Buyers of new builds will welcome a raft of assurances and protective measures that came into effect at the beginning of October.
The good news is delivered by the formation of a government-backed New Homes Quality Board (NHQB). This independent body puts in place a code of practice for the resolution of disputes between buyers and housebuilders on quality issues with newly built homes.
Since the NHQB will be looking at all new build homes it may be expected to help reverse the exodus of landlords from the private rented sector and encourage them to invest with greater confidence in homes that have just been built.
The New Homes Quality Board
The NHQB of course recognises that the majority of homes in the UK will be completed to a satisfactory standard that achieves the quality expected by a demanding market.
Despite that, the industry is keen to demonstrate that it is on the side of the buyer if things should go wrong. That is reflected by the fact that more than 100 housebuilders and developers have now formally registered to work in concert with the NHQB.
Working with the newly formed NHQB, builders and developers will now have that added incentive to respond quickly whenever things are on the brink of going wrong so that homebuyers’ concerns and issues are greeted with a rapid and helpful response – if necessary, with the redress of an independent NHQB hearing at the end of the day.
In this way, it is argued, the standards and quality of construction, not to mention the timeliness of customer service within the building industry, will be steadily improved.
A New Homes Quality Code will ensure that every buyer has a two-year warranty on a new build property and that customer service remains first and foremost every step along the way – from an initial viewing of a new home through to the last visit to the sales office.
New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS)
In parallel with the NHQB a further independent organisation – the New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS) – has also been set up to provide an ombudsman service capable of resolving and enforcing breaches of the New Homes Quality Code.
The new ombudsman service has set out the six simple steps by which it will tackle housing quality issues:
- the homebuyer lodges a complaint or raises an issue;
- the homebuyer is invited to provide evidence in support of the complaint or issue;
- the complaint or issue is referred in the first instance to the appropriate housebuilder or developer;
- the New Home Ombudsman studies and takes a preliminary view on the complaint or issue – calling for further evidence as and when that becomes necessary;
- a draft decision is issued by the Ombudsman; and
- in the light of any comments or counterarguments it receives, the Ombudsman publishes a final decision.
Working in tandem, therefore, the NHQB and the NHOS are committed to raising buyers’ confidence and trust in the standards of quality achieved by the builders and developers of new homes in the UK.
Those buyers are likely to include a fair share of buy to let landlords who choose to invest in new build property – and, so, contribute to the provision of private rented accommodation.
