Our inspectors cover every active new build development in Leicester - from Ashton Green and New Lubbesthorpe to Waterside and Thorpebury in the Limes
Leicester is the largest city in the East Midlands and one of the fastest-growing in England. Ashton Green in north Leicester is a council-led scheme of 3,000 homes, with Tilia Homes delivering Phase 4 of 560 homes (selected September 2025) and Morris Homes starting Phase 3 of 441 homes. At New Lubbesthorpe in LE19, Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes, Davidsons, and Redrow are building on a site planned for 4,250 homes, with 1,283 occupied at the end of 2024. Keepmoat Homes is delivering the Leicester Waterside regeneration alongside the River Soar and Grand Union Canal. Bellway, Miller, Bloor, Crest Nicholson, and Vistry all have active sites across the city and surrounding suburbs.
According to the Home Builders Federation, 93.7% of new build buyers in England reported snags to their builder after moving in, and more than a quarter reported over 15 defects. Our inspectors work across all active Leicester schemes on both pre-completion and post-completion surveys, producing detailed written reports that give you the documented evidence to claim repairs from your housebuilder. The average Leicester new build has between 80 and 150 individual items at the point of handover.
£283,426
Average Sold Price
Rightmove 12-month average, Leicester city
£373,000
New Build Average
27% above existing stock, Plumplot 2025 data
8,000+
New Homes in Pipeline
Ashton Green (3,000) and New Lubbesthorpe (4,250) alone
369,000
Population
Largest city in the East Midlands, ONS Census 2021
Source: Plumplot, 595 new build transactions in Leicester postcode area, January to December 2025. Detached homes dominate new build sales, mostly at suburban sites like Ashton Green, New Lubbesthorpe, and Thorpebury.
Much of Leicester sits on Triassic Mercia Mudstone, a plastic clay formation that expands and contracts seasonally as it absorbs and releases moisture. This shrink-swell movement is a known cause of foundation settlement on new builds in the city, and the clay can contain evaporite minerals including halite and gypsum that dissolve slowly and cause subsidence. Any new build on Mercia Mudstone should use piled or deepened strip foundations to bypass the unstable upper layers, and structural concrete must use sulphate-resistant cement to resist chemical attack from sulphate-bearing groundwater. Buyers at Ashton Green, New Lubbesthorpe, and other suburban Leicester sites should commission a ground condition search through their conveyancer. Our snagging inspections document structural symptoms at day one, including stepped cracking in blockwork, door frame movement, and floor level variations, which creates a baseline record for any warranty claims.
Ashton Green is Leicester City Council's flagship new build programme - a 3,000-home development in north Leicester where multiple builders are delivering homes simultaneously. Tilia Homes completed Phase 2 (245 homes now occupied) and has been selected for Phase 4 of 560 homes, while Morris Homes is starting Phase 3 of 441 homes. With homes from multiple builders, differing build quality standards apply across the site, and the pace of development means defects at handover are common.
At New Lubbesthorpe in LE19 - the largest residential development in Blaby district - Barratt Homes prices range from £359,995 to £629,995 for 3 to 5-bed homes. With over 1,000 homes already occupied and 3,000 more to build, the site is operating at continuous volume pace. Our inspectors cover all active parcels across the development, including the David Wilson Homes premium range, Davidsons and Redrow phases along Tay Road.
Our inspectors spend 2 to 4 hours on site at a typical 3 or 4-bedroom Leicester new build. We work room by room, using a calibrated damp meter, a spirit level, and good-quality lighting to identify defects that are easy to miss on a developer walkthrough. At large sites like Ashton Green, where trades move between plots quickly, we pay particular attention to the interfaces between different build packages - structural frame, first fix electrics, plumbing, plastering, second fix, and external works. The final report runs to 40-80 pages with annotated photographs, categorised by priority.
On canal-side and river-adjacent homes at Leicester Waterside, our inspectors additionally note external drainage connections, water-resistant deck and balustrade details, and any visible signs of water ingress or damp at lower ground floor level. These properties require extra care on the external envelope given their proximity to the River Soar and Grand Union Canal.
