New builds and warranties
The agent has written the snagging list. Why is that list not the survey, and not the warranty claim?
Because the agent wrote it. An agent's snagging list is not the survey you instructed, and it is not a claim on the warranty. It is the agent's own list. It may be useful as a set of notes. It does not carry the surveyor's opinion, and sending it to the developer does not, by itself, start a warranty claim. NHBC describes Buildmark, if that is even the policy, as a 10-year warranty and insurance product, not as the agent's page.
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?
Agents write lists to look helpful at handover. The items may overlap with things a surveyor would notice, and they may include matters of taste the survey would never rate. Overlap is not authorship. If you tell a lender the house has been surveyed because the agent typed a list, you are describing a visit that did not happen. If you tell a warranty provider the list is the claim, you are describing a claim you have not made.
Keep three papers apart: the survey, if you commission one; the agent's list; and the policy. Ask the solicitor how a claim is actually notified under the policy you have, and do not assume the sales inbox is that route. Do not invent cover because the list looks thorough. A long list can still be the wrong document. Use the survey for condition. Use the policy for whatever the policy says. Use the agent's list as the agent's list.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Which comments in the report are yours, as against the agent's list?
- Are you making a warranty claim by recording condition?
- What should I not treat the agent's list as having done?
What are the typical next steps?
- Do not call the agent's list the survey.
- Do not file it as the warranty claim.
- If you need a survey, instruct one separately.
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 agent is experienced, is the list as good as a survey?
No. Experience does not change the author. The list is still not the survey, and it is still not the warranty claim. Instruct the inspection if you want the inspection.
If the developer signs the list, is that a warranty settlement?
No. A signature on the agent's list may show the developer saw it. It is not, by itself, a claim on the warranty or a survey.