Snagging a new apartment in Dubai: the checklist, room by room

What is snagging?

Snagging is the check of a finished home for small defects before you accept it: a door that catches, a tile that sounds hollow, a socket that is loose, a silicone bead that has already pulled away. The trade calls the resulting document a snag list, and in America a punch list. The developer or contractor works through it before handover, or in the first weeks after.

The point is not to find fault for its own sake. It is to record the state of the home on the day you took it, so the things that are theirs to fix get fixed while they still are. Here is what a snag list is and how to track it.

Source: Designing Buildings: Snagging construction works

When should you snag a new apartment?

Before you sign for the keys, if your developer lets you walk the unit first, and again in the first weeks of living there, because some faults only show when the shower runs and the cooling has been on all day.

Dubai law gives you a frame for the timing. Under Article 40 of Law No. 6 of 2019 the developer must repair or replace defective installations, which the law describes as mechanical and electrical works, sanitary fittings, sewerage and the like, for one year from the date the unit is handed to you. Structural defects are covered for ten years from the project's completion certificate. So the first year is the year to report everything that is not structural. The periods in full are in what your developer must fix, and for how long.

Source: Afridi & Angell: Law 6 of 2019 on the ownership of common property in the Emirate of Dubai

Before you start: switch everything on

A cold, dark, dry apartment hides most of its snags. Ask for the power and water to be connected before your visit. Run the cooling for an hour. Fill the sinks and baths and let them drain. Open every tap and flush every toilet. Faults in installations are the ones with the one year clock on them, so they are the ones to find first.

Bring a torch, a phone with a full battery for photos, a small spirit level, a socket tester if you have one, a roll of low tack tape to mark items on the spot, and a notebook or a shared document. Give yourself two to three hours for a two bedroom apartment. Rushing a snag is how things get missed.

The checklist, in walking order

Work the apartment in this order, so nothing is passed twice and nothing is skipped. Each line is what you look at and what counts as a snag.

What a visual inspection cannot see

A snag walk is a visual review of what you can reach. It will not tell you whether the electrical installation meets the regulations, whether the waterproofing under the bathroom floor is sound, or whether a crack is cosmetic or structural. Those need a specialist with instruments and sometimes an opening up of the finish.

Write those concerns down separately, as questions rather than findings. A good inspection report keeps the two apart: what was seen, and what should be tested by someone qualified to test it. That is how we structure ours, and the Snag line page describes the visual scope we start from.

How to report snags so they get fixed

Report in writing, through the route your developer names, and keep a copy with the date. For each item give the room, the exact location, a one line description and a photo. A list of a hundred clear items is easier to action than a paragraph of complaints. Number them, so follow up conversations can refer to item 37 instead of the thing in the second bathroom.

Keep your sales agreement, floor plans, specifications, snag reports and every letter and message about defects in one folder. If a developer calls something a snag that is really a defect in an installation, the paper trail is what carries the point. Where the developer does not respond, the remaining routes are the dispute clause in your agreement, which usually names a court or arbitration.

Source: Chambers and Partners: Construction defects in Dubai, legal remedies for new property owners

Snag list or punch list?

Same thing, two countries. British English says snag list, American English says punch list, from the practice of punching a hole beside each completed item. Your developer's handover team may use either. What matters is that the list is written, dated, numbered and signed off item by item.

Source: Wikipedia: Punch list

Want a second pair of eyes?

We inspect apartments and villas before handover and after renovation. You tell us the situation and your location, we agree the rooms, the checklist and the fee before booking, and you receive a room by room record with photographs where access allows. Repairs and specialist tests are separate, and we say so. Start on the home inspection page.