New Build Broadband: What the Law Guarantees, What Your Developer Must Provide, and What to Do If the Fibre Is Missing

Who this is for: anyone buying, reserving or already living in a new build home, and anyone helping a family member through it. This guide was prompted by a reader in Cumbria whose daughter is buying a 2026 new build and was told by one fibre provider that its network does not reach the plot. She thought the law said a new home should have fibre. She was right about the law and wrong about what it promises, and the gap between the two is exactly what this guide sets out.

What does the law say about broadband in a new build home?

Direct answer: in England, two requirements in Part R of the Building Regulations. RA1 says every new dwelling must be built with gigabit-ready physical infrastructure, the ducting that carries fibre from the network to a termination point in the home. RA2 says each dwelling must also be provided with a connection to a gigabit-capable public network, subject to a cost cap.

The regulations were made on 23 September 2022 and came into force on 26 December 2022. They apply to "the erection of a dwelling or of a building that contains one or more dwellings", which covers new housing developments, self-build homes and the residential parts of mixed-use schemes. A gigabit-capable network is defined as one "capable of delivering broadband access services at download speeds of at least 1,000 Mbps". Because the definition is about capability rather than what you buy, a home is compliant when a gigabit line reaches it, whether or not you ever order the fastest package.

Two things are often misread. First, the law requires a connection to a gigabit-capable network, not to a particular company; the developer chooses the operator. Second, the law delivers the physical line, not the broadband service: Approved Document R says the requirement "does not require developers to secure the provision of a public electronic communications service with an internet service provider". You still pick a provider and place an order, and our guides to ordering before you move and installation times cover that side.

How does the £2,000 cost cap work?

Direct answer: the developer must provide a gigabit connection unless it has invited at least two suitable operators and none will connect the home free or for £2,000 or less, including VAT and after any contribution the operator makes. If gigabit is over the cap, the developer must provide the next fastest connection the cap will pay for. The ducting is required regardless.

The cap was set at £2,000 because, according to the Explanatory Memorandum that accompanied the English regulations, it "enables 99% of UK properties to be gigabit connected within the cap", and the government expected it to be breached in fewer than 2% of cases. Openreach's own terms make the point in practice: it builds full fibre free on sites of 20 or more premises, asks for a contribution on sites of 1 to 19, and says the maximum developer contribution for mandatory full fibre is £2,000 a plot. The exemption route exists for the rural site nobody will reach, not for the ordinary estate.

What "suitable" means matters for the reader's case. Approved Document R encourages developers to consider the site location, operators' ability in the locality, the variety of operators, their deployment plans, and operators "not necessarily in the locality of the development site, that might deploy there in the future". A developer that only asked one company, or only asked the local Project Gigabit contractor, has not met the test.

Does it have to be Fibrus, Openreach or anyone in particular?

Direct answer: no. The law names a standard, not a supplier. Most new homes are connected by Openreach, thinkbroadband's analysis of 2024/25 new build postcodes found Openreach "by a large factor" the biggest full fibre operator on new sites, but the developer can use any gigabit-capable public network.

This is why a "no" from one provider settles nothing. On a new estate the fibre may belong to Openreach, to an altnet the developer chose, or to a network built for that estate alone. Each has its own checker, and a new address appears in them at different times. The reader's daughter was told by Fibrus that its network does not reach her plot; Fibrus holds the Project Gigabit contract for Cumbria and has built to 100,000 Cumbrian premises commercially, but that contract covers premises listed when it was procured, and a plot built afterwards is unlikely to be on it. None of that tells you whether Openreach or another operator was engaged by the developer. Only the developer's connectivity plan does.

The other thing the law does not promise is choice. A home connected to a single network with a short list of retailers is compliant. Our guides to broadband for new builds and getting connected in a new build home cover single-network estates, and the New Homes Quality Code point below covers what the developer should have told you about it.

Which new homes are exempt?

Direct answer: four groups. Homes whose building work was notified before 26 December 2022 and started within 12 months of that date; homes created by converting an existing building; buildings for the armed forces or national security; and, for the ducting only, sites so isolated that a three-part test is met. There is no site-wide exemption for a whole development.

