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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that purchasers of new-build homes whose developers are not members of the New Homes Ombudsman Service have access to effective and timely redress.

The New Homes Ombudsman Service is a voluntary service, independent of government. The government has committed to delivering a statutory New Homes Ombudsman and will set out further details in due course.

In addition to any protections set out in a contract, new build homes are normally issued with a 10-year new-build warranty given that these will be required by mortgage lenders. As a condition of obtaining a warranty, housebuilders will have to comply with the requirements of the relevant consumer code which set out how new home buyers can access redress.