NHBC: new-build home warranties explained

NHBC is the name most people meet when they buy a new-build home. It is a warranty and insurance provider: it sells cover that protects the structure of a newly built or converted home, and it also registers homes and inspects them while they are being built. Building warranties, as the Financial Ombudsman Service describes them, "cover major problems with newly built or converted homes"¹.

The cover most buyers get is a ten-year policy. Government guidance on shared ownership homes describes the shape of it: "The building warranty will usually cover the cost of structural repairs in the first 10 or 12 years for new-build homes"². NHBC's own policies sit inside that pattern, with a minimum claim value in the later years and a claim value that is index-linked¹.

NHBC is not the only warranty provider, and a new-build does not automatically come with NHBC cover. Lenders keep lists of the schemes they will accept, and NHBC appears on them alongside Build-Zone, LABC, Zurich Municipal, HAPM, Premier Guarantee, BLP, Protek, AHCI Advantage, ICW, Checkmate Castle 10, Checkmate Knight 10, Aedis Homeproof and a Professional Consultants Certificate³. If you are buying with a mortgage, the scheme your builder uses has to be one your lender accepts.

What an NHBC warranty covers on a new-build home

A building warranty is not buildings insurance and it is not a substitute for it. It exists to deal with defects in the fabric of a newly built or converted home: the things that were done wrong when the house was put up, rather than the things that happen to it afterwards. The Financial Ombudsman Service treats these policies as a type of insurance, which matters because it means complaints about them can be taken to the ombudsman¹.

The cover is layered by time. In the early period after completion, the builder is responsible for putting right defects, and the warranty sits behind that obligation. In the later years, the warranty itself responds, but only to defined structural problems and only above a minimum claim value.

Two practical points follow. First, keep the paperwork: the policy document, the completion certificate and any inspection records are what a claim is built on. Second, report defects in writing and early. A problem that is reported inside the builder's liability period is handled differently from one that surfaces in year eight.

If you are still at the buying stage, the wider process is set out in Buying a home: a complete guide, and the mortgage side in Mortgages: a complete guide.

Buildmark and Buildmark Choice: the two policies

NHBC sells its new-home cover under two policy names. Buildmark is the policy a buyer gets when they purchase a new-build home from a registered builder. Buildmark Choice is the version aimed at people having a home built for them, typically a self-build or a custom build, where there is no developer selling a finished house.

Both work on the same principle: the builder registers the home with NHBC before or during construction, NHBC inspects at set stages, and the buyer receives a policy certificate at completion. The detail of what each policy covers, and the conditions attached to each, is set out in NHBC's own policy documents, which are the authoritative version. The full ten-year structure of the main policy is explained in NHBC Buildmark: the ten-year warranty on new homes.

Because the two policies are aimed at different situations, the eligibility rules differ. A self-build project has to meet NHBC's requirements for the scheme, and the inspections happen at the same build stages but under a different contract. Anyone building their own home should read the Buildmark Choice terms before work starts, because the policy depends on those inspections having taken place.

For the wider picture of how warranties sit alongside ordinary home cover, see Insurance: a complete guide.

How cover changes over the ten years

The ten-year policy is not one uniform block of cover. It is usually described in two phases, and the split matters when something goes wrong.

In the early years, the builder is on the hook for defects. This is the period when snagging is dealt with, and it is the period when a buyer has the most leverage, because the builder is still contractually responsible. NHBC's role in this phase is to step in if the builder does not meet that obligation, or if the builder has ceased to trade.

In the later years, the warranty itself responds to structural problems. This is where the minimum claim applies, and where the definition of what counts as structural becomes the deciding factor¹. Cosmetic issues, wear and tear, and problems caused by the owner's own alterations fall outside it.

The claim value being index-linked means the minimum is not frozen at the level it was when the policy was written; it moves with an index over time¹. That protects the value of a claim against inflation, but it also means the threshold for making a claim rises over the years.

Where NHBC cover does not pay out

Warranties are specific about what they will and will not meet. Below that figure, the cost of putting the problem right sits with the owner.

Beyond that, the standard exclusions for this kind of cover apply:

• Damage that results from a lack of maintenance
• Alterations or extensions carried out after completion
• Normal wear and tear
• Anything that would be picked up by ordinary buildings insurance, such as storm damage, escape of water or subsidence caused by external factors

That is why a warranty and a buildings policy are held side by side rather than one instead of the other.

There is also a territorial point worth knowing for anyone buying outside the usual jurisdictions. Some UK-wide schemes do not extend everywhere: NHS cover, for example, "does not apply in the Channel Islands, and there is no equivalent agreement with Jersey"⁶. Warranty schemes have their own geographic scope, and it is worth checking the policy document if the property is not in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Finally, the cover depends on the home having been registered and inspected properly in the first place. A home built without the required inspections may not have a valid policy at all.

