New-build housing - how regulation can improve the consumer journey

New-build housing - how regulation can improve the consumer journey

Launched by CIOB in December 2023, this report looks into the consumer protections in place to hold developers to account for quality failures in new-build housing.

This report, focusing on the quality, or perceived lack of quality of new-build housing, looks to raise awareness of the new regulatory frameworks that have been put in place to ensure that consumers are experiencing a high-quality service when purchasing and occupying a new home.

To assist consumers and help them understand what they can do to hold their housebuilder to account for any failings in quality, CIOB has produced a full report on the state of play in the new-build housing market. The report highlights its role in delivering new homes, looks at why there has been such a negative perception of the quality of new-build homes in recent years and uses data from a specially commissioned poll of UK adults to understand whether the general public trust housebuilders to deliver a quality product.

While it can be seen that the overall quality of new-build housing has increased in recent years it is still true that inconsistencies and issues can occur during construction. Therefore, it is paramount that consumers understand that they do have access to a variety of avenues to help identify any issues and get them fixed through their housebuilder, primarily through commissioning a snagging survey. Alongside this, there are new legal protections in place through the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) and New Homes Ombudsman (NHO) which provide recourse and free advice and guidance to purchasers where quality issues occur during the purchasing process, occupation or post-sale. The reports breaks these down in an easy to understand manor and is supported by interviews with a snagging company, the NHQB and NHO.

To raise awareness of these mechanisms, CIOB has produced a short consumer advice guide that sits alongside the full report that breaks down the role of snagging surveys, the NHQB and NHO in a handy FAQs. The guide also provides some top tips for consumers to make sure they are getting the high quality product they deserve.

Click here to read the full report.

Click here to read short consumer advice guide with our top tips for those buying a new home.

This article originally appeared on the CIOB website in December 2023.

--CIOB

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