Buyer support hub

A home is the biggest investment you’ll ever make, and we know you’ll have high expectations of Bellway. We don’t just want to meet them – we want to blow them out of the water.

From the first time you meet us, whether that’s face to face in our Welcome Centre or over the phone, we’ll share your excitement about finding your new home, and we’ll be here for you long after you’ve picked up the keys. Our Customer Charter tells you exactly what you can look forward to when buying a home with us, and what to do if we’re falling short.

Yes – in fact, you’ll see us twice in the week following completion on your Bellway home. Your sales advisor and site manager will pay you a friendly courtesy visit on day 3 and day 7 to make sure you’re settling in, and to have a chat about anything you might need help with.  

A couple of weeks after collecting your keys, you’ll be handed over to your Customer Care team for everything related to your new Bellway home. They’ll get in touch with you to let you know what to do if anything isn’t right, if you need us to come and have a look at something, or you’ve just got a query that needs answering.  

You’ll get lots of information relating to your new Bellway home, before and after you’ve moved in. We know paperwork can feel overwhelming so we keep it simple with details of your 10-year NHBC Buildmark warranty and a Homecare Booklet before you move in, with everything you need to know about living in your home for the first few years. It’s a good idea to have a look at this before your Home Demonstration appointment.  

On completion day you’ll find a Handover Folder in your new Bellway home. We know it’s not as exciting as popping a bottle of fizz, but it holds all the instructions and manuals for the appliances and components your home is fitted with, so it’s important you have a read through.  

You certainly will. Before you officially get the keys to your new Bellway home we’ll invite you to a Home Demonstration, which is exactly as it sounds: a chance for your site manager to show you around your finished home, and how all of the appliances and fixtures work so you can get on with enjoying it as soon as you’ve moved in. Once that’s done, you’re on the countdown to completion day. 

In some cases your Home Demonstration might happen after you’ve legally completed, but it’ll usually take place before that. We’ll always let you know in plenty of time when yours will be.  

Your new Bellway home will need a lot of love and patience in the first few months while it settles and ‘runs in’. There are so many people, materials, and processes involved in building a home, that it’s normal for minor flaws to appear after you’ve started living in your home; we’ll fix these as soon as possible in line with your warranty, but there are a few things you can do to reduce the chance of any issues cropping up.

Before you can repaint or put up wallpaper, your home needs to dry out. Thousands of litres of water are used in the new home building process (think about all that cement and plaster) and so moisture will be released into the air that needs to go somewhere. Open your windows for a few hours each day to let fresh air circulate, and keep your background central heating on as low as possible. These simple actions will help your home to dry out sooner and reduce the risk of condensation, which can lead to mould growth – not a welcome housemate in your new home.

If a few small cracks do appear in your walls or timberwork, don’t worry because you can fix them when it’s time to redecorate your home after it’s dried out. Any cracks that you’re concerned about, get back in touch with us and we’ll come and take a look if needed.

Have a look in your Handover Folder – we'll bet the information you need is in there. It’s where we pop all the manuals and paperwork for the appliances and components in your new Bellway home so you have everything in one place when you move in. 

If you don’t find the information you need, try searching the make and model number of the appliance online. The manufacturer’s website might have the details you’re looking for.  

It’s not nice to think about having a problem with your new Bellway home, and we can’t promise that there won’t be. But if something does crop up, your 10-year NHBC Buildmark warranty is our promise we’ll sort it.  

We’ll cover your warranty for the first two years, and then the NHBC (or an equivalent insurance provider) takes over with further insurance protection for specified aspects of your home. Whatever the issue, and whenever it happens, we’ll always be a phone call or email away to help you get it fixed. 

If there’s a fault with the way your Bellway home is built or the materials used, that’s likely to be defined as a defect, and will be our responsibility to put right. To give you an idea, leaky pipes, major cracks in walls, or a malfunctioning boiler are all examples of defects in a new-build home. 

However, there are some things that wouldn’t be defined as a defect. These are: 

• Any damages not detailed on the Quality Assurance form at the point of legal completion 
• Damage caused by storms, negligence, abuse, or a failure to maintain your home in line with Bellway’s recommendations 
• A drainage issue caused by the flushing or disposal of inappropriate products or substances into the drainage system 
• Normal settlement and shrinkage cracks 
• Condensation or associated problems caused by a failure to adequately ventilate your new home 

So what if you do identify a possible defect? The first thing to do is let us know. Report it to your divisional Customer Care team as soon as possible so we can take the right action to get it sorted.  

