Structural warranties for housing estates and phased sites
Cover for larger housing developments - registered phase by phase, inspected in step with your build programme and certificated plot by plot as homes are finished and sold.
- Instant response
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your proposal
- UK FCA Regulated Broker
- No broker fee to pay
- Single plots to full estates
Estates
A housing estate warranty that follows your build programme
On an estate the warranty is not one policy for one building. It is a register of plots, each moving through the build at its own pace, each needing its own final certificate before it can be sold with a mortgage.
- Phased registration. Sites can usually be registered phase by phase, with each phase registered before work on it starts.
- Inspections that fit the programme. The provider's surveyor plans visits around your build programme across the plots under construction.
- Certificates as plots complete. Each home gets its final certificate once it passes final inspection, so sales can complete while the rest of the site is still being built.
- Longer cover. 10 years is standard, and some providers offer 12 years for developers who want it.
Larger sites
What providers look at on an estate
House types and flats
Most estates mix detached and semi-detached houses, terraces and sometimes a block of flats or maisonettes. Each type is recorded against its plots, and flats bring extra checks on shared structure and fire safety.
Affordable homes on the same site
Homes for a housing association or for shared ownership can usually be registered alongside the homes for sale, so the whole site sits with one provider.
Ground and infrastructure
Larger sites often need ground investigation across the whole area, and structures such as retaining walls, basements and podiums may need their own terms. Raise them early.
Off plan sales and deposits
If buyers pay deposits before their homes are finished, some providers offer cover that protects those deposits if the developer becomes insolvent before completion. Limits and conditions apply and vary between providers.
Selling the homes
Buyers, lenders and consumer codes
On an estate you will be selling to many buyers using many lenders. A provider that some of those lenders will not accept can hold up sale after sale, so we check lender acceptability before you commit, though each lender makes the final decision.
Most warranty providers also require the builders they register to follow a consumer code, which sets standards for how you market, reserve, sell and hand over homes and how you deal with complaints.
Housing estate warranty questions
Can I register an estate in phases?
Usually, yes. Many developers register the first phase before starting and add later phases as they are released, each before work on it begins. This spreads the cost and keeps the register in line with the programme.
Do I need to register every plot before the site starts?
Each plot normally needs to be registered before work on that plot starts. On a phased site that means registering a phase before its first foundations go in, not the whole site on day one.
Can affordable homes go under the same warranty as the homes for sale?
Usually they can. Tell us the tenure of each plot when you enquire, as housing associations and their funders sometimes have their own requirements for the warranty.
Is deposit protection available for off plan buyers?
Some providers offer cover for buyers' deposits if the developer becomes insolvent before the home is finished. It is an optional extra and adds to the cost, with limits and conditions that vary between providers - it does not protect every deposit automatically.
Get a housing estate warranty quote
Tell us about the site, the number of homes and how you plan to phase it. We will come back with the providers likely to cover it.
- Takes under a minute
- Instant reply by email with your reference
- Insurer quotes usually within one working day of your completed proposal
- Sites anywhere in 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.
