New-Build Garden Handover Questions Checklist

Ask the developer directly what the ground beneath the garden consists of, and whether any of it was placed rather than left as it was found.

Ground that has been built rather than found behaves differently, and the distinction is one only records or the builder can settle.

Ask which parts of the garden were trafficked by plant during construction, and whether anything was done about it before the turf went down.

A plot is a working site for most of its construction, and the effect of that on the ground is not visible once turf is laid.

Ask whether any construction material, hardstanding, temporary haul road or foundation from the build remains buried anywhere within the garden.

Temporary works are sometimes left in place, and finding them with a spade years later is the usual way owners discover this.

Ask how deep the growing medium is across the garden and whether it varies, and record the answer as something you were told.

Owners often discover the answer by planting something, and asking first turns it into information rather than a surprise.

Ask whether the garden levels are as they were designed to be, and where water was intended to run across the finished plot.

Finished levels decide where water goes, and knowing the intention is the only way to notice later that it has changed.

Before planning anything, consider digging a small hole in an area away from any known service, and record what you find at each layer.

One careful hole is more informative than any amount of speculation, and it costs an afternoon.

Establish where services and drainage run before digging anywhere, and do not dig where their position is unknown.

Ask whether any drainage feature, buried storage structure, swale or shared arrangement sits anywhere within the boundary of your own plot.

These are commonly invisible at the surface, and there is no reason an owner would suspect one without asking.

Ask whether any dip, hollow, planted depression or gravel area in the garden is actually part of the site drainage.

A drainage feature that looks like landscape tends to be treated as landscape, which is exactly how it stops working.

Walk the garden and note every cover, grating, inspection chamber and marker you can find, then ask what each one of them serves.

The covers are the only visible evidence of a buried arrangement, and knowing what each serves is the start of understanding the rest.

Ask whether any right of access, easement or similar arrangement affects part of the garden, and what it permits.

A right for somebody else to come onto part of your garden is not something the appearance of the plot will tell you.

Rights of access, easements and obligations attaching to a plot are legal matters for a suitably qualified adviser.

Establish which boundary treatments belong to you and which to a neighbour or the estate, and record what you were told.

Boundary ownership on a new development is frequently assumed wrongly by both neighbours at once.

Ask for the answers to these in writing rather than in conversation, and keep them with the property paperwork.

The people who can answer these questions are available for a limited period after completion and then are not.

List each outdoor feature and write beside it who you believe maintains it, then ask for that to be confirmed rather than assumed.

Writing the assumption down first makes it obvious which ones you are actually unsure about.

Ask what a management company or estate arrangement is responsible for outdoors, and which outdoor items remain with each individual householder.

Owners often pay towards maintenance without knowing which items it covers, and the two lists do not always meet in the middle.

Ask whether any drainage or landscape feature is expected to be adopted by anybody else in future, and what happens in the meantime.

Arrangements that are expected to transfer can sit in an interim state for a long period, and responsibility during it is worth establishing.

Ask whether any obligation to maintain, keep clear or refrain from altering something attaches to your plot, and ask where it is written.

An obligation attached to a plot survives every change of owner, and it is easier to read once than to discover by breaching it.

Where something on your plot must be maintained, ask what that actually involves and how often it is expected to be done.

An obligation with no description is impossible to discharge, and the description is much easier to obtain now than later.

Write down who to contact about each outdoor feature, and note where a route to contact simply does not exist.

The absence of anybody to ask is a finding in itself, and it changes how you approach anything involving that feature.

Read whatever cover came with the property specifically for what it says about the garden, drainage, levels and boundary structures.

Outdoor items are commonly treated differently from the building, and the difference is only visible if you look for it.

Ask how long any cover runs for and whether outdoor items run for the same period as the building itself.

Periods often differ between categories, and an item raised after its period has closed is treated quite differently.

Ask how an outdoor item is raised, to whom, and what evidence is expected, and write that process down before you need it.

Knowing the route in advance means an issue gets raised while it is still within any relevant period.

Ask specifically what is excluded outdoors, including anything described as settlement, planting losses, changes in level or ordinary wear and tear.

Exclusions are where outdoor expectations most often part company with what was actually covered.

Keep a dated record of anything you raise and what response you receive, including items that were noted but not resolved.

A contemporaneous record is what allows an unresolved item to be pursued rather than quietly dropped.

Ask directly what restrictions apply to the garden, including anything you may not build, remove, plant, pave or alter.

Restrictions are usually written down somewhere that nobody reads at completion, and asking in plain terms is the quickest route to them.

Ask whether there is any restriction on adding hard surfacing, and whether the plot drainage assumed a particular amount of paved area.

A plot drainage arrangement is worked out around an assumed area of hard surface, and adding to it changes what it was sized around.

Whether additional hard surfacing is permitted is confirmed locally with the relevant authority; requirements vary by location.

Ask what applies to putting up a shed, garden room, greenhouse or store, including anything about position, size, height or foundations.

A base for an outbuilding is excavation and a new load in one job, and it is the change most likely to meet a restriction.

Ask what applies to changing, raising or replacing a boundary treatment, who has to agree to it and who owns each side.

Boundary changes on a development frequently involve both a neighbour and an estate arrangement rather than only the owner.

Ask whether any tree or planted area on or near the plot is protected or required to be retained, and confirm locally.

Planting installed as part of a development is sometimes required to stay, which is not obvious from looking at it.

Whether a tree is protected must be confirmed locally with the relevant authority, and its condition belongs with a qualified arboricultural professional.

Ask whether any drainage or landscape feature on the plot must be kept clear, unaltered and accessible, and record exactly what that means.

This is the restriction owners breach most easily, because the feature usually looks like an ordinary part of the garden.

Ask for a drainage record showing what runs where across the plot, including chambers, routes and the point of connection.

Without one, tracing is required before any later work, and every alteration made in ignorance adds to the risk.

Ask for the positions of services crossing the garden, including anything routed across the plot to serve a neighbour.

A route serving somebody else is the one an owner is least likely to expect and most likely to hit.

Ask for a description of what any drainage feature on the plot is for, whether it is lined, and where water goes when it is full.

The same visible feature can be doing entirely different things depending on decisions that are invisible once it is built.

Ask where water is expected to run across the plot when the drainage is beyond what it was designed for.

That route is a design output that is almost never handed over, and it constrains where things can later be built or planted.

Ask what records exist of what was actually built rather than what was drawn, and whether you can have a copy.

The two differ more often than owners expect, and the record of what was built is the one that governs later work.

Keep everything you obtain in one place with the property paperwork, labelled so that a future owner would recognise what it is.

These records lose their value the moment nobody knows they exist, which is usually at the next change of ownership.

Go out during and after heavy rain in the first year and record where water runs, stands and disappears across the plot.

The first wet season is the most informative period a new garden has, and it only happens once.

Note any settlement, hollow or straight line of sinking that appears, particularly where a trench may have been cut across the garden.

Settlement along a line usually reports on backfill rather than on the surface, and it is worth recording early.

Photograph the garden from fixed positions in the first weeks, so later changes have something to be compared against.

A new garden is the one case where the earliest possible record is actually available, and it is rarely taken.

Note areas where planting struggles or water sits, and record exactly where they are rather than simply treating the symptom and moving on.

These patterns often trace something beneath, and the position matters more than the symptom when you eventually ask about it.

Raise anything you observe while any relevant period is still open, rather than waiting to see whether it settles down.

Waiting is the reasonable instinct and the one most likely to take an item past the point where it can be raised.