We always try to get problems fixed within 30 days, but if we need longer, we’ll let you know and keep you updated. Issues with your new home can be really frustrating, and we understand you’ll want us to address them quickly, but if you feel we’re taking too long or aren’t meeting your expectations you can find out how to make a complaint here. 

If your boiler’s broken down, your front door won’t lock, or there’s a water leak that you can’t contain, that’d be classed as an emergency in your new Bellway home and we’ll need to know about it as soon as possible. We’ve listed other types of emergencies below so you know what action you need to take.  

We want to assure you that emergencies in new-build homes are rare, but they can happen so we’ve made sure we have the right processes in place to get them sorted quickly.  

If there is an emergency in your Bellway home please contact your divisional Customer Care team to report it. If it’s outside of office hours, contact our trusted emergency response provider Safeguard on 01207 503 293 instead.  

Here’s a full list of incidents that we define as an emergency: 

• Complete failure of the heating and/or hot water system 
• Complete loss of water or gas supply - Check with your local authority or supplier that the problem is not caused by a temporary supply interruption 
• A water leak that cannot be contained and/or is penetrating an electrical fitting 
• A gas leak - You should also call out your gas supplier immediately, who will isolate the leak and have your home made safe 
• Loss of electricity supply - Check with your supplier first to find out whether there has been an interruption such as a local power failure. We’ll only consider a loss of electrical power to be an emergency if there’s a complete loss of power to the entire unit which can’t be rectified by resetting the trip switch 
• A failure of locks or mechanisms leaving your property unsecured - This doesn’t apply to garage doors where the garage is detached, or where there is an additional security door preventing access to your home
• A blockage in the underground drainage system, causing water to back up in your toilet(s) - If this happens, please don’t allow any more water to enter the drainage system and report the emergency in line with the procedure above

If water is backing up in your toilet, don’t let any more water go into your drainage system. That means not turning on taps, flushing toilets, using the shower, or emptying a bath or sink that’s already filled. 

The next thing to do is get in touch with your divisional Customer Care team to tell us the problem and we’ll sort it as soon as possible. If your divisional office is closed, give Safeguard a call instead on 01207 503 293. 

If your Bellway home doesn’t have any electricity, first check with your supplier or your neighbours that there hasn’t been a local power cut. 

Once you’ve confirmed it’s only your property that has no power, check your circuit breaker to see if any have been switched to the ‘off’ position. Flick them back to ‘on’ and see if that restores your power.  

If a breaker in the ‘off’ position won’t switch back on, there’s a fault in the wiring, or with an appliance on that circuit. Unplug each of the appliances on that circuit and try again. This will help you to work out which appliance is causing the problem.  

If it’s an appliance that came with your Bellway home, or you still can’t identify the issue, get in touch with your divisional Customer Care team to let us know and we’ll get it sorted.  

If there’s a problem with your boiler, have a look on the display for an error code and check your manual to find out what it means. We’ll have popped the boiler manual in your Handover Folder.

In many cases you can sort the problem yourself, such as if your boiler has dropped below the recommended pressure. Just follow the steps in your manual to repressurise the unit, then reset it to see if that fixes things.

Didn’t work? Let your divisional Customer Care team know, or call Safeguard on 01207 503 293 if their office is closed. Someone will be in touch to help as quickly as they can.

A loss of water supply is worrying, but before you get in touch with your supplier check first to see if your stopcock or isolating valve has been closed by accident.

If that’s not what’s happened, ask your neighbours if they’re having a problem too. This will help you work out whether there’s a problem with your supply.

You can then give your supplier a call to let them know you’re having an issue or to find out if it’s already been reported.

If you notice a water leak, first check to see if you can contain it – for example by switching off the shower if that’s where the leak is coming from.

When you’ve contained the leak, give your Customer Care team a call to let them know you need us to come and take a look.

For leaks that can’t be contained, turn off the water stopcock or isolating valve to stop any more water going into the pipework. Then call your Customer Care team straight away, or Safeguard on 01207 503 293 if your divisional office is closed.

If your home is damaged in stormy weather, your home insurance company can tell you what to do. Give them a call as soon as possible to report the problem and find out your next steps.

Your new Bellway home comes with a warranty, which could be affected if you make any alterations or extensions. We’d recommend having a chat with your divisional Bellway team before you make any changes to your home so you’ll have the peace of mind your warranty won’t be invalidated.