The Snags Came Back After Being Marked Fixed: What That Actually Tells You
The owner sent us a photograph of a ceiling stain. Same room, same position, slightly larger than the one that had been signed off as closed in November. This is one of the calls we get most often at Prime Inspections.
His message was three words long. “They told me it was fixed.”
It was covered. That is a different thing, and the fact that it came back in exactly the same place tells us considerably more than the original stain did.
That independence line above matters most on a page like this, because the person who told you the item was closed is paid by the developer. We are not, as our About Us page sets out.
Why do snags reappear after being marked fixed?
Snags reappear because the symptom was treated and the cause was not. Filler over a live crack, sealant over trapped moisture and a refilled trap on an unvented stack all fail again.
Recurrence is not bad luck. It is evidence of an unresolved source, and that makes it grounds to reopen the item in writing inside your Defects Liability Period.
Read that as good news, oddly. The second appearance of a defect is a stronger piece of evidence than the first, because it demonstrates a mechanism rather than a moment.
We attended a stairwell crack in a Dubai Hills Estate villa that had been filled and painted twice, reopening along the identical line both times. On the third visit we fitted a crack gauge, and within weeks it showed measurable movement.
A crack that reopens along the same line is live. Filler is a measurement tool, not a repair.
Cosmetic cover up versus root cause repair
A cover up restores appearance. A root cause repair removes the mechanism. From two metres away on the day, they look identical.
| Defect | What the cover up looks like | What the real repair requires | How to verify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crack | Filler and paint | Diagnose movement, address the source, then make good | Crack gauge readings over weeks |
| Damp or stain | Repaint, reseal, replace a tile | Locate the water path, repair the membrane or pipe | Moisture readings on the substrate, thermal imaging |
| Drainage odour | Refill the trap | Fit the missing seal or correct stack venting | Refill, then recheck at day 2, 4 and 7 |
| Balcony ponding | Regrout, clean the salts | Correct falls, reset the drain, reinstate waterproofing | Timed flood test, water gone in about 5 minutes |
| AC not cooling | Clean the filter | Air balancing, thermostat commissioning, valve or account | Supply versus return delta T measurement |
Cracks
The most commonly covered defect, because filler and paint are quick and the result photographs well.
The families behave differently. Shrinkage and crazing sit within the finish and stop. Thermal movement opens and closes at material junctions. Settlement shows as diagonal cracking at openings, stepped through blockwork mortar joints. Structural cracks pass through the full thickness of an element, may show a step or offset between faces, and matter most near columns, beams and slab soffits.
Five diagnostics separate them: width against a scale, pattern and direction, whether the crack crosses different materials, whether it is progressive on a crack gauge over weeks, and whether moisture is present.
Where a crack does turn out to threaten structural stability and safety, it sits under Article 821 of Federal Decree-Law No. 25 of 2025, previously Article 880 of Federal Law No. 5 of 1985, which runs for ten years. That said, a recurring crack is not automatically structural. It is automatically worth measuring.
Damp, stains and leaks
Three cover ups dominate here: repainting a stain, resealing over trapped moisture, and replacing a tile without touching the membrane behind it.
The second one is worth dwelling on. Silicone applied to a substrate that is still wet cannot bond properly, and it also seals moisture in rather than letting it dry. The joint fails, usually within weeks, and the recurrence gets recorded as a new complaint.
We resealed a shower tray perimeter on a unit in Bluewaters Island where the substrate still read wet on the moisture meter. We flagged it at the time. The sealant failed inside a month.
Sealant on a wet substrate is a timer, not a fix.
Diagnostics: moisture meter readings taken as a grid so they are comparable, thermal imaging to map the moisture signature, dye testing and pressure testing to confirm the path, and a timeline log recording when the damp grows and shrinks. This is the same forensic process behind our Water Leakage Inspection service, and it applies equally to a case like damp appearing on a ceiling.
“The exact source of the problem was identified.” That client review line is the difference between a closed item and a fixed one.
Drainage odours
The classic cycle. Somebody refills the traps, the smell goes, the item is closed, and the smell returns within days.