• The transitional rule. Regulation 3 says the amendments do not apply to "previously notified work", meaning work for which a building notice, initial notice or full plans were given to a local authority before 26 December 2022, if it started before that date or "within the period of 12 months beginning with that day". A 2026 home is outside the rules only if its plot was notified before 26 December 2022 and started by 25 December 2023. Ask the developer for both dates.
• No "one plot started, whole site exempt" rule. Some guidance for other parts of the Building Regulations describes a site-wide transitional rule. It is not in SI 2022/984, and Approved Document R says only that the work must have started within 12 months. Do not accept a claim that starting one house in 2023 exempts a house started in 2025 unless building control confirms it in writing.
• Conversions and non-residential. Approved Document R paragraphs 1.6 and 2.12 exclude wholly non-residential buildings, existing buildings undergoing major renovation, new dwellings created through a material change of use, and rooms in hostels, hotels, boarding houses, schools and hospitals. A barn conversion is not covered; a new house on the same land is.
• Armed forces and national security. Regulation 44ZB(1).
• The isolated site test, ducting only. Regulation 44ZB(2) excuses the ducting only where all three conditions hold: the building is in an area isolated from gigabit and high-speed networks, the connection duty has already fallen away because not even a USO-standard connection is available within the cap, and the prospect of a connection is "too remote" to justify the infrastructure. Approved Document R paragraph 1.29 adds that unconnected ducting must be protected from the weather so it is ready for a future line.

What about Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Direct answer: Wales adopted the same scheme from 1 July 2025. Scotland amended its Standard 4.14 from 1 January 2025 to require gigabit-capable infrastructure and a connection to a gigabit-capable network. We have found no equivalent requirement in Northern Ireland.

The Welsh regulations copied the English RA1, RA2, 44ZB and 44ZC structure, with one procedural change made after consultation: the network particulars are due "not later than the day before the work starts" rather than with the application, and a lighter connectivity statement is recommended at application stage. Scotland's Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment cites the same £2,000 cap and expects operators to contribute up to £1,400 per premises ahead of it; before the change, Scottish guidance noted there was "no requirement to provide a broadband connection at any speed within new homes". For Northern Ireland, the absence is an absence of evidence rather than a confirmed position, so ask the Department of Finance before relying on it.

What can you ask your developer for?

Direct answer: five things, in writing: the operator's name, the connectivity plan, the notification and start dates for your plot, the two operator responses if an exemption was claimed, and where the ducting and fibre box are. Building control holds copies of the plan and any exemption evidence.

The connectivity plan is the document that answers the reader's question. Regulation 13(2A) requires "particulars of any public electronic communications network in relation to which a connection is to be provided" to accompany the building notice or full plans, and Approved Document R gives developers a model form with a Part A for the infrastructure and a Part B for any exemption claim. Where an exemption is claimed, paragraph 3.4 says the evidence must come from at least two suitable operators and show quotes over the cap, refusals with reasons, or no response within the period. Operators are not obliged to reply, which is why "no reply" counts.

If the developer is registered with the New Homes Quality Board, its Code of Practice (Version 2, March 2026) requires pre-contract information to cover "any restrictions that apply to services (for example, gas, electricity, broadband, water, sewerage or other standard services) and the service providers". A home sold with no mention of a single-network estate or a missing connection is a Code complaint, first to the developer and then to the New Homes Ombudsman Service. Our complaints hub covers the broadband side of any dispute.

Why does the checker say my address does not exist?

Direct answer: because a brand new address has to be created, given a postcode and loaded into each network's systems, and that happens at different times for different networks. A checker that cannot find the address says no even where the fibre is in the ground.

Get the full postal address, postcode and plot number from the developer, and try every checker with each. If a provider tells you the address cannot be ordered, ask it to raise an address query; Openreach has a page for exactly this situation, "Broadband problems in your new build home", which asks customers whose provider has said they cannot order to get in touch. Our guide to new build address delays walks through the steps, and our guide to checking availability before you move covers what to do with the answer.

What if there is still no connection?

Direct answer: work through six routes in order. Check every network; raise an address query; ask the developer and then building control; complain under the New Homes Quality Code; ask about the USO without expecting much; and bridge the gap with 4G, 5G or satellite. The Gigabit voucher scheme is closed to new projects.

Two honest notes. Building control's power under section 36 of the Building Act 1984 is real but blunt: the notice requires the owner to put the work right, must be served within ten years of completion, and cannot be used where the work matched approved plans. After completion the owner is you. Its value to a buyer is that building control holds the paperwork and can tell you whether an exemption was claimed. And the USO is not the safety net it sounds: Ofcom's Connected Nations 2025 report counted around 160 new USO orders in the year to September 2025, BT says more than nine in ten of the remaining premises would cost over the £3,400 threshold, and a home due to be connected by a publicly funded scheme within 12 months is not eligible at all. Our USO guide has the detail, and our rural broadband guide covers the 4G, 5G and satellite options.

