TitanTim said:
Words fail, never know how these houses get signed off
Because the developers do their own building regs and their own inspections and then sign them off themselves. It's a closed shop. No-one else gets involved.
The developers are in the pockets (or the other way around) of the NHBC who provide the warranty. It's a complete sham IMO.
The Government are on board as it saves the LABCs (Local Authority Building Control) having to do the work on thousands and thousands of properties, so saving the Gov millions in extra staff and work.
Having worked for one of the big developers, Redrow, (not on the construction side I might add) and having a friend who works in the claims dept of the NHBC, and having built houses myself (not commercially), some of the things I have seen and heard of are unbelievable. And all perfectly legal!
My friend in the NHBC had to condemn a row of houses and pay the owners out for them to be demolished as the developers "forgot" to put enough cement in any of the mortar. Seriously! Another whole row of new houses had to be demolished as the developers "mistakenly" dug the foundations a metre too shallow and they started subsiding before they were occupied.