Refilling is a test, not a repair. If a trap dried out through evaporation in a vacant unit, refilling fixes it permanently. If a floor trap seal is missing or a soil stack is inadequately vented and siphoning traps dry, refilling buys you three days.
We attended a vacant unit in Dubai Creek Harbour where every trap in the property was refilled and logged. The odour was back within days, and it intensified whenever a large flow discharged.
If odour returns days after refilling, it is venting or a seal defect, not evaporation.
Balcony ponding and efflorescence
Regrouting and cleaning off the white salts changes the appearance and nothing else.
The real causes are a screed laid level, a reverse fall towards the door, a deck drain sitting above finished floor level, a tile bed built up over the original fall, or blocked threshold weep holes. The same drainage principle applies around shared pool decks, which is why we check deck falls separately under our Pool Inspection service.
Accepted practice for a balcony fall is around 1 in 100, which is one percent. That is industry practice rather than a legal figure, and the authoritative position for your project is the Dubai Municipality Building Code Regulations and Construction Specifications rather than any article.
On efflorescence specifically: it is salts carried to the surface by water moving through the build up. Cleaning removes the deposit. If the white bloom returns, the moisture path is still live, which means the ponding was never resolved.
AC not cooling again
Cleaning the filter is the standard closure, and it is sometimes correct. When it is not, the reasons are usually air balancing that was never carried out, a thermostat that was never commissioned or is addressed to the wrong unit, a closed chilled water isolation valve above a ceiling panel, or a district cooling account that is not active.
Verification is the supply versus return air temperature split. In Dubai, with ambient above 45 C, a healthy system may deliver only around 10 to 12 C below ambient at peak, which is engineering practice rather than a published acceptance threshold. Measure it rather than judging it by hand.
Want to see how we record a cause rather than a symptom? View our free sample report.
Why rectification teams close items without fixing them
This is worth understanding properly, because the assumption most owners arrive with is the wrong one.
In the majority of the recurrences we attend, nobody lied. What happened is structural, in the organisational sense:
Closure targets. Rectification teams are measured on items closed against a schedule. A closed item is a completed unit of work.
A snag line with no diagnosis. The instruction reads “crack in stairwell wall, make good”. It does not read “establish whether this crack is live”. The painter received a task, not a question.
The specialist trade has demobilised. The waterproofing subcontractor left the site months ago. What remains is a general maintenance team.
Access constraints. In an occupied unit, opening up a wet area means displacing residents, protecting finishes and a multi day programme. Resealing takes twenty minutes.
The person holding the paintbrush is rarely the person who could have found the leak, and was rarely asked to.
That matters for your tone as much as your understanding. An email that accuses gets a defensive reply. An email that asks what was done gets information.
How to prove it: the dated comparison photography protocol
This is the part that turns your position from an assertion into a record.
- The baseline photograph. Wide, mid and close, with a scale in frame on the close shot, the room labelled, and the date on the file. Taken at the original inspection.
- The closure photograph. Ask the developer for a photograph of the completed work and a description of what was actually done. Not a status change in a system, not “closed” in a column. If they cannot produce one, that absence is itself useful.
- The recurrence photograph. Same angle, same distance, same lighting, same reference object in frame. Plus a measurement, so growth is provable rather than arguable.
- The written log. Date reported, date closed, date of recurrence, any weather event, and every email thread kept in one file. Sequence is what makes recurrence undeniable.
- Instrument evidence. Dated moisture readings, thermal images with the temperature scale visible, crack gauge readings taken over time.
The single most common failure here is the recurrence photograph taken from a different position than the baseline. Two photographs of the same wall from different angles prove nothing. Two from the same position prove everything.
The de-snag re-inspection and what closure should mean
A snag is not closed when it looks closed. It is closed when the cause is gone.
Four criteria, and we would apply all four before signing off:
- The cause was identified, and named in writing.
- The cause was addressed, not just the visible symptom.
- A verification test was carried out. A timed flood test on a balcony, a hose test on a door or window, a delta T measurement on an AC, a moisture reading on a substrate before anything was sealed over it.
