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Compliance 4 min read

NHOS annual report: defects and snagging still dominate, so the record matters

The New Homes Ombudsman Service Annual Report for 2024/25 and 2025/26 shows formal complaints more than tripling in 2025/26, with defects and snagging leading enquiries. Escalation often follows slow responses and weak complaint records, not the first visible snag alone.

The New Homes Ombudsman Service published its combined Annual Report for 2024/25 and 2025/26 on 3 September 2026. In 2025/26, formal complaints more than tripled year on year, and defects and snagging led the enquiry themes. The report does not say that every snag becomes a case. It shows how manageable problems can turn into disputes when responses are slow, communication is poor, and the complaint trail is weak.

That makes the evidence trail important from site capture through aftercare. Photos, dates, owners, and closure status need to stand up when a homebuyer escalates. The focus here is the casework around defects. The statutory scheme go-live has already been covered elsewhere.

What the report shows

Figures below are from the NHOS Annual Report 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 (reporting period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2026), published via the NHOS Resource Centre on 3 September 2026, for 2025/26 compared with 2024/25:

  • New complaints rose from 593 to 1,802.
  • Final decisions rose from 69 to 232.
  • Cases closed by early resolution rose from 186 to 575. Total case closures in 2025/26 were 904.
  • Compensation from decisions totalled £214,325.99, with an average award of £919.85 and a highest single award of £20,000.
  • 82% of final decisions fully or partly upheld the complaint.
  • Defect-related enquiries rose from 751 to 1,968. Snagging enquiries rose from 405 to 1,236.

Trade coverage (Mortgage Solutions, 4 September 2026; Letting Agent Today, 7 September 2026) also notes registered developers rising from 532 to 581, with more than 65% of new homes sold in the UK now covered by the scheme and around a third still outside it.

Snagging and defect cases range from finish issues such as misaligned tiles, poor plaster, or poor paint through to serious failures such as missing cavity-wall insulation, incorrectly installed fire safety equipment, party-wall acoustic problems, and substandard brickwork.

NHOS points to the same pattern throughout: relatively manageable problems become prolonged disputes because developer responses are slow or inadequate, communication is poor, complaint handling is weak, and putting problems right takes too long.

Chief Ombudsman Nigel Cates, in comments carried with the report release, linked the rise in complaints partly to growing awareness of the scheme as market coverage increases. He also noted developers who have restructured around complaints and customer service.

Why it matters for customer care teams and site quality

For the developer customer-experience or aftercare lead accountable for homebuyer complaints, the Guided Home buyer here, the report is not mainly about the first visible snag. It is about whether the organisation can show what was captured, when it was owned, how it was communicated, and how it was closed.

For the build quality owner, the Guided Site buyer, the story starts earlier. Defects need to be captured offline or at plot level in a way that survives dead zones and the handover into aftercare. Otherwise customer care teams are left rebuilding the record from inboxes when a referral arrives.

The relevant journey stages run from inspection and snagging on site, through completion and DLP, into lived-in aftercare. If the record breaks between those stages, the ombudsman case is harder to defend, even when the physical issue was small at the start.

What to watch

Keep the Annual Report itself open as the primary source, not only the secondary summaries. Watch how statutory coverage and voluntary coverage interact for schemes reserved before and after registration. Also watch whether complaint-handling and communication standards in the code keep driving uphold rates when the physical defect is already known.

Related Guided Home reading on the statutory go-live and coverage gap: England's statutory New Homes Ombudsman goes live on 7 September. That post covers membership timing. This one covers what the latest casework says about defects evidence.

How Guided Home helps

When a homebuyer escalates, the question is whether you have a complete plot record: what was inspected, what was raised, who owned it, and what was closed.

Guided Site is built for on-site capture, including offline, so the defect record starts where the work happens. Inspections and Defects carries that record through completion and DLP for the customer care and aftercare team. Document Assurance helps show what documents and acknowledgements existed at handover. Hugo answers from the resident's record after move-in, which cuts routine noise and leaves a trace of what was asked and answered.

If you want to see how that evidence trail compares with your current process, book a demo.

Sources

See how Guided Home supports this in practice.

If you're responsible for delivery, quality or compliance, we'd welcome a conversation before a demo, so we can understand your requirements fully.

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