Property Development
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) address cases in which property developers repeatedly establish new companies and fail to complete housing developments and (b) improve safeguards to ensure developers are accountable.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The government expects all developers to build high-quality homes, delivered according to their planning approval, and to treat customers fairly.
Nearly all new-build homes are issued with a 10-year new-build warranty which may protect homeowners against builder insolvency leading to failure in completing the build.
The government is considering mandatory provision and standards of warranties for all new build homes and has committed to introducing a statutory New Homes Ombudsman to improve redress when things go wrong.
Where developers face financial difficulties before development is completed, we would expect local planning authorities to work with administrators to help unblock sites and restart housing delivery to complete the development.
As part of their responsibilities local authorities should consider how to mitigate risks around infrastructure delivery, including looking at the timing of infrastructure completion on site and considering whether it is appropriate to require developers to set aside bonds which can be used to complete infrastructure should the developer be unable to do so.
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