| Survey Type | Property Size | Cost (inc. VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-completion inspection | Any size | From £295 |
| Post-completion snagging | 1 bed apartment | £344 |
| Post-completion snagging | 2 bedroom house | £374 |
| Post-completion snagging | 3 bedroom house | £414 |
| Post-completion snagging | 4 bedroom house | £464 |
| Post-completion snagging | 5 bedroom house | £544 |
Pre-completion inspection
Property Size
Any size
Cost (inc. VAT)
From £295
Post-completion snagging
Property Size
1 bed apartment
Cost (inc. VAT)
£344
Post-completion snagging
Property Size
2 bedroom house
Cost (inc. VAT)
£374
Post-completion snagging
Property Size
3 bedroom house
Cost (inc. VAT)
£414
Post-completion snagging
Property Size
4 bedroom house
Cost (inc. VAT)
£464
Post-completion snagging
Property Size
5 bedroom house
Cost (inc. VAT)
£544
East Midlands pricing, all costs include VAT. A pre-completion inspection (before legal completion) focuses on structural, drainage, and critical fitting issues and starts from £295. Post-completion surveys during your 2-year defects period cover the full property and are priced by bedroom count. Most Barratt and David Wilson homes at New Lubbesthorpe fall in the 3 or 4-bed bracket.
Nationally, 93.7% of new build buyers report snags to their builder. At Leicester's larger sites, our inspectors find that the most frequent issues cluster at the interfaces between build packages - where one trade finishes and another begins. At New Lubbesthorpe, the most common items on our reports are incomplete grouting at bathroom tile edges, window reveal sealant gaps, and heating systems that have not been commissioned to the correct pressure or zone settings.
On the Tilia Homes phases at Ashton Green, we regularly find external pointing voids in brickwork at lower courses (where groundworkers finish and bricklayers take over), and guttering brackets that have not been fully secured. At Wigston Meadows, David Wilson's premium range occasionally shows floor screed cracking at internal door thresholds, a common problem when the screed is laid before internal frame partitions are properly loaded.
Enter your new build address in Leicester or the surrounding area, select your property size and type, and choose your preferred date. Booking takes under five minutes with instant confirmation by email.
We assign a qualified inspector covering Leicester and send you their details and a reminder the day before. Our inspectors are familiar with the active sites across the city including Ashton Green, New Lubbesthorpe, and Waterside.
Your inspector spends 2 to 4 hours at the property, working methodically through every room and the full exterior, photographing and documenting every defect and every outstanding item.
Your PDF report is sent directly to your inbox, fully annotated and categorised by priority. It is formatted to send to your housebuilder's customer care team as-is, without any editing.
Your housebuilder is legally obliged to address valid defects during the warranty period. Our report gives you the clear documented evidence to make that process effective and straightforward.
The River Soar runs through central Leicester and is subject to ongoing flood risk management by the Environment Agency and Leicester City Council. Approximately 4,700 properties in the city are at risk from the River Soar, and a flood risk management scheme has been in development since 2013 to improve flow capacity through the city centre. If you are buying a resale property in the LE1 or LE4 corridor near the river - rather than a new build - check your flood risk zone at check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk before exchanging contracts. New builds at Leicester Waterside are built to flood-managed specifications, but older riverside properties are not. Our snagging surveys focus on new build defects, but we note any external drainage issues, blocked outlets, and signs of water ingress that could indicate flood vulnerability.
Snagging surveys in Leicester are priced at East Midlands rates. A pre-completion inspection - carried out in the days before you legally complete - starts from £295 and focuses on the most critical structural and fitting issues. Post-completion surveys during your 2-year defects period are priced by property size: £344 for a 1-bed apartment, £374 for a 2-bed, £414 for a 3-bed, £464 for a 4-bed, and £544 for a 5-bed or larger. All prices include VAT and a full written report with annotated photographs. The national average for a snagging survey is £377, so Leicester buyers are typically at or below the national benchmark.
We cover all active new build sites in Leicester and the surrounding area. This includes Ashton Green (Tilia Homes and Morris Homes phases), New Lubbesthorpe in LE19 (Barratt, David Wilson, Davidsons, and Redrow), Leicester Waterside (Keepmoat), Thorpebury in the Limes at Thurmaston (William Davis and David Wilson), Wigston Meadows in LE18 (Barratt and David Wilson premium range), Stoughton Park in Oadby (Bellway), Willowbrook Rise in Countesthorpe (Miller Homes), Cottage Farm in Oadby (Bloor Homes), and Glen Parva (Vistry Group). We also cover smaller individual developments across the Leicester postcodes. Contact us with your site address to confirm availability.
