What to Check in a New-Build Before You Recommend It
The render is the one part of a new-build that is guaranteed to be perfect. Everything worth checking is in the paperwork and on the site.
A new-build is bought before it exists, which means the buyer is not buying a property — they are buying a promise, from a company, backed by a contract, in a jurisdiction with its own rules. Almost every new-build disaster traces back to one of three things nobody looked at: who the developer really is, what the contract actually obliges them to do, and where the buyer's money sits until the keys are handed over. Marketing suites are designed to keep attention on the kitchen finish and away from those three. This guide is the sequence to work through instead. It is written for agents advising a buyer, and it applies whether the building is a hole in the ground or three months from handover. One warning throughout: the legal machinery differs sharply between countries, so treat every legal point here as a question to ask locally, not an answer to repeat.
The developer's record, not the developer's brochure
Start with what the company has actually delivered, not what it plans. Ask for a list of completed projects, then go and look at two of them — ideally ones handed over three to five years ago, because that is when construction quality becomes visible and the management company either works or does not. Talk to residents; they will tell you in five minutes what a brochure hides. Check how long the legal entity has existed and whether it is the same entity that signs your contract, since a group often builds through a fresh single-project company with no assets. Look for court records, insolvency filings and unfinished sites in its history. A developer that has delivered late but delivered is a manageable risk. A developer with no completed project at all is not a risk you can price.
The legal basis: land, permit and the right to sell
Three documents decide whether the building can legally exist: the title to the land, the building permit for this specific project, and the developer's right to sell units in it before completion. Ask for all three, check the plot number on the title against the plot the building is standing on, and check that the permit covers the number of floors actually being built — added floors without permission are one of the commonest reasons for a stalled handover. Where a state escrow or registration scheme exists, confirm this project is registered in it and get the registration number rather than a reassurance. If any of the three cannot be produced, that is the answer, and no discount compensates for it.
The contract: dates, penalties and what happens when they slip
Read the delivery date and then read what happens if it is missed. A contract with a date but no penalty is a contract without a date. Look for the grace period, the compensation rate, the point at which the buyer may walk away and get their money back, and whether force majeure is defined narrowly or drafted so broadly that it excuses everything. Check who bears the cost of changes in materials and specification, whether the developer may alter the layout, and what the price includes: parking, storage, connection of utilities and the registration of ownership are often priced separately and quietly. Also check the area tolerance clause — how much the final measured area may differ from the contract, and who pays whom for the difference.
Where the money sits until handover
This is the question that decides how much the buyer can lose. In some markets payments go into an escrow account released to the developer in stages against verified construction progress; in others the money goes straight to the developer, and the buyer is an unsecured creditor if the project fails. Establish which of the two applies here, in writing, before any payment. Then check the payment schedule against construction stages rather than against the calendar: instalments tied to completed stages protect the buyer, instalments tied to dates protect the developer. Be equally careful with the deposit — how much, who holds it, and under exactly which conditions it is returned.
Stage of construction versus price
The earlier the stage, the lower the price and the higher the risk, and the discount is meant to be paid for that risk rather than pocketed as cleverness. At the excavation stage the buyer is underwriting the developer's ability to finish. At structural completion, the main construction risk is behind but finishing and infrastructure risk remain. Close to handover the price is near market and the discount is mostly gone, but the asset is nearly real. Match the stage to the buyer, not to the margin: an investor with time and tolerance can take an early stage, while a family that must move in September should not. And be honest about the second-hand exit — reselling a contract before completion is restricted or taxed in many markets, and buyers often discover this only when they try.
What to inspect on the site itself
Visit the site, not the show apartment, and go on a weekday when work is happening. An active site with materials, cranes and workers is worth more information than any progress report. Look at the surroundings the render omitted: what is planned on the neighbouring plot, where the road, the school and the shops actually are, and what the approach looks like in the rain. Check the orientation of the specific unit at the hour the buyer will use it, and the real view from that floor rather than from the marketing terrace. If infrastructure — the road, the sewage connection, the school — is promised by someone other than the developer, find out who and by when, because promised infrastructure is the most frequently missing part of a delivered project.
Handover: the snagging inspection
Handover is the moment the buyer's leverage peaks and then disappears, so it should never be rushed for the sake of getting the keys. Inspect with daylight and time: every window and door opening and closing properly, level floors, sound walls, no damp at the base of external walls, plumbing run under pressure, drains that actually drain, electrics tested at every socket, ventilation drawing, and the heating fired up even out of season. Photograph everything and put every defect in a signed list attached to the acceptance document, with a deadline for repair. Do not sign a clean acceptance with a verbal promise to fix things afterwards: once the document is signed, defects move from the developer's obligation to the buyer's problem.
After the keys: charges, management and warranty
The costs of ownership start at handover and they are rarely in the sales material. Establish the service charge and what it covers, who the management company is and whether the developer controls it, how utilities are metered and billed, and what the reserve fund looks like for the first major repair. Check the warranty: what is covered, for how long, on the structure versus the finishes versus the equipment, and who to claim from once the project company is dissolved. Finally, confirm how and when the ownership will actually be registered in the buyer's name — a completed building whose units cannot yet be registered is a common and expensive surprise, and it blocks both resale and mortgage.
FAQ
Off-plan or ready to move in — which is the better buy?
It depends on whether the buyer is paid for risk or is simply taking it. Off-plan should carry a real discount to the finished price, and it suits buyers with time, tolerance and no fixed move-in date. A ready unit costs more, and what the buyer pays for is certainty: it exists, it can be inspected, it can be registered and financed today. A buyer with a deadline, a mortgage or no appetite for a stalled site should pay the premium and buy something real.
How do I check a developer I have never heard of?
Look at delivered buildings, not planned ones, and visit two of them. Check the legal entity that signs the contract — its age, its owners and whether it is the same entity as the brand on the hoarding. Search court and insolvency records, look for abandoned sites in its history, and ask the local professional community, which usually knows exactly who delivers and who does not. If the developer is new, the only meaningful protection is the legal structure: escrow, staged payments and enforceable penalties.
What happens if the handover date slips?
Whatever the contract says, and usually nothing more. That is why the penalty clause matters more than the date itself. Look for the length of the grace period, the compensation payable per period of delay, and the point at which the buyer may terminate and recover their money, including whether that recovery is secured. Delays of a few months are ordinary in construction; delays with no compensation and no exit are a different product entirely.
Why is the final area different from the one in the contract?
Because a building is built to tolerances and measured again at completion, and because different standards count balconies, walls and common areas differently. What matters is the contract clause: the permitted deviation, the price adjustment per unit of area in both directions, and the threshold beyond which the buyer may withdraw. A contract that allows the area to shrink without compensation, or that only adjusts the price when the area grows, is drafted against the buyer.
What does a new-build warranty actually cover?
Typically the structure for the longest period, the building's systems for a shorter one, and finishes and appliances for the shortest — but the split, the durations and the enforcement all vary by country, so read the actual document rather than the brochure. Two practical questions decide its value: who do you claim from once the project company no longer exists, and does the warranty survive a resale to the next owner.
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