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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if the Government will take steps to strengthen consumer redress rules to increase the confidence of buyers of new build homes of the quality of those homes.

The Government is committed to improving redress for new build homebuyers when things go wrong. On the 5 July 2021, the Government introduced the Building Safety Bill into Parliament, which includes provision for the New Homes Ombudsman scheme to provide dispute resolution to, and determine complaints by, buyers of new build homes against developers.

Once arrangements for the scheme have been made, developers will be required to become and remain members of the scheme. Where the ombudsman determines a dispute in favour of the complainant, they may order redress such as paying compensation, and where this is not complied with, the scheme may expel the member.

The New Homes Ombudsman provisions are for new homes built in England. Housing is a devolved matter and within the competency of the devolved legislatures and we are in discussions with the devolved administrations about the New Homes Ombudsman provisions, and they are considering how this policy might be taken forward in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.