How to describe a snag so it's harder to dispute
A snag list your developer or housing provider can act on describes each snag by what you can see, where it is and its approximate size, without guessing the cause. Send it in writing, with your photos and the date, and keep a copy.
How you describe a snag determines how easy it is to identify and fix, and how hard it is to dispute.
This page outlines how to draft your snag descriptions, including what each one should say, and what to leave out, using three worked examples. It also covers how to lay out your full snag list, and how to send it.
The content in this article applies to any new build snag list, whether you send it before completion or after you move in.
What should a snag description say?
Use one to two plain sentences to describe what you can see, including the location and size.
Name the room and a fixed feature related to the snag to place in the room. Examples may include: "to the left of the hob", "above the bedroom window", or "at the bottom of the stairs".
A description that locates the fault precisely is significantly easier for someone walking the property to identify and fix.
Use your own words. If you know the correct name for a part or feature, use it. If you do not, describe it plainly. "The rubber strip around the shower door" is equally as likely to result in a fix as a description that uses its trade name. If you're unsure, you should be honest about what you observed. A misplaced technical term can significantly undermine the credibility of your report.
Why should you not guess the cause?
The reader of your report is more likely to contest its content where you have guessed or hypothesised about the cause of an issue, without the detail required to back it up.
You can see a crack, but you usually can't see the underlying cause of why it happened. If you write "there is a crack" with its size and location, the following conversation is more likely to be about fixing the crack. If you write "there is a crack from the building settling", the reply is likely to be about whether the building is settling, while the crack issue remains unresolved.
Always describe what is visible. Diagnosis is a job for your developer or housing provider, and often requires specialist training or equipment.
Should you include measurements?
Yes, and always keep them exactly as you measured them.
"About 30cm long" and "wider than a £1 coin at the top" are honest, useful measurements.
Invented precision significantly weakens your report: do not write "32mm" if you did not measure 32mm, and never quote a tolerance or a standard you have not checked.
An approximate measurement stated as approximate preserves your credibility, while supporting further investigation. A precise measurement that is unsupported significantly undermines it.
Do strong words get a faster fix?
No. Terms like "terrible", "shocking" and "completely unacceptable" add little value, and they can result in your list being viewed as a complaint, rather than a record of whether your property fails to meet the required standards.
Always describe the fault, not your feelings about it. A flat, factual list is much easier to share with the team responsible for the fix, and it is much harder to dismiss as exaggeration.
The fault description signals its validity
"The bath panel is not attached on the left side" does not need additional adjectives to be interpreted as an issue worth fixing.
Snag list examples: three descriptions rewritten
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Awful paint job in the hall, looks like it was done in the dark | The hall walls have visible roller marks, and two patches above the radiator where the paint is thin enough to see the surface below |
| Big crack in the bedroom wall, must be from the building settling | A diagonal crack about 30cm long above the left corner of the bedroom window, wide enough to see from the doorway |
| The en suite door is really badly fitted and constantly sticks, totally unacceptable | The en suite door catches on the frame at the top corner and needs a firm push to close |
Each rewrite applies the same three changes:
- Subjective, judgement words are removed
- Reference to the location and size are added
- Any inference or guess about the underlying cause is removed
The importance of the issues is not softened. The rewritten versions are much stronger claims, not politer ones, because every word in them can be checked first against your photos, and then against the condition of the property.
How do you write a snag list?
One snag per entry, grouped room by room, in the order you walked the home.
A list that follows the layout of the home lets the person responding to it walk the property once, in order, rather than searching for each item. A list in walking order also makes a missed room obvious to you before you send it.
What Each Entry Should Include:
- A number, so every snag can be referred to without repeating its description
- The room, and the fixed feature that places the snag within it
- The description, in one or two plain sentences
- The approximate size, where size matters
- The photos that show it, labelled with the snag's number
- The date you found it
For Example:
| No. | Room | Description | Photos | Found |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hall | Visible roller marks on the walls, and two patches above the radiator where the paint is thin enough to see the surface below | 1a, 1b, 1c | 17 October 2026 |
| 2 | Bedroom 1 | A diagonal crack about 30cm long above the left corner of the window, wide enough to see from the doorway | 2a, 2b, 2c | 17 October 2026 |
| 3 | En suite | The door catches on the frame at the top corner and needs a firm push to close | 3a, 3b | 17 October 2026 |
Record anything you could not check, and why, as its own entry rather than leaving it out. A note that the heating could not be tested on the day is far more useful later than a gap that suggests you checked it and found nothing.
Where the New Homes Quality Code applies to your home and you inspect before completion, the inspection is recorded on the NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist. The checklist asks for photographs and explanatory notes of each issue found, and a description of where each room is.
Your numbered list sits alongside the checklist, rather than replacing it, and gives each issue its full description and photos. Our page Your right to inspect your own new build explains when the Code applies to your home.
How should you send your snag list?
In writing, to the contact your developer or housing provider has given for snags, with the date and your photos.
A list given verbally, or handed over on site without a copy, is easy to lose and hard to prove. A written list that you have kept a copy of is the record that supports you if a snag is later disputed or left unresolved.
When You Send It:
- Use the route your developer or housing provider asks for, whether that is an email address, a customer portal or a form, and keep a copy of what you submitted
- Send the photos with the list, labelled with the snag numbers, rather than separately
- Ask for written acknowledgement of the list
- Keep every reply, with its date
What happens next depends on the consumer code that applies to your purchase, which your reservation paperwork should name.
Where the New Homes Quality Code applies, snags you report after you move in fall under your developer's after-sales service. The Code says the developer must acknowledge them as soon as possible and, in most cases, settle them within 30 days. Where there is a significant reason for delay, they must explain it and update you at least monthly.
If a snag is still not resolved, you can raise it through your developer's complaints procedure. Our page Your right to inspect your own new build sets out how the Code's 30-day periods fit together.
What if a snag is getting worse?
Report changes to snags factually, with dates. Note when you first saw the problem and what has changed since, and keep your earlier photos so the comparison is on record.
For example, "The crack was about 20cm when we moved in on 2 May and reaches the ceiling now" is a clear and traceable observation.
Snag lists are too often viewed as a static, one time activity. Changes in weather, or property foundations as they settle can result in new or worsening issues that weren't visible pre-completion, or on your move in date.
We always recommend re-snagging your property and documenting the condition in full from your first visit, including descriptions and photos.
Our page on what photo evidence you need for a snag covers the photos each entry needs, and how to take them.
Sources
sendingsnags is independent. We're not part of, or endorsed by, the New Homes Quality Board or the New Homes Ombudsman Service.
Checked on 18 October 2026:
- New Homes Quality Code V2, Part 3 (sections 3.1, 3.3), after-sales service and the 30-day expectation for snags
- NHQB Pre-Completion Inspection Checklist, house, V2 March 2026 (PDF), for what the checklist must record (room locations, limitations, photographs and explanatory notes)
How we can help
sendingsnags is an app that turns your own walkthrough of a new build home into a clear, photographed snag report you can send to your developer or housing provider. It suggests clearer wording for each snag alongside what you typed, and you choose what to accept, so your report reads to this standard without losing your own voice. We have no limit on the number of reports you can generate, and preserve past report versions so you can highlight where conditions have worsened in just a few clicks. Each snag is tracked with options to update statuses and events as conditions worsen or improve.
You can start your report at sendingsnags.com. We hope you find it useful.