New builds and warranties
The seller talks about a defects period and the survey does not date it. What end date has the inspection not calculated?
The inspection has not calculated any end date for the defects period. The seller has talked about one, which is a claim about time, not a date printed and checked in the report. The survey records condition on the day. It does not run a calendar from completion, handover or a warranty start, and it has not decided when a defects period runs out. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product, and even that description is not a date for this plot. The end date is unread.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
A defects period is whatever the contract or the warranty policy says it is. Sellers often use the phrase for the early years when the builder is still expected to come back. On a Buildmark policy, NHBC describes a 10-year warranty and insurance product, with the builder responsible at the start and insurance later for specified parts. That description is not a calculation of this house's end date, and a different warranty may not use those stages at all. The survey did not do the arithmetic.
Ask the solicitor for the policy and the contract, and for the date any period runs from. Read the end date off those papers. Do not invent one from the seller's remark or from the survey. The inspection has not opened a claim, and dating a period is not the same as opening one. If the policy is not Buildmark, do not paste NHBC's description onto it. Condition items in the report stay condition items whatever the date turns out to be.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Have you left the defects-period end date uncalculated?
- Did the seller's remark about timing stay outside the report?
- Is condition on the day recorded without a warranty calendar?
What are the typical next steps?
- Get the policy and the contract from the solicitor.
- Read any defects-period end date from those papers, not from the survey.
- Do not treat the inspection as having opened a claim by guessing a date.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the house is only recently finished, has the defects period obviously not ended?
Age of the building is not the end date. The survey has not calculated when any defects period runs out, and a recently finished house can still sit under whatever dates the contract and the policy print. NHBC's description of Buildmark is a 10-year warranty and insurance product, not a finding that this plot is inside a particular year. Read the documents.
Does listing a snag in the survey start the defects period?
No. A snag in the survey is a condition note. It does not start, pause or end a defects period, and the inspection has not calculated that period's end date. The contract or the warranty sets the timing. The survey does not open a claim by writing the snag down. Ask the solicitor what date the papers already use.