Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to (a) improve the quality of newly built houses and (b) ensure that purchasers of newly built homes are able to have defects rectified swiftly; and if he will make a statement.

I want to ensure we can be proud of the next generation of homes we build. We know more needs to be done to protect consumers.

We have announced our intention for a New Homes Ombudsman to be established and I am considering options for a shadow ombudsman. We will be bringing forward legislation to require developers to belong to a New Homes Ombudsman, which will treat home buyers fairly. We’ll soon be consulting on the details of how this will work - to raise standards and ensure that problems encountered by consumers are resolved faster and more effectively.

We will also establish the condition that housing developers must belong to a New Homes Ombudsman to participate in the new Help to Buy Scheme in England, post 2021. In the meantime we expect industry to improve the quality of new build homes in the first place, treat customers fairly and resolve problems swiftly.