What happens if your builder goes out of business

This is the situation the warranty exists for. If a registered builder stops trading, the warranty provider steps into the builder's shoes for the defects period, and the structural cover continues for the rest of the ten years.

The practical consequence is that claims are made to NHBC rather than to the builder. That changes the process: instead of negotiating with a developer's customer service team, the owner deals with the warranty provider's claims function, and the evidence needed is the same either way, namely the policy, the completion certificate and a clear description of the defect.

It also changes the timing. A builder in administration may not be able to carry out remedial work at all, so the warranty provider arranges it. Where a repair is below the minimum claim value, the owner still bears the cost, even though the builder has gone¹.

For anyone in this position, the sequence is:

1. Report the defect to the builder if it still exists.
2. Report it to NHBC.
3. Keep a written record of dates and responses.
4. If the outcome is unsatisfactory, use NHBC's complaints process before considering the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Checking your new home before and after completion

The inspection regime is what makes the warranty meaningful. NHBC inspects at defined stages of construction, and the builder has to notify it at those points. A buyer does not need to arrange these inspections, but it is worth confirming that they happened, because the policy depends on them.

On the buyer's side, the key moment is the pre-completion inspection, when the home is checked for snagging before keys are handed over. Independent guidance on buying a new-build notes that "If you're buying a new-build property, the insurance doesn't need to come into effect until the day of completion"⁷, which is a useful reminder that buildings insurance and the warranty are separate things starting at separate points.

After completion, the practical routine is to record defects in writing as they appear, with dates and photographs, and to report them within the builder's liability period. A check-out style inspection, where the property is gone over systematically before responsibility shifts, is the model to follow: for tenancy deposits, "Your landlord or letting agent usually check the property before they give your deposit back"⁸, and the same discipline of a documented, dated inspection serves a new-build buyer well.

How to make a claim or query with NHBC

Claims and queries go to NHBC directly, using the contact details published on its own website. NHBC's website is www.nhbc.co.uk⁴, and that is where the current claims forms, phone numbers and email addresses are kept.

NHBC's own document list is not published here, so the exact evidence required should be checked with NHBC before anything is sent. As a general guide to how insurance and warranty claims are handled, providers commonly ask for proof of identity and proof of the event. Identity documents in this area typically include a passport or a newer photocard driving licence, and sometimes a letter confirming benefit entitlement or an HMRC tax notification letter⁹. For a warranty claim, the equivalent proof of the event is the policy certificate, the completion date and a description of the defect.

A claim is easier to pursue if it is made in writing and dated. Keep copies of everything sent, note when each response arrives, and if a query is not answered, follow it up in writing rather than by phone so there is a record.

For the general mechanics of raising a complaint with a financial firm, see Consumer protection in UK financial services: a complete guide.

NHBC complaints record and the Financial Ombudsman

The Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about building warranties, which it treats as home insurance¹. That route is free to the consumer, and the ombudsman can also consider complaints from microenterprises and small and medium-sized businesses, not only from individuals¹⁰.

The ombudsman publishes data on the volume of complaints it handles. In the year from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 it recorded 141,539 resolutions in banking and credit¹¹, and in the period from 9 July 2021 to 8 July 2022 it received 82,477 complaints about banking and lending¹⁰. Earlier figures show 170,648 complaints about banking and credit in the year to 31 March 2021¹², and 91,430 banking complaints from within the UK in the period from 9 July 2019 to 8 July 2020¹³. These are whole-market figures, not NHBC-specific, and they are given here to show the scale of the ombudsman's caseload rather than to say anything about NHBC's own record.

Before the ombudsman can take a case, the firm normally has to have had the chance to resolve it. Complaints handling guidance for other financial products describes firms aiming to respond within 3 to 5 working days, with a final response within 4 weeks of the complaint¹⁴. If a firm has not resolved a complaint within eight weeks, the ombudsman can usually become involved.

Who regulates NHBC

NHBC is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA Register lists the National House-Building Council, trading as NHBC, as authorised with firm reference number 202261, with the status effective from 1 December 2001, and records its permission as accepting deposits⁴. It also appears on the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority list of insurers incorporated in the UK authorised to carry out contracts of insurance, as of 1 September 2026⁷.

The company itself, National House-Building Council, is an active company registered in the UK with company number 00320784, incorporated on 17 November 1936¹⁶. That makes it one of the longer-established names in this market, with nearly ninety years of history behind the warranty brand.

Authorisation matters to a buyer in two ways. First, it means the firm has to meet the FCA's rules on how it sells and administers policies, and it can be complained about to the Financial Ombudsman Service¹. Second, it means the firm's insurance business is supervised by the prudential regulator, which is the body that monitors whether an insurer can meet its obligations.

What authorisation does not do is guarantee that a particular defect will be covered. That depends on the policy terms, the age of the home and the minimum claim value¹. The FCA Register entry is the place to check a firm's status and reference number, and the policy document is the place to check what is covered.