Starting in late 2015, I co-chaired an inquiry into the quality of new build homes by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment. Our inquiry sessions took evidence from housebuilders, consumer groups, insurance companies and homebuyers.
Basingstoke has built more houses than almost any other part of the U.K. and know that the quality of house building is variable. I have been deeply concerned by the stories of a number of local residents who have contacted me about the problems that they have faced with the quality of their newly built homes. Buying a new home is the biggest purchase any of us will ever make and it is important that developers consistently deliver the quality of the new build houses that we all expect.
In our report ‘More homes, fewer complaints‘, we made a number of recommendations to ensure that house builders are held accountable and deliver good quality new build housing. The Government has taken our recommendations forward which include;- making the building inspector’s reports available to buyers to improve transparency, establishing the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) an independent organisation to oversee reforms in the quality of new homes and the customer service provided by developers, as well as creating the independent New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS) which can be used if the buyer is unhappy with the quality of the building or the conduct of the developer.
Below you will find details of how to contact these organisations should you have any problems.
New Homes Quality Board protects new home buyers by introducing a code of practice that outlines a series of requirements for developments and ensures that every aspect of a new home purchase is covered for up to two years. These new arrangements will apply to anyone who reserves a new home from a Registered Developer. If your developer is not registered with this code then you will not be covered, however you may still be protected by alternative schemes.
New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS) exists to help customers resolve issues with their new homes, which the Registered Developer has been unable or unwilling to fix. The remit of the New Homes Ombudsman Service covers the whole period from the Reservation and Legal Completion of a property through to after-sales and complaints management for issues during the first two years of a new home purchase.