What does this mean for the reader in Cumbria?

Direct answer: her daughter's home is almost certainly inside the rules, so the developer owed it gigabit-ready ducting and, unless two operators refused within the cap, a gigabit connection. Fibrus's answer tells her which network was not used. The connectivity plan tells her which one was.

The sequence is short. Ask the developer, through the conveyancer if she has not completed, which network operator was connected to the plot and for a copy of the connectivity plan. Run the full new address through every checker, Openreach's included, because the site may have been built by Openreach under its free 20-plus premises offer. If the developer says an exemption was claimed, ask for the two operator responses and check the dates: a plot notified after 26 December 2022 cannot use the transitional rule. If the answers do not add up, building control has the file. And whatever the paperwork says, line up a 4G or 5G plan for completion day so nobody is offline while it is sorted. Fibrus's own checker is the place to confirm its position, and our Fibrus guide and BT versus Fibrus comparison cover what she can expect from either network once the line exists.

What should I do now?

Direct answer: three things, in this order.

Frequently asked questions

Do new build homes have to have fibre broadband?

In England, yes for the ducting and usually yes for the connection. Since 26 December 2022, requirement RA1 of the Building Regulations means every new dwelling must be built with gigabit-ready physical infrastructure, and requirement RA2 means each dwelling must be provided with a connection to a gigabit-capable network unless no suitable operator will do it for £2,000 or less per home. Where the cap is exceeded the developer must still provide the next fastest connection the cap will pay for, and the ducting is required in every case.

What is the £2,000 cost cap and how does it work?

Regulation 44ZC sets the cost cap at £2,000 for each dwelling, including VAT and after any contribution from the network operator. A developer is treated as able to get a connection within the cap unless it has invited at least two suitable operators to make an offer within 30 days and none has offered to connect the home free or within the cap. If gigabit is over the cap, the developer must take a high-speed connection within the cap; if that is over too, a connection meeting the universal service standard; only if none of those can be had within the cap does the connection duty fall away.

Does the developer have to use Fibrus, Openreach or any particular provider?

No. The law requires a connection to a gigabit-capable public network, not to a named one. Approved Document R encourages developers to consider operators in the locality, the variety of operators, their deployment plans and even operators not yet in the area. In practice most new homes are connected by Openreach, which builds full fibre free on sites of 20 or more premises, so if one provider says it does not serve your plot, check every other network before assuming there is nothing there.

Is a home completing in 2026 covered by the rules?

Almost always. The only escape is the transitional rule: the requirements do not apply to work that was notified to building control before 26 December 2022 and started within 12 months of that date. A plot notified after 26 December 2022, or notified earlier but not started by 25 December 2023, is inside the rules. Ask the developer when the building regulations application for your plot went in and when work started.

What is a connectivity plan and can I see it?

It is the information a developer must give the building control body before work starts, setting out the network connection to be provided or, if an exemption is claimed, the evidence from at least two operators that it could not be done within the cap. Approved Document R contains a model form. The developer can give you a copy, and the building control body that signed the home off holds it too. Ask for it in writing.

Does the law mean my broadband is set up when I move in?

No. Approved Document R says the requirement does not oblige developers to secure a service with an internet service provider. The developer delivers the physical connection to the home; you still choose a provider and place an order, and an engineer may need to visit to finish the job. Order as early as the address will accept an order.

What if there is only one provider available on my estate?

The regulations require a connection to a gigabit-capable network; they do not require a choice of networks or of retail providers. Some estates are served by a single network with a limited list of retailers. If the sales information said nothing about that, the New Homes Quality Code requires pre-contract disclosure of restrictions on services, including broadband, and the service providers, so a complaint to the developer, and then the New Homes Ombudsman, is open to you.

Why does my new address not show on broadband checkers?

Because new addresses take time to appear in every network's systems, and a checker that cannot find the address returns a no even where fibre is in the ground. Get the full postal address and postcode from the developer, along with the plot number, and ask the provider to raise an address query. Openreach has a dedicated page for new build homes where a provider has said you cannot order.

What can I do if the developer did not comply?

