Date it
Photograph it with something that fixes the date, and write down when you first saw it. The two-year clock runs from the damage appearing, and your own record is usually the only evidence of when that was.
New-Build Warranties and Snagging · 2026 Guide Three warranties, three different clocks
A Spanish new-build carries ten, three and one-year cover against defects. They start on the same day, point at different parties, and only one of them is insured by law.
A new-build comes with statutory cover against defects, and it is not one warranty but three, each running for a different length of time and each pointing at a different party. Knowing which clock applies to a given problem is what turns a snagging list from a favour the developer might do into a claim with a legal basis.
Article 17, Ley 38/1999
Ten years, three years, one year
All three periods run from the date the works are formally received without reservations -- or, where reservations were made, from the date those are put right. Not from when you move in, and not from the deed.
10 years · structural
Damage caused by defects affecting the foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls or other structural elements. The building agents are liable.
3 years · habitability
Damage from defects in construction elements or installations that cause the building to fail the habitability requirements -- damp penetration, insulation, water, heating and similar.
1 year · finishes
Defects of execution affecting elements of finish or trim. Here the constructor alone is liable, which is a narrower answer than the other two periods give you.
Insurance
Only one of the three is insured by law
Liability and insurance are not the same thing, and this is where expectations often run ahead of the statute. For buildings whose main use is housing, only the ten-year structural cover is compulsory insurance. The one-year and three-year guarantees remain liabilities of the parties rather than insurances that must be in place, pending implementing regulation that has not arrived.
In practice this means a structural problem has an insurer standing behind it, while a three-year habitability defect is a claim against the agents involved. Both are real; they are not equally easy to enforce, and it is worth knowing which one you are in before a dispute rather than during it.
At Handover
The snagging list is the clock-starter
Because the periods run from reception of the works, and because reservations noted at reception shift the start date until they are put right, the handover inspection is not a formality. Recording defects in writing at that point is what fixes the date and creates the record you would later rely on.
Snagging inspections themselves are market practice rather than a statutory step -- there is no law requiring one, and no prescribed format. What the law does is define the periods and the liabilities that an inspection lets you use. A written, dated list, delivered to the developer, is the practical bridge between the two.
Who Answers
Who you can actually claim against
"The building agents" is a category, not an address. It covers the developer, the constructor, the architect who designed it and the technical architect who supervised the work, and each of them answers for their own part.
The practical point is the one buyers rarely hear: where the responsibility for a defect cannot be apportioned between them, they answer jointly and severally -- and the developer answers jointly with all of them in any case. You do not have to establish which professional caused a problem before you can raise it. You raise it with the developer, and the apportioning is theirs to work out.
The Second Clock
Two years to act on it
There are two timers, and confusing them is the most expensive mistake available here.
The cover
Ten, three or one year from reception of the works. This is the window in which a defect has to appear to be covered at all.
The claim
Two years from when the damage appears, to bring the action. A defect that shows up in year nine is covered, and the claim for it still has to be brought within two years of showing up.
What that means
Noticing a crack and waiting to see whether it worsens can move you out of time while the ten-year cover is still running. Record the date you saw it and start the conversation then.
In Practice
What to do when you find one
Most defects are resolved by the developer without any of the above being invoked. The steps below are what keep that route open and the formal one available if it closes.
Report it in writing
Email is enough to start. What matters is that a dated record exists showing you raised it and when, rather than a phone call neither side can later describe the same way.
Do not repair it first
Fixing a defect before it has been inspected removes the evidence of what it was. Make it safe if it needs making safe, and document the state it was in.
Get it looked at
For anything structural, an independent technical report is what turns "there is a crack" into a description of a cause. It is also what a claim would be built on if one becomes necessary.
Common Questions
What buyers ask us about defects
Does the warranty transfer if I sell?
The cover attaches to the building rather than to you, so a buyer who acquires within the periods inherits what is left of them. It is worth telling them the reception date, since that is where their remaining time is measured from.
What counts as structural?
Damage from defects affecting foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls and similar elements. Cracked tiling is not structural because it is unpleasant; a crack that traces to movement in the structure is, and telling those apart is what a technical report does.
Who pays for the snagging inspection?
You do, where you engage someone independent, and it is usually money well spent. The developer's own handover walkthrough is not the same exercise and is not conducted in your interest.
What if the developer no longer exists?
For the ten-year structural cover, this is precisely why the insurance is compulsory: the claim runs against the insurer. For the one and three-year periods, which are liabilities rather than insurances, a dissolved developer is a genuine practical problem, and that is worth knowing before it is one.
Can I refuse to complete because of defects?
That depends on their severity and on your contract, and it is a question for your lawyer rather than a rule. What is generally available is completing with reservations recorded, which shifts the start of the periods until those are put right.
Before You Rely On This
Sourced from the consolidated statute
The periods and liabilities described here are taken from articles 17 and 19 of Ley 38/1999 and its second additional provision, as consolidated, and are current as of August 2026. This page is general information about how the cover is structured, not legal advice. Whether a particular defect falls in a particular period is a question of fact for your lawyer and, usually, a surveyor. Nueva Living can provide the warranty and insurance documentation held for a specific project on request.
This guide is general information about buying a new-build home on the Costa del Sol. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and does not replace independent professional advice tailored to your situation.
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