Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help improve transparency in developer communications in the retirement housing sector.

The government is taking no specific steps to improve transparency in developer communications in the retirement housing sector. However, retirement housing providers must comply with relevant consumer legislation.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, all terms of written contracts must be fair and transparent, that is: expressed in plain, intelligible language and they must be legible. If terms in a consumer contract are assessed by a court as unfair, they will not be binding on the consumer, even if the consumer has “accepted” them.

In addition, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading actions and omissions of material information, that are likely to impact the average consumer’s transactional decisions.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act also updates existing protections that prohibit traders from engaging in aggressive or misleading commercial practices, including harassment, high pressure-selling techniques, coercion or undue influence against consumers..

Lastly, the retirement housing sector is also supported by industry codes, including the Association of Retirement Housing Managers' (ARHM) Code of Practice and the Associated Retirement Community Operators' (ARCO) Consumer Code. These codes set standards for transparency, disclosure of fees and charges, and communications with prospective and existing residents, helping consumers make informed decisions about retirement housing.