The government has made it compulsory for all housebuilders to join and comply with the New Homes Ombudsman Service.
This is in an attempt to improve consumer protection for new property purchasers, and follows recommendations from the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) whose aims are to address widespread quality issues in new build homes.
This new scheme, however, will not just impact on buyers and sellers of new houses. Anyone buying or building a house needs to know about the New Homes Ombudsman Service.
The code is designed to be unified and be a mandatory consumer code of a standardised nature across the whole of Great Britain.
The Chief Ombudsman for the New Homes Ombudsman Service, Nigel Cates, endorsed the development, stating: “We warmly welcome the government’s commitment to require all house builders to join the New Homes Ombudsman Scheme and abide by a single quality code. This will ensure all those purchasing new homes enjoy the same level of protection and recourse to an Ombudsman Service, no matter who their developer might be.”
The new rules also aim to empower homeowners on managed estates and give a set of rigid guidelines for all concerned, that is underpinned by the principles of fairness, safety, transparency, compliance, etc.
The Home Owners’ Alliance has pointed out that some of the new standards to be adhered to are not yet clear and some of the proposed standards are already causing some controversy which the creators of the scheme will need to clarify promptly. For example, the rules, at present, prevent any complaint to the builders of new houses two years after purchase. They also state that major issues are to be dealt with by way of warranty. This will not force builders to increase efforts to build good properties in the first place and will encourage builders to merely use purchasers and warranty companies to “snag” their work.
There is also the question of who is going to enforce the new rules and standards. Local authorities suggest that it is not a job for them as they are already overworked and underfunded and cannot get through the workload that they already have.
Supporters of the New Homes Ombudsman are already arguing that there have been improvements, while non-supporters are questioning its effectiveness.
The real test will be to see if, in time, the reforms result in a tangible improvement to the quality and service experienced by new home buyers.