Three routes. The building control body can act under section 36 of the Building Act 1984, but its notice goes to the owner, must be issued within ten years of completion, and cannot be used where the work matched approved plans, so it is a weak consumer remedy. The New Homes Quality Code, for developers registered with it, requires accurate pre-contract information about service restrictions and gives you the New Homes Ombudsman. And your conveyancer can raise the missing connection as a defect against the developer's sales commitments.

Can I use the broadband Universal Service Obligation for a new build?

You can ask, but it rarely helps. The USO gives a right to request a connection of at least 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload from BT, or KCOM in Hull, with up to £3,400 of build cost covered. You are not eligible if the property is due to be connected by a publicly funded rollout within 12 months, which can catch homes in Project Gigabit areas such as Cumbria, and a compliant new build should already have a connection under RA2 or a written exemption.

Are the rules the same in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Wales adopted the same RA1 and RA2 scheme with a £2,000 cap from 1 July 2025. Scotland amended Standard 4.14 from 1 January 2025 to require gigabit-capable infrastructure and a connection to a gigabit-capable network, with the same £2,000 cap in its impact assessment. We have found no equivalent requirement in Northern Ireland; Openreach's developer page lists legislation for England, Scotland and Wales only.

Can I get a Gigabit Broadband Voucher for a new home with no fibre?

No. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme closed to new project submissions on 31 August 2026. Vouchers already requested can be issued until 31 March 2027 and claimed until 31 March 2028, but a new household cannot start a voucher project now. The realistic stopgaps are 4G or 5G home broadband and satellite.

References

• BT. (n.d.). A Universal Service Obligation. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.bt.com/about/bt/policy-and-regulation/keeping-the-uk-connected/a-universal-service-obligation
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. (2022). Approved Document R: Infrastructure for electronic communications, Volume 1: Physical infrastructure and network connection for new dwellings, 2022 edition. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infrastructure-for-electronic-communications-approved-document-r
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. (2022). Circular 04/2022: Part R regulations and Approved Documents R. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1108635/Circular_04-2022_Part_R_regs_ADRs.pdf
• House of Commons Library. (2026). The Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband (CBP-8146). Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8146/
• ISPreview. (2026, March). Fibrus brings full fibre broadband to 30,000 extra premises in Cumbria UK. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2026/03/fibrus-brings-full-fibre-broadband-to-30000-extra-premises-in-cumbria-uk.html
• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. (2026). Housing supply: indicators of new supply, England: October to December 2025. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/housing-supply-indicators-of-new-supply-england-october-to-december-2025/housing-supply-indicators-of-new-supply-england-october-to-december-2025
• New Homes Quality Board. (2026, March). New Homes Quality Code, Version 2. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.nhqb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/New-Homes-Quality-Code-V2-March-2026.pdf
• Openreach. (n.d.). Broadband problems in your new build home. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/problems-and-appointments/broadband-in-new-build-homes
• Openreach. (n.d.). Full Fibre broadband for new developments. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.openreach.com/building-developers-and-projects/fibre-for-developers
• Openreach. (n.d.). Registering your site. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/registering-your-site
• Scottish Government. (2024, November 25). Building standards: guidance changes January 2025, letter to local authority verifiers. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-standards-guidance-changes-january-2025-letter-to-local-authority-verifiers-25-november-2024/
• Scottish Government. (2024). The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024: Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-scotland-amendment-regulations-2024-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/
• The Building Act 1984, section 36. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/55/section/36
• The Building etc. (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/984. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/984/made
• The Building etc. (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2025, WSI 2025/377 (W. 74). Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2025/377/made
• thinkbroadband. (2025). Which broadband networks are serving new homes in 2024/2025. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/which-broadband-networks-are-serving-new-homes-in-2024-2025
• thinkbroadband. (2026). New analysis shows new build properties reaching 99% full fibre coverage in 2025/2026. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/new-analysis-shows-new-build-properties-reaching-99-full-fibre-coverage-in-2025-2026
• Welsh Government. (2025, March 25). Explanatory Memorandum to the Building etc. (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2025. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://laiddocuments.senedd.wales/sub-ld17084-em-en.pdf

Written by Adrian James, Broadband Editor at BroadbandSwitch.uk (LinkedIn). Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith, Founder (LinkedIn). Published 28 September 2026. BroadbandSwitch.uk is an independent comparison site, not a law firm; this guide explains the regulations as published and is not legal advice for any individual purchase, for which your conveyancer is the right person to ask. Regulation and guidance quotations are from legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on the date shown. Corrections are logged publicly.