Retrospective structural warranties for homes already started or finished
Started on site without a warranty, or finished and now a buyer's lender is asking for one? It is more common than most developers expect. We place retrospective latent defects cover with specialist underwriters and tell you straight, early on, whether your project is likely to be accepted.
- Instant response
- An honest answer, early
- UK FCA Regulated Broker
- 10 and 12 year cover
- Part built and finished projects
Fast answers
Fast, honest answers
A slow broker holds up your site, your sales and your funding. We work to clear timescales.
1
Instant response
Send us your details and you get an instant reply by email with your reference and what we need next.
2
A call the same working day
We usually contact you the same working day to talk through your project and the providers likely to cover it.
3
An honest answer, early
Retrospective cover is very hard to place, so we tell you quickly whether it is likely to be possible and what a provider will need to see - and we do our best to find you cover.
Where are you now?
Retrospective warranty cover for your situation
No two late warranty cases are quite the same. Pick the one closest to yours to see how cover works, what providers look for and what to do first.
Already started on site
Work is under way and nobody registered a warranty. The sooner a provider sees the site, the more it can inspect for itself.
Warranty after work has started
Finished with no warranty
The building is complete, often a smaller scheme, and a warranty was never arranged. Some specialist providers will still consider it.
Warranty for a completed building
Cannot sell or remortgage
A buyer's lender, or your own, wants a warranty you do not have. We look at whether retrospective cover could keep the deal alive.
When a lender wants a warranty
Evidence and surveys
Building control records, dated photographs, site reports and opening up - what providers ask for, and why it matters so much.
Retrospective warranty evidence
Architect's certificate only
Signed off with a professional consultant's certificate, and now a lender or funder wants a warranty instead.
Certificate or warranty
Stalled or taken-over sites
A project that stopped for a year or more, or a site picked up after the first developer went into liquidation.
Stalled and rescued sitesWhy a specialist
Late cover is a different job from registering at the start
A structural warranty protects buyers, owners and lenders against serious defects in the structure for 10 or 12 years. When it is registered before work starts, the provider's surveyor sees each key stage go in. When it is arranged late, the provider has to be satisfied about work it never saw.
- Fewer providers will look at it. Many warranty providers only take on projects before the start. We know the specialist underwriters who consider retrospective cases.
- The evidence decides it. Records, photographs and site reports carry the weight. We tell you what is likely to be needed before anyone spends money on surveys.
- An honest answer, early. Some projects will not be accepted. We would rather tell you that in the first conversation than after weeks of waiting.
- The lender has to accept it. A warranty is only worth having if your buyers' mortgage lenders accept the provider. We check that before you commit.
Retrospective cover at a glance
How it works
From first call to a certificate for every home
Tell us what has happened
What has been built, where it is up to and why a warranty is needed now.
An honest first view
We say early whether specialist providers are likely to consider it.
Evidence and survey
The provider reviews your records and may survey or open up the work.
Your quote
A written quotation naming the provider, with every cost shown separately.
Certificates issued
Once the provider is satisfied, each home gets its own certificate.
Cost
What does retrospective cover cost?
As a rough guide the total is a percentage of the rebuild cost: around 1.25% for a build already under way and around 1.5% for a finished building, compared with around 1% when cover is registered before the start (plus a modest broker fee, only charged if we arrange your cover).
These are indications, not quotes. The provider sets the price once it has reviewed the project and the evidence.
Questions
What people ask us first
Can I get a structural warranty after work has started?
Often, but not always. Some specialist providers consider projects already under way, subject to evidence of the work done so far and inspections of the stages still to come. It usually costs more than registering before the start, and the provider decides whether to accept it. See warranty after work has started.
Can a completed building get a structural warranty?
Sometimes. A few providers will consider a finished building after a survey and a review of how it was built, and some only look at buildings completed within a limited number of years. See completed buildings.
Is a structural warranty a legal requirement?
There is usually no law that says a new home must have one. In practice most mortgage lenders expect a newly built or converted home to have a warranty from a provider they accept, or in some cases a professional consultant's certificate - which is why a missing warranty so often comes to light during a sale or remortgage.
Are you the insurer?
No. We are an insurance broker. We place your case with specialist warranty providers and insurers, and the provider named in your quotation provides the cover and decides whether to offer it.
WARRANTYWIZARD
Got a quick question first?
Ask our Exclusive AI Powered WARRANTYWIZARD - how structural warranties work, what lenders usually expect or what documents to get ready.
WARRANTYWIZARD is AI powered and answers straight away, day or night. Like any AI it can occasionally make mistakes, and it gives general information about structural warranties, not advice or a price - so check anything important with our team, and for a quote use the project form or call us.
Warranty with WhatsApp
Do the whole thing on WhatsApp
You can handle the whole process on WhatsApp - questions, photos and drawings, your proposal, your quotes and arranging your cover.
A person on our team replies in UK working hours. Message us any time and we will pick it up as soon as we are back.
Tell us where the project is up to
Give us the basics and we will come back with an honest view on whether retrospective cover looks possible, what providers will want to see and an idea of cost.
- Takes under a minute
- Instant reply by email with your reference
- We call you, usually the same working day, with an honest view of what is possible
- Part built and completed sites across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
- Free and no obligation
Already filled in a proposal form? Email it to us or send it on WhatsApp with any drawings you have and we will take it from there.