Shared Ownership

(asked on 24th June 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of what consumer protections are required as private providers enter the shared ownership market.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 1st July 2019

The vast majority of private shared ownership providers are Registered Providers, regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing. In England, all registered providers of social housing must comply with the regulatory standards set by the independent Regulator of Social Housing.

Shared ownership leaseholders with private landlords who are not Registered Providers will have the same rights as other private leaseholders.

By law, residential managing agents are required to belong to one of the following two redress schemes: The Property Redress Scheme and The Property Ombudsman. Further information can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications/lettings-agents-and-property-managers-redress-schemes.

Outside of this framework, Government is also committed to exemplary consumer protection across all areas of the housing market. We have established the Regulation of Property Agents Working Group – chaired by Lord Best – to advise on a new regulatory structure for property agents (including letting, managing and sales agents) with an independent regulator and a mandatory code of practice. We expect the group to make their recommendations in July.

As new private sector products are developed we will keep the regulatory framework under review to ensure that consumer protections are maintained and enhanced.

We also know more needs to be done to strengthen consumer redress for purchasers of new build homes, which is why we have announced our intention for there to be a New Homes Ombudsman to protect the rights of all homebuyers and hold developers to account.

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