Your NHBRC cover, explained: what's protected for 3 months, 1 year and 5 years

Invicta Roodepark Eco City 2 blog: Your NHBRC cover, explained: what's protected for 3 months, 1 year and 5 years. Every new home in South Africa comes with a statutory warranty most buyers never read. It covers three different things for three different lengths of time — and knowing which is which is the difference between a roof leak costing you R0 and costing you R20,000. We build under NHBRC enrolment number 10734 at Invicta Roodepark Eco City 2 in Montana, Pretoria. This guide walks through what that number obliges us to fix, for how long, and what you give up if you buy an older house instead. The three cover periods: 3 months, 1 year, 5 years: The NHBRC warranty splits into three layers, each running from your date of occupation. For three months, you're covered for minor defects, the small stuff that surfaces once you actually live in the house. For one year, you're covered for roof leaks caused by faulty workmanship, design or materials. For five years, you're covered for major structural defects. These periods are fixed in law under the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act, not something a developer sets. When you buy a 2 Bed + Study Luxury Study at R1,239,000 or a Family Home 3 Bed 2 Bath at R1,349,000 at Roodepark Eco City 2, all three clocks start ticking on the same day. You can verify our enrolment number 10734 yourself on the NHBRC portal before you sign anything, and you should. If you're weighing this against an existing property, our [new build vs old house comparison](/guides/new-build-vs-old-house) sets the two side by side. What counts as a minor defect (the 3-month list): The three-month window covers the cosmetic and functional snags that only show up after move-in. Think doors that bind, a tap that drips, a cracked tile, paint that flakes, a window catch that won't seat, or skirting that's lifted. These aren't structural and they aren't roof leaks, they're workmanship items the builder is obliged to correct. The catch is the clock. Three months is short. The moment you take occupation of your 3 Bed 2 Bath Luxury Plus at R1,239,000, walk every room with a notepad. Log each defect in writing and send it to us. We'd rather fix a sticking door in week two than argue about it in month four. Anything you noticed at handover and signed off as acceptable is treated as accepted, so the snag list you complete on day one matters more than most buyers realise. Roof leaks and the 1-year rule: The one-year cover deals specifically with roof leaks caused by faulty design, workmanship or materials. This is the layer buyers underestimate, because a roof can look perfect at handover and only fail in the first hard Highveld storm. Here's the worked example. Say a 20-year-old house in nearby Sinoville develops a leak where the flashing has perished. You call a roofer. The repair quote comes back at R20,000 for stripping, re-flashing, re-tiling a section and patching the ceiling. On that old house, you pay all R20,000 yourself. On a first-year NHBRC home under enrolment 10734, the same defect is a warranty claim — your cost is R0, because the builder is obliged to fix it. That gap is the whole point of the cover. A R20,000 quote against a R0 obligation is the difference one year of warranty makes. It also feeds into the broader [costs of buying a house](/guides/costs-of-buying-a-house) most people only tally after they've moved in. The 5-year structural warranty — what 'major structural defect' actually means: Five years is the headline cover, and it's narrower than people assume. A major structural defect means a defect in the load-bearing elements that threatens the stability of the home, foundations, structural walls, the roof structure itself. Settlement that cracks a foundation, a failing structural beam, a roof frame that wasn't built to spec: these are the claims the five-year warranty exists for. A hairline crack in a non-structural wall is not a major structural defect. Neither is a door that won't close. The test is whether the building's structural integrity is compromised. On a Family Home at R1,349,000, that five-year cover is effectively insurance on the bones of the house, the parts you can't see and can't cheaply fix. If you're buying [off-plan](/guides/buying-off-plan), the structural warranty runs from your occupation date, not from the day the slab was poured, so you get the full five years from move-in. What the NHBRC does not cover: Candour matters here, so plainly: the warranty is not a maintenance contract. It does not cover wear and tear. Faded paint after five summers, worn carpets, a geyser element that fails from age, perished door seals — that's upkeep, and it's yours. It does not cover anything you altered yourself. The day you knock out a wall, add a carport, or have a non-approved contractor touch the roof, you've voided cover on that work. It does not cover defects you signed off at handover. If it was on the house at occupation and you accepted it, you accepted it. It also doesn't cover storm damage, theft, or normal cracking from seasonal movement. None of this is the NHBRC being difficult — it's the line between a building warranty and a homeowner's responsibility. Knowing that line stops you from lodging a claim that was never going to succeed. How to lodge a claim, and how long it takes: From the builder's side of the counter, here's how it runs. You notify us in writing the moment you spot a covered defect — a minor defect inside three months, a roof leak inside a year, a structural defect inside five years. We assess it. If it's a valid warranty item, we're obliged to repair it, and we'd typically arrange the fix directly rather than push you to the NHBRC's warranty fund. If we don't, or if there's a dispute about whether it's covered, you escalate to the NHBRC against enrolment 10734, and they investigate and can instruct the repair or fund it. Timelines depend on the defect — a leaking valley is a few days' work; a structural assessment takes longer because it needs inspection. The single thing that speeds every claim is dated written records: your snag list, your photos, the date you reported it. Phone us on 063 600 3905 the day you notice something, not the week the warranty period ends. Buying a 20-year-old house instead? Here's the cover you give up: Compare honestly. A 20-year-old house in Sinoville or Montana has no NHBRC warranty left — all three periods expired nineteen years ago. Every defect is yours, including that R20,000 roof repair. A new home at [Roodepark Eco City 2 in Montana](/new-developments/montana-pretoria) gives you the full 3-month, 1-year and 5-year cover under enrolment 10734, plus prices that include transfer duty, bond registration, transfer fees and legal costs. Because you're buying a new build direct from the developer, the sale is VAT-inclusive, so no transfer duty applies at any price — on a resale at these prices you would pay duty on everything above the R1,210,000 threshold (confirmed unchanged on 19 February 2026). A 2 Bed + Study Luxury Study at R1,239,000 works out to about R12 370/month at the current prime rate of 10.5% over 240 months. The older house might list cheaper, but you carry every structural and roof risk yourself from day one. See the certificate before you sign: Ask us to put the NHBRC enrolment certificate on the table at your show-house visit — we'll show you exactly what enrolment number 10734 covers before you sign anything. Bring the portal up on your phone and check it against our paperwork while you're standing in the house. Call 063 600 3905 to book a viewing at Invicta Roodepark Eco City 2 in Montana, Pretoria, and we'll walk the three cover periods with you, plan by plan. Homes from R1 239 000 all-inclusive, no transfer duty. Contact: 063 600 3905. Official site: https://www.invictaproperties.co.za/.