- A dated photograph of the completed work exists, taken from the original camera position.
A de-snag report should sort every item into three states rather than two: closed and verified, closed but unverified, and reopened with reasons. That middle category is the honest one, and most reporting formats do not have it.
We ran a re-inspection on a Jumeirah Bay Island villa where several items were marked closed with no closure photograph at all, and one of them had visibly not been touched since the original visit.
Closure without evidence is a status change, not a repair.
Book a de-snag re-inspection through our Contractor Work Inspection service and get every closed item verified with dated photos and instrument readings.
Reopening a closed item with the developer
Keep it factual and keep it in one thread.
Your written notice should carry the original snag reference number, the date it was reported, the date it was marked closed, the date of recurrence, and reference to your SPA defect clause and the Defects Liability Period.
Then ask two things that change the conversation:
Request the method statement. What was done, by which trade, on what date. This is a reasonable request and the answer is informative either way.
Request a specialist trade. If the first attempt was made by a general maintenance team and failed, ask specifically for the relevant specialist, whether that is waterproofing, plumbing or HVAC.
Rectification commonly runs around four to five weeks in this market from written notice to completion. That is our field observation, not a legal deadline, and your SPA may say otherwise.
What if the DLP is about to expire?
This is the scenario that costs owners the most, because the item bounces between open and closed while the clock runs.
Your general finishing DLP is commonly twelve months, but it is contractual and set by your SPA rather than statutory. MEP warranties of twelve months are market practice, not law. Both clocks tie to the date you signed the handover acceptance form, not to key collection.
Three things to do now if you are inside the last few weeks:
Put everything on the record in writing. Every open item and every recurring item, listed, dated, with evidence, sent before the period ends. A defect raised in writing before expiry is in a materially different position from one raised after.
Book a DLP expiry inspection early. Not in the final week. Give yourself enough runway to submit findings and receive a response inside the period.
Know what survives. Defects threatening structural stability and safety remain live for ten years under Article 821. Article 823 voids any clause attempting to exclude that. Article 824 requires a claim within three years of collapse or discovery.
So finishing and MEP items need to be on the record before your contractual period closes. Structural exposure does not expire with it.
Escalation if the developer keeps closing it
If a developer keeps closing items rather than fixing them, see our guide on what to do when a developer ignores your snag list. Otherwise the route is the same one we recommend for any unresolved snag.
- Written dated notice. To the developer or main contractor, with the comparison photographs and the timeline.
- Customer care, then head of customer experience. In writing, referencing the closure and recurrence dates.
- RERA and the Dubai Land Department. Via the Dubai REST app or the Dubai Land Department website violations route. The fee is commonly cited at AED 1,000 per complaint, with an initial response in about five working days and admission roughly seven to fifteen days once documents are complete. The process moves through review, notice, mediation and investigation, with a decision target near 60 days. RERA sits within the DLD. Verify current figures and treat the timings as targets.
- Dubai Courts. Claims above AED 100,000 generally need a report from a DLD registered property consultant, commonly around AED 5,000 to AED 15,000, with filing fees percentage based and capped at a figure commonly cited near AED 40,000. Dubai Courts timelines run six to eighteen months or longer.
Three notes on routing. The Rental Disputes Centre handles landlord and tenant disputes only and does not hear buyer versus developer defect claims. Dubai Municipality is the right authority for building code and structural safety concerns. And where the source turns out to be common property, such as a riser or a shared stack, responsibility sits with the Owners Association or Management Company under Law No. 6 of 2019, funded through service charges on Mollak. The DLD call centre is 800 4488.
What a re-inspection costs
Ranges by unit type, as market ranges only, request a quote:
| Property | Market range |
|---|---|
| Studio or 1 bedroom | AED 800 to AED 1,200 |
| 2 bedroom | AED 1,200 to AED 1,800 |
| 3 bedroom | AED 1,800 to AED 2,500 |
| Townhouse | AED 2,500 to AED 3,500 |
| Villa | AED 3,500 to AED 6,000 and above |
A de-snag is usually a reduced scope revisit rather than a full repeat, since it targets the listed items rather than the whole property. Full inspections take two to four hours for apartments and four to eight for villas. The same verification approach applies whether the property came through a new handover or a Resale Property Inspection.
