"Owain" wrote in message
. ..
"Al Reynolds" wrote
| "Clive Summerfield" wrote:
| It is actually the builder that states that the NHBC guarantee on
| the tank was for two years. However, the workmanship should
| be guaranteed for up to 10 years under NHBC,
| The 10 year part of the NHBC warranty only warrants that the
| house was built to building regs - *nothing* else.

AIUI the 10 year NHBC warranty is for the *structure* of the house only,
not
minor / snagging works. I don't think it even guarantees compliance with
building regs.

The 10 year part warrants that the house was built to
the "NHBC Requirements" which are just the current
building regs. Note that the rather impressive "NHBC
Standards" are not covered by the warranty at all,
which is a shame because houses built to these standards
would be very well built indeed. The difference between
these two things (Standards and Requirements) is
deliberately obfuscated by the NHBC to give the
impression that the warranty means the house will have
been built to the NHBC standards.

This doesn't mean that the warranty is worthless; you
only get one year to pursue a building control office if
they have passed something which hasn't followed regs,
whereas you could potentially claim for up to 10 years
on the NHBC scheme. Another point worth noting,
however, is that there is an excess on any major claims;
the princely sum of £1000, which makes you wonder
why you would need anything other than plain old
buildings insurance ... except I suppose that if the fault
was existing when you purchased the house then the
insurance company might be less than happy about
paying out? I don't know about this...

Al