What is a snagging inspection and do you actually need one
A snagging inspection is a walkthrough of a finished property that lists everything not built to specification, so the developer fixes it. You need one before you sign anything accepting the property. It checks the finish, and it cannot tell you anything about how the building was constructed.
What it actually covers
A specialist walks the completed unit and compares what is in front of them against the specification annexed to your contract and against what competent workmanship looks like. The output is a list, item by item, room by room: a cracked tile, a door that does not close, a socket with no power, a radiator the drawings show and the room does not have.
The list goes to the developer. In most contracts they are obliged to work through it, and the defects liability period gives you a window in which they do it at their cost rather than yours.
Why you need one even if the property looks fine
Most of what appears on a snag list is invisible to somebody who is not looking for it, and obvious the moment it is pointed out. Falls on a shower tray that run the wrong way. A window that opens into the swing of a door. Grout that has been used to fill a gap left by a tile cut short.
The other reason is procedural. What you can require the developer to fix later depends heavily on what you recorded at the point of acceptance. An unqualified signature and no list is the strongest thing you can hand somebody who would rather not do the work.
What it cannot tell you
By the time a snag list exists, the structure is finished, the services are inside the walls and slabs, and you have paid most or all of the price. Waterproofing under a terrace, reinforcement in a slab, the route of a drainage run: none of it is visible and none of it appears on the list.
That is not a failure of the specialist. There is nothing left to look at. Anything that was going to be found about the construction had to be found while it was going up, which is a different activity done at a different time.
When to commission it
- 01Before you sign any document accepting the property, without exception.
- 02Early enough that the developer has time to act before your acceptance deadline.
- 03With the contract specification in hand, so the list can cite it rather than describe a preference.
- 04Again after the fixes, so what was actually done is recorded rather than assumed.
Questions on this
Can I do it myself?
You can, and it is better than nothing. What you will miss is what is measured rather than seen: level, fall, damp readings, whether a run of tiling is actually square. You will also be doing it once, in a place you have never lived, in a couple of hours.
Does the developer have to let a specialist in?
Usually yes, and most contracts say so, but the terms vary and some developers set conditions on who may attend. Check your contract before the date is set rather than on the day.
What if defects are found after I have signed?
The defects liability period still applies, but the burden shifts: you are now asking rather than conditioning acceptance, and you may have to show the defect was not caused after you took possession.
Read one before you buy one
The specimen shows the whole structure: status, what each payment was meant to buy, the forecast with its range, the photographic record and the limits of what was checked.