By Tony Booth

Research conducted in a joint venture between academics at Glasgow Caledonian University and the UK's leading snagging company, 'Inspector Home', has found the quality of new-build homes is getting worse.

New dwellings were found to have up to over 400 defects, with the average number of faults per property across the UK standing at 72. This is more than the average number recorded during prior research undertaken in 2004.

The fact that construction quality is getting worse is no surprise to me. I have bought a number of new properties in my time and the last one had more than the usual number of snags.

There were the usual squeaky floorboards, badly fitted light fittings and switches, missed patches of plasterwork and doors that wouldn't close; but what really concerned me was that there were two dangerous faults that could have proved fatal to myself or the tenants I had lined up to move in.