Your pre-completion inspection under the New Homes Quality Code

First, check the Code applies to you

The Code applies only to developers registered with the New Homes Quality Board and active on its Register of Developers. Registration is still voluntary. The government has said it intends to make membership mandatory, but it has not given a confirmed start date, so look your developer up on the NHQB register before relying on anything below.

Two versions are in use. Version 2 applies if you reserved your home from a registered developer from 2 March 2026. Version 1, from October 2023, applies to earlier reservations. This guide follows version 2.

If your developer is not registered, the Consumer Code for Home Builders may apply instead. It covers builders registered with NHBC, Premier Guarantee, LABC Warranty and Checkmate, and since 2024 it also requires builders to offer a pre-completion inspection.

Your right to a pre-completion inspection

Section 2.8 of the Code says the developer must give you the opportunity to carry out a pre-completion inspection of the new home, or to appoint a suitably qualified inspector to do it for you. Inspecting it yourself is explicitly allowed in version 2.

• When: after the developer has served notice to complete and before the completion date, or earlier if you both agree.
• Notice: the notice to complete is usually expected to give at least 14 calendar days, unless you agree otherwise. That is the window your inspection has to fit into, so line up an inspector before the notice arrives.
• What happens next: issues that breach the warranty provider’s technical standards should be fixed, ideally before legal completion, or within 30 days if that is not possible.
• What it is not: the Code says the checklist is not intended to delay or prevent completion. It is a record of what needs doing, not a veto.

Bringing a professional snagger

If you appoint someone, the Code sets conditions on them. A third-party inspector must belong to a recognised professional body, such as CABE, CIOB, RICS or RPSA, hold professional indemnity insurance, work within their competence, and use only the standard NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist.

That last point matters if you are the inspector. Your own report can still carry the photographs and detail, but the items should map onto the standard checklist so the developer can match them. Ask the developer for any site access rules, such as protective equipment or an escort, before the day.

How finishes are judged during the inspection

The Code and the NHQB checklist set out how finishes should be viewed, and developers will hold you to it. Internal walls are inspected in natural daylight from a minimum distance of two metres, without shining a light on the surface. Grazing a torch along a wall shows up marks the checklist does not treat as defects.

The checklist also gives specific limits, for example a maximum 5 mm gap under skirting and glazing viewed from 2 metres. The guide to new build snagging tolerances collects those figures with their sources.

What the developer must hand over at completion

Section 2.10 says legal completion, and occupation, can only take place on a complete new home that meets the building regulations and all building safety requirements. A complete home must have evidence that new home warranty insurance is in place, and all rooms must be finished. Remaining work can only be decorative or fault fixing, shared areas, or switching temporary utilities to permanent ones.

At completion the developer must give you:

• a Schedule of Incomplete Work, with timescales,
• the warranty cover note or certificate,
• their complaints procedure,
• the building regulation completion certificate if it is available, or an explanation of why not (for example a flat awaiting sign off of the whole block) and who can provide it.

Turn the inspection into a snag list they can answer

Whoever inspects, the output is a numbered list sent to the developer in writing. Each item needs a number that never changes, the room and exact location, a short factual description and photographs. Keep a dated copy of what you sent, because that list is the start of your after-sales record.

The guide to writing a snagging report has worked examples, and the new build snagging checklist goes room by room.

After legal completion

The Code requires an after-sales service for at least two years from completion. Developers must be able to settle an after-sales issue within 30 days, with at least monthly updates if it takes longer. If a snag turns into a complaint, the Code sets a timetable, and if the complaint is not resolved you can refer it to the New Homes Ombudsman Service after 56 days. The guide to reporting snags to your housebuilder sets out that process step by step.

On an Android phone, Site Audit turns the inspection into a numbered PDF snag list on the spot, with photos and locations, and keeps it for the return visit. One home is free. See the UK snagging app page for details.