Government will look at bold options to improve consumer redress
across the housing sector, the Communities Secretary announced today (29 November
2017).
Speaking to an audience of housing professionals in London, the
Communities Secretary set out his commitment to fixing the broken
housing market and to build the homes the country not only needs
– but the homes the country deserves.
Purchasing a home is one of life’s greatest financial
investments, they are also the places we live our lives – it is
vital that as housing supply increases, the quality of new build
homes continues to improve.
Potential measures to address this issue could include
introducing a single housing ombudsman to help provide more
comprehensive redress for home owners, home buyers, tenants and
landlords.
Communities Secretary said:
Since 2010 this government has delivered over 1.1 million homes
- and last week’s Budget set out our ambitious plans to fix the
broken housing market so we get more homes built in the places
that people want to live.
But we don’t have to choose between building more and building
better - we can do both. Homes are not only the biggest
financial investment in our lives, but also provide security,
and so it’s only right that developers and builders are held to
a higher standard.
That’s why we are looking at bold options to improve redress in
the New Year – including whether housing, like other sectors,
should have a single ombudsman. This could help drive up
standards across the whole industry and increase protections
for consumers.
Currently, there are 4 government approved providers of redress
that cover some aspects of home buying and renting, but not all.
Membership of ombudsman schemes is compulsory for some groups,
but not for others.
In the New Year, the government will consult with consumers and
the industry, and look at options to explore how the overlap
between responsibilities can be improve. This would help to avoid
the confusion faced by consumers over where to seek help.
Last week’s Budget set out a
range of measures to boost the housing market, including:
- £44 billion over the next 5 years in capital funding, loans
and guarantees
- a new National House Building Fund, with more than £15
billion of new financial support over the next 5 years
- planning reforms to ensure more land is available for housing
and maximise the potential of our cities and towns to build new
homes whilst protecting the green belt
- raising the Housing Revenue Account borrowing cap by a total
of £1 billion in areas of high affordability pressure for local
authorities who are ready to start building new homes
Taken together with the reforms in the housing white paper,
published in February 2017, the Budget puts the government on
track to raise housing supply to 300,000 a year on average by the
mid-2020s.
In the white paper we set out our ambition for a housing market
that works for everyone. We expect all housing developers to
deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat
house buyers fairly.
Read the full speech.
A full consultation will take place in the New Year to assess the
current redress provision and seek views on how access to redress
for consumers could be improved.
