New-build warranty covers snagging for 2 years, not 10

You moved into your new-build eighteen months ago, maybe two years. There's a hairline crack running along the render above the bay window, one of the upstairs windows has started sticking in warm weather, and there's a faint damp patch in the corner of the box room you keep meaning to look at properly. You haven't chased any of it, because somewhere in your completion paperwork there's a document promising ten years of cover, and ten years feels like plenty of time to get round to it.

It isn't. The builder's obligation to fix general snagging under an NHBC Buildmark warranty runs out at the two-year anniversary of your completion date, not the ten-year one. What survives from year three to year ten is a much narrower NHBC-run cover that only pays out for structural damage, not the cosmetic and workmanship issues that make up the vast majority of snagging lists.

What the "10 years" on your paperwork actually covers

Buildmark is split into sections that most buyers never read past the headline number. Section 2 runs for the first two years after completion, and during that window the builder is contractually responsible for putting right any defect, and any damage that defect causes, cosmetic or otherwise (NHBC Buildmark policy documentation, 2026). This is the period that catches sticking doors, cracked plaster, uneven paintwork, poorly fitted skirting boards and the dozens of small snags every new-build throws up in its first year of settling in.

Section 3 then takes over for years three to ten, and it's a completely different product. NHBC will only pay out here for physical damage to the load-bearing structure, roof structure, or waterproofing, or for condensation caused by a genuine building defect. Cosmetic, maintenance and general workmanship items are explicitly excluded (NHBC Buildmark cover guidance, 2026). A cracked render finish that was covered without question in month eighteen becomes your own repair bill in month thirty, because it's a workmanship issue rather than a structural one.

So if you're still inside your first two years, that hairline crack and the sticking window are exactly the kind of thing the builder is obliged to fix right now, for free, and reporting them costs you nothing but a phone call.

The gap between year 2 and year 10

Run the maths on what actually falls out of cover at the two-year mark and the ten-year figure starts to look misleading. Independent snagging inspectors typically find somewhere between 40 and 150 defects on a new-build property, and the overwhelming majority of those are cosmetic or workmanship snags rather than anything structural (SnaggingFinder / HomeOwners Alliance snagging survey data, 2026). A professional snagging survey costs £300 to £600, averaging around £394, which is a modest outlay against a list that size. Once you're past year two, that entire category of defect has no warranty cover at all.

Even the structural cover that does survive into years three to ten isn't free at the point of claim. A genuine Section 3 structural claim, such as subsidence or a roof failure caused by a build defect, typically carries an excess of £500 to £1,000 that NHBC deducts from any payout, on top of the narrower definition of what qualifies (NHBC Buildmark claims guidance, 2026). Compare that with the Section 2 years, where there's no excess at all, just a minimum claim value threshold below which NHBC won't pay. Roof leak repairs alone typically run £200 to £800, and can climb into the thousands once rot has set into structural timbers behind a slow leak (UK roofing trade cost guides, 2026), so a defect that goes unreported until it has done real damage is expensive in exactly the years your cover has thinned out the most.

That means the ten-year figure on your completion pack is true in the narrowest possible sense: it's real cover, but for a fraction of what it covered in year one, and with your own money on the table even when a claim succeeds.

The two-year deadline that actually matters

There's a second clock running alongside the warranty itself. The New Homes Ombudsman Service gives new-build buyers a free, independent route to escalate an unresolved complaint, but only for issues raised within the first two years from reserving or completing the purchase; after 56 days without resolution, you can refer the complaint on while you're still inside that window (New Homes Ombudsman Service guidance, 2026). Miss the two-year mark and that escalation route closes along with the builder's Section 2 obligation, leaving you dependent on NHBC's structural-only Section 3 process for anything that comes up later. The New Homes Quality Code was also updated to a second version in March 2026, tightening developer response timescales for anyone who reserved from 2 March 2026 onward, so check which version applies to your purchase before you rely on any timescale quoted to you.

This is the same "act before the window closes" principle that runs through a lot of new-homeownership admin, from getting your buildings insurance sum insured properly calculated rather than defaulted to your purchase price (see our guide to rebuild cost and the average clause) to working out whether paid boiler cover actually duplicates a warranty you already have (see our boiler cover break-even guide). In both cases, and in this one, the cost of checking is small and the cost of finding out too late is not.

So if your completion date is coming up on two years, or has already passed it, this is the point to stop putting snagging off: get everything outstanding in writing to the builder and logged with NHBC before that anniversary, because after it, escalation options and cover both narrow at the same time.

What this means for you

If you're inside your first two years as a new-build owner, the maths points toward getting a proper professional snagging inspection done now rather than relying on memory or a list you started on moving day and never finished. At £300-£600, it's cheap against the cover you still have and expensive to skip once that cover shrinks. Log every defect with your builder in writing and copy NHBC in, even for things that feel too minor to bother with, because a paper trail before the two-year anniversary is what keeps the New Homes Ombudsman available to you if the builder drags its feet. And if you're already past year two, frankly, check what you're dealing with against NHBC's structural definition before you assume it's covered at all: most people who discover a problem in year three or later find out it's their repair bill, not NHBC's, and budgeting for that now beats being surprised by it. Our new homeowner checklist and home maintenance calendar both set out what to check and when, which is the easiest way to avoid finding a problem for the first time on the wrong side of your warranty's two-year cliff.