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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding of the New Homes Review 2022, that 64 per cent of new homes were completed on time.

We expect all housing developers to deliver good quality housing, to deliver it on time, and to treat house buyers fairly. It is disappointing when new homes are not completed on time. For most new build homes purchased off-plan, the exchange date may be a long time before completion as the home. New build home contracts typically have a long-stop date, which is an estimated completion date and the rights and responsibilities of the homebuyer and developer should be set out in the contract, including the circumstances a deposit and other money is returned.

The Government is committed to improving redress for new build homebuyers when things go wrong. In July 2021, the UK 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. This will include the pre-completion period of new build homes. 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.

To ensure that developers know what is expected of them and homebuyers know what to expect, the Bill includes provision for a developers' code of practice about the standards of conduct and standards of quality of work expected of the schemes members'.