You’ve just purchased your first house; the down payment has been paid, the mortgage has been approved and the unit is ready for handover. You’ve invested most if not all of your savings into this; your very own home. You take a walk through the property with the developer, everything looks brand new and shiny and you can’t wait to move your family in.

Then it starts, as you live there you start to notice the issues, sometimes they’re things like an imperfect finish, a scratched door or perhaps a more serious issue like a malfunctioning air conditioning unit or a leaking water pipes. The developer will claim that the property was handed over in a full working order and the handover was signed off by you. All these issues could have been avoided, or at the very least minimized with a snagging report prior to handover.

What is a Property Snagging Report?

A property snagging report or a snagging list is a report that is conducted by a qualified building surveyor and is created after a thorough inspection of a property. The report lists every flaw, imperfection or defect both internal and external.

Our data shows that the average property in Dubai has between 400 and 600 structural defects for the average villa and between 200 and 350 defects for the average apartment. Prior to handover, it is the responsibility of the developer to ensure that the property is completed to the agreed standard as per the original Sales and Purchase Agreement. By having a professional inspection of the property done, the developer can use the property snagging report and have the contractor return and rectify any obvious or hidden flaws in the property within its defect liability period. The defect liability period (DLP) is usually a period of 12 months and is the only time the end user can lay claim to any unfinished, defective and substandard work to be rectified by the developer.

Though rectification of flaws can be done after handover within the liability period, it is always better to have a snagging report done and the flaws rectified before the handover when both the contractor and developer are still on site. This can be the difference between getting defective issues fixed within a few days or after a few months.

Buying a new property? Don’t want any unwanted surprises popping up a few months down the line? At Land Sterling, our professional team of property surveyors is more than happy to inspect your new property and give you a complete report on its condition, allowing you to enjoy your new purchase with complete peace of mind. Call us on +971 43 808 707 or send us an email and we’ll be in touch!