New builds and warranties
The Buildmark paperwork is in a previous owner's name. Has the home survey transferred that cover?
No. The home survey has not transferred the cover. The Buildmark paperwork is in a previous owner's name, and the survey can record that. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product. Whether that product still benefits a later owner is a question for the policy and for NHBC, not a transfer the inspection performs. The survey does not open a claim. It has not assigned the policy, not confirmed it is in force, and not put your name on it.
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 warranty document with the first owner's name is easy to misread as dead, or as automatically yours, because the house has changed hands. Neither reading comes from the survey. Cover, if it passes, passes by the terms of the product. The surveyor did not read those terms as an insurer would, and did not phone the warranty provider. A snag or a defect the survey describes is still only a condition comment. It does not start a claim and it does not prove the paperwork follows the sale.
Ask the solicitor to check, with NHBC or the policy papers, whether Buildmark cover transfers and what year of the 10-year product the house is in. Do not treat the survey as that check. The survey does not open a claim. If you intend to claim, that is a claim, made to the warranty, not a sentence added to the report.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you record the previous owner's name without transferring the policy?
- Have you left claims unopened, as outside the survey?
- Is Buildmark still a warranty question rather than a survey result?
What are the typical next steps?
- Ask the solicitor to check whether the Buildmark cover transfers.
- Do not treat the survey as a transfer or as a claim.
- Keep any warranty claim with NHBC, not with the report.
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 survey lists defects, has a claim been started?
No. NHBC describes Buildmark as a 10-year warranty and insurance product, and the survey does not open a claim. A defect list is a condition comment. Starting a claim is a step with the warranty. The paperwork being in a previous name has not been cured by the survey.
Does your name on the contract put your name on the Buildmark?
Not by itself, and not by anything the survey did. The contract and the warranty are different papers. The survey has not transferred cover. Ask the solicitor what the policy requires when the house is sold. The report cannot sign that transfer.