A typical 3 or 4-bedroom house at a Leicester new build site takes between 2.5 and 4 hours on site. Smaller 2-bedroom homes take approximately 2 hours, and larger 5-bedroom detached homes - such as the premium David Wilson range at Wigston Meadows or New Lubbesthorpe - can take up to 4.5 hours. Our inspector works from exterior to interior, spending time in the roof space, checking all drainage outlets and external boundary works. The written report with annotated photographs is delivered to your inbox within 24 to 48 hours of the inspection.
Before legal completion is the ideal time. A pre-completion inspection in the days before you complete creates a documented record of every outstanding item at the exact point of handover. At large sites like Ashton Green and New Lubbesthorpe, where plots are handed over at pace, housebuilders routinely issue completion notices before all items are fully finished. If you have already legally completed, book within your first year to ensure the most significant snags are captured while your housebuilder's attention and resource is still focused on the active site. You have up to 2 years under your NHBC Buildmark or Premier Guarantee warranty to submit defects claims.
Mercia Mudstone is the Triassic clay formation underlying much of Leicester and its suburban development areas. It is classified as a highly plastic, seasonally shrink-swell clay, which means it expands in wet conditions and contracts in dry conditions. New builds on Mercia Mudstone are required to use foundation designs that account for this movement - typically piled foundations or deepened strip foundations - but not all ground investigations capture the full extent of risk zones. The clay can also contain sulphate-bearing groundwater that chemically attacks structural concrete if sulphate-resistant cement is not specified. Our snagging surveys document structural symptoms at handover, including any stepped cracking in blockwork, door frame movement, or floor level discrepancies. This creates a day-one baseline that is important if settlement issues emerge during the warranty period.
Based on national data from the Home Builders Federation, 93.7% of new build buyers report defects to their builder, and over 26% report more than 15 snags. In practice, our inspections across the East Midlands find that most new build houses have between 80 and 150 individual items at the point of legal completion. Around 10 to 20 of these are what we classify as priority items - structural fixings, drainage connections, roof issues, or heating commissioning failures that need prompt attention. The remainder are cosmetic, but all are valid warranty claims that your housebuilder is legally obliged to remedy. At volume sites like New Lubbesthorpe and Ashton Green, plot counts are high, but individual defect counts tend to be similar to the national average.
You send the report directly to your housebuilder's customer care team. All major housebuilders operating in Leicester - Barratt, David Wilson, Tilia, Morris, Keepmoat, Bellway, and Miller - have structured customer care processes for handling defects during the warranty period. Your report is formatted to work directly with these processes, with each defect photographed, located by room, and categorised by priority. Housebuilders are legally obliged under the Consumer Code for Home Builders and the NHBC Buildmark warranty to respond to valid defect reports within defined timescales. If they fail to do so, the warranty scheme provides an independent resolution process.
Yes. Leicester Waterside is a canal-side and riverside regeneration scheme in LE4 between the River Soar and the Grand Union Canal. Keepmoat Homes is delivering 350+ homes on the site in partnership with Leicester City Council, with around 200 completed and further phases including 34 homes on Soar Island due by end 2025 and 53 more Canal Frontage homes expected in 2026. Our inspectors cover Leicester Waterside and give particular attention to the external envelope on river-adjacent properties, including waterproof membrane details, deck drainage, balustrade fixings, and any damp at lower ground floor level. The standard full inspection covers all interior and roof space items as well.
Explore our full range of survey and property services across Leicester and Leicestershire
From £350
The standard survey for Leicester resale properties - semi-detached and terraced homes in Clarendon Park, Stoneygate, Evington, and post-1980 detached stock in good condition
From £500
The most detailed survey for Leicester's Victorian stock - Leicester Red Stock brick terraces in Knighton, Highfields, and West End where solid wall construction and Mercia Mudstone subsidence are common concerns
From £65
Energy Performance Certificate for Leicester properties - required for all homes sold or let, valid for 10 years from the date of assessment
From £150
RICS-compliant valuation for buyers and sellers using the Help to Buy equity loan scheme on qualifying Leicester new builds at Ashton Green, New Lubbesthorpe, and other active sites
Most surveyors take 1-2 days to quote.
We'll price your survey in seconds.
Most surveyors take 1-2 days to quote.
We'll price your survey in seconds.
Homemove is a trading name of HM Haus Group Ltd (Company No. 13873779, registered in England & Wales). Homemove Mortgages Ltd (Company No. 15947693) is an Appointed Representative of TMG Direct Limited, trading as TMG Mortgage Network, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 786245). Homemove Mortgages Ltd is entered on the FCA Register as an Appointed Representative (FRN 1022429). You can check registrations at NewRegister or by calling 0800 111 6768.
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