of your reservation date or your completion date, whichever is later. Check the register before you start, because a developer that is not registered and active falls outside the scheme, and homes reserved before a developer joined are covered by whichever consumer code applied at the time instead.
Social landlords building new homes are generally handled by the Housing Ombudsman rather than this scheme, so if you bought through one, ask which applies before you spend time on the wrong route.
Have the work checked when they say it is done
Items do get marked complete without being touched, or get “fixed” in a way that creates a new problem. A re-inspection against the original report is the cheapest part of this entire process.
If you are doing it yourself, work from the original list item by item and photograph each one again, so you have a before and after rather than an opinion.
Sources
- New Homes Quality Board — am I covered?
- New Homes Quality Board — frequently asked questions
- HomeOwners Alliance — New Homes Ombudsman and consumer codes explained
We link our sources because a guide that states figures without them is asking you to take our word for it. Where we could not verify something, we have left it out rather than rounding it up.