Frequently asked questions
Why do snags come back after being fixed? Because the symptom was treated and the cause was not. Filler over a live crack, sealant over trapped moisture, or a refilled trap on an inadequately vented stack will all fail again. The recurrence is itself evidence that the underlying mechanism was never identified.
What is a de-snag inspection? A follow up inspection that verifies whether items marked closed were actually rectified, using dated comparison photography from the original camera positions plus instrument readings. It sorts items into closed and verified, closed but unverified, and reopened with reasons.
How do I prove the developer did not fix a snag properly? With dated photographs from the same angle before and after, a measurement showing any change in size, a written timeline of report, closure and recurrence dates, and instrument evidence such as moisture readings or crack gauge measurements taken over weeks.
Can I reopen a snag the developer marked as closed? Yes, while you are inside the Defects Liability Period. Send a written dated notice quoting the original snag reference, the closure date and the recurrence date, with photographic evidence, and request the method statement describing what work was actually carried out.
Why did the crack come back after filling and painting? Because filler does not stop movement. If a crack reopens along the identical line, something is still moving the elements, whether that is settlement, thermal movement or a structural issue. Fit a crack gauge and measure over weeks before accepting any explanation.
Why does the drain smell return days after it was cleared? Because the trap is being emptied again. Usually negative pressure in an inadequately vented soil stack siphons the water seal out when a large flow discharges. Evaporation does not repeat on a cycle of days, so a returning odour indicates a venting or seal defect.
Why is the damp patch back after resealing? Most often because the sealant was applied over a substrate that was still wet, so it could not bond and it trapped moisture behind it. Alternatively the water is arriving from a path the reseal never touched, such as a failed membrane or a pipe joint.
What if the DLP expires while the snag is still recurring? Put every open and recurring item in writing with evidence before the period ends, since a defect on the record before expiry sits in a much stronger position. Structural stability and safety defects remain covered for ten years regardless of the contractual period.
Is a recurring crack a structural problem? Not automatically, but it warrants measurement rather than assumption. Fit a crack gauge and monitor over several weeks. Structural indicators are a crack passing through the full thickness of an element, a step or offset between the two faces, and proximity to columns, beams or slab soffits.
What if the developer says the recurrence is my fault? Ask for the method statement describing what was originally done, and produce your dated comparison photographs and instrument readings. Where the recurrence appears along the identical line or in the identical location as the original defect, that pattern is difficult to attribute to occupation.
Where we carry out these inspections
De-snag re-inspections are something we run across Dubai’s apartment towers and villa communities, including Tilal Al Ghaf, District One, Emirates Hills and Palm Jumeirah, alongside Dubai Hills Estate, Bluewaters Island, Dubai Creek Harbour and Jumeirah Bay Island covered above. Read more in our Home Inspection and Snagging blog categories.
The engineer’s judgement
In most recurrences we attend, nobody lied to anybody. Somebody was given a snag line and a deadline, and no instruction to find the water.
Your job as the owner is narrower than it feels. You are not trying to prove bad faith, and you will not enjoy the conversation if you try. You are insisting on one thing: that the item is closed against a cause, not against a photograph of fresh paint.
Ask what was done. Ask for the method statement. Take the photograph from the same position you took the first one. Those three habits resolve more recurrences than any amount of escalation.
Our re-inspections use thermal imaging, moisture metering, crack gauges and HVAC performance instruments as part of our Complete Building Inspection approach, carried out by InterNACHI certified, RERA certified inspectors, with a dated photo based report inside 24 hours. Clients rate us 4.9 out of 5 across 108 Google reviews, and one line captures what a de-snag is for: “No switch was left unswitched, lock left unchecked or tile untapped.”
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Speak to our engineer on +971 50 602 1830, WhatsApp for an instant quote, or email connect@primeinspections.ae. Office 1914-203, The Binary by Omniyat, Business Bay, Dubai.
