Buying a new build home: reservation to completion in 2026

How does buying a new build work?

Buying a new build in England runs in a fixed order: you pay a reservation fee of £500 to £2,000, exchange contracts within about 28 days, wait while the home is finished, inspect it for faults, complete on around 10 working days’ notice, then have two years in which the builder must fix defects, all inside a 10-year warranty (HomeOwners Alliance, HomeOwners Alliance). There is no chain, but the home may not exist yet.

The order matters for scheme buyers most of all. Your First Home is for “a new-build property from a developer signed up to the scheme” (GOV.UK), First Homes are new build, and most Shared Ownership homes are too. If you plan to use any of them, this is the process you will go through.

What is a reservation fee and what does it commit you to?

A reservation fee is a payment, usually £500 to £2,000, that takes a specific plot off the market for a fixed period while you arrange your mortgage and legal work. It is normally deducted from the price at completion (HomeOwners Alliance). The reservation agreement sets out the price, what is included, the exchange deadline and what happens to the fee if you withdraw.

If the developer is registered with the New Homes Quality Code you get “a 14-day cooling-off period” after reserving, and the developer must protect deposits and other fees (New Homes Quality Board). After that, the developer may keep some of the fee to cover its costs if you pull out, so get the refund terms in writing before you pay. You are not legally committed to buy until you exchange contracts; the fee buys time, not a home.

What happens between reservation and exchange?

You have about 28 days to exchange contracts, which is tight, so instruct a solicitor and apply for the mortgage the same week (HomeOwners Alliance). Your solicitor checks the developer’s contract, the title, the planning permissions, the warranty and the management arrangements for the estate. The developer must complete a UK Finance Disclosure Form listing every incentive, the tenure and the construction method, which goes to your lender’s conveyancer (UK Finance).

Two things to insist on. First, a long-stop completion date in the contract, a deadline after which you can walk away with your money back if the home is not finished; it should fall before your mortgage offer expires (HomeOwners Alliance). Second, your own solicitor rather than one the developer recommends, because the developer’s team can put “huge pressure on you to complete, particularly coming up to their financial year end” (HomeOwners Alliance).

At exchange you pay the deposit set out in the contract, and the purchase becomes legally binding (MoneyHelper); ask your solicitor what the developer will accept if you have less than 10%. Under Your First Home the buyer’s deposit is expected to be 2.5%, though how much is paid at exchange is one of the details the Budget on 28 October 2026 should settle. The new build mortgages guide covers offer validity, deposits on flats and builder incentives.

What does buying off-plan mean for completion?

Off-plan means you exchange before the home is built, and complete “on notice”: when the home is finished the developer serves notice and you usually have 10 working days to complete (HomeOwners Alliance). You cannot pick the date, so your mortgage, your removals and your notice to a landlord all have to flex around the developer’s programme. Delays are common, so keep your mortgage offer alive, keep your finances unchanged, and do not give notice on a rental until the notice to complete arrives.

What is snagging and when should you do it?

Snagging is the inspection of a new home for defects, and the best time is before you complete. Under the New Homes Quality Code the developer must “give customers, or their appointed suitably qualified inspector, the opportunity to undertake a pre-completion inspection” (New Homes Quality Board). A professional snagging inspector costs from about £320 and finds far more than a buyer walking round with a phone (HomeOwners Alliance).

Put every item in writing. Code-registered developers “commit to resolving snags or defects within 30 calendar days” and must run an accessible complaints process (New Homes Quality Board). Anything that emerges later is covered by the two-year builder warranty period described next.

What does a new build warranty cover?

A 10-year policy in three parts. Under NHBC Buildmark, the most common, the first part protects you before completion against “loss of deposit or having to pay more to complete the build of the home because the builder is insolvent”. The second is “a two year builder warranty period, during which the builder is liable to put right defects”, with NHBC standing behind the builder. The third is eight years of NHBC insurance covering “the cost of repairing damage to your home caused by defects in specific parts of your home”, plus alternative accommodation while repairs happen (NHBC).

Lenders insist on it. Halifax requires that “all new build properties when being purchased for the first time must either have an acceptable warranty or a professional consultant’s certificate”, from a list that includes NHBC, Premier Guarantee and Protek (Halifax). Note what a warranty is not: it covers defects in specified parts of the structure, not wear and tear, decoration or the things you should have raised at snagging.

What is the New Homes Quality Code?

The New Homes Quality Code is a code of practice, run by the New Homes Quality Board, that registered developers must follow from marketing through to two years after completion (New Homes Quality Board). Version 2 applies to homes reserved from 2 March 2026; version 1, from October 2023, applies to earlier reservations.

For a buyer it gives four concrete rights: the 14-day cooling-off period, the pre-completion inspection, snags fixed within 30 calendar days, and “free access to the New Homes Ombudsman Service” if the developer does not put things right (New Homes Quality Board). Check the board’s register before you reserve. Not every builder is signed up; some follow the older Consumer Code for Home Builders or the Consumer Code for New Homes instead, so ask which code applies (HomeOwners Alliance).

Should you take incentives or part exchange?

Incentives, yes, up to a point. Developers offer deposit contributions, stamp duty paid, flooring, appliances or cashback, and lenders accept these up to 5% of the price; above that they cut the price they lend against (Nationwide). A cash discount is usually worth more than the same value in upgrades, because it reduces the mortgage and the stamp duty.

Part exchange is not for first-time buyers. It means the developer buys your existing home as part payment; you would typically have to buy a home worth at least 30% more, and the developer’s offer is based on estate agents’ “selling price”, which “could be much lower than you are expecting” (HomeOwners Alliance). If you have no home to sell, negotiate on price and incentives instead.

Leasehold or freehold, and what are estate charges?

New-build houses are usually freehold, which means you own the building and the land outright. Flats are almost always leasehold: you own the flat for the length of a lease and pay a service charge to whoever owns the block. Ground rent on most new leases has been limited to a peppercorn, which means zero, since 30 June 2022 (GOV.UK), so a new lease that still charges ground rent is a red flag.

Estate charges are the newer catch. On many new estates the council never adopts the roads, green spaces and drainage, and every home pays a private management company instead. The Competition and Markets Authority found in February 2024 that 80% of new homes sold by the eleven biggest builders in 2021 to 2022 carried estate management charges, typically about £350 a year, with owners unable to switch provider and facing unexpected repair bills (GOV.UK). Ask for the current charge, what it covers and who controls the company before you reserve.

New build vs old house: the trade-offs

New build buying checklist

• Reservation agreement read, refund terms and cooling-off period confirmed in writing.
• Own solicitor instructed and mortgage applied for in the first week.
• Long-stop completion date in the contract, before the mortgage offer expires.
• Warranty provider and consumer code confirmed; developer checked on the NHQB register.
• Tenure confirmed: freehold house, or leasehold flat with peppercorn ground rent, lease length and service charge in writing.
• Estate charge amount and management company named.
• Snagging inspection booked for the pre-completion visit.
• Incentives kept under 5% of the price.

What to do next

• Read new build mortgages for offer validity, flat deposits and rates.
• If you are a first-time buyer, read Your First Home explained and check eligibility, because the scheme only works on homes like the one described here.
• Run the price through the calculator and add the fees.