When Simon and Lisa Ellis bought a £450,000 executive home on an award-winning Barratt estate near Leicester, they could hardly contain their excitement as the move approached - the smart six-bedroom property was twice the size of their previous one, with an extensive children's play area.

When Simon and Lisa Ellis bought a £450,000 executive home on an award-winning Barratt estate near Leicester, they could hardly contain their excitement as the move approached - the smart six-bedroom property was twice the size of their previous one, with an extensive children's play area.

Ask Allyson Snape anything about plumbing, central heating, power showers, damp problems or roof repairs and she'll probably have the answer. Her know-how comes not from evening classes, but a three-year saga that she and her husband John have faced since they bought a "luxury", four-bedroom David Wilson home in the Peak District, writes Christopher Browne

It's every householder's nightmare. Early last year, the ground floor of Kevin and Adrienne Loftus's Cheshire home started to sink. "The wooden and laminated floorboards had become uneven and cracks had appeared in some. We also found many of the floor tiles in the bathroom had broken," says Mr Loftus.

Snagging - the very name is enough to put you off. No one likes having to deal with problems or hitches. But for anyone who buys a newly built or converted property, the S-word can be crucial. Do it right and you could save yourself thousands of pounds. Do it wrong and you could end up with a problem property.