The ombudsman service is said to be a free way to help new-build buyers when they purchase a property and have numerous issues. The service wants to help settle new home disputes when there is a redress for defective properties and look out for the new-build buyers. The current government is under serious pressure to create the independent ombudsman that will give power to people who will need to order housebuilders to pay an amount around £50,000.
The ombudsman would also cover new build buyers if they decide to reverse a sale. This action is the product of reports that new-home buyers are being sold defective properties, losing money and becoming stuck with no way out. A particular collective of MPs and peers have now called out to the government to create mandatory legislation which permits housebuilders to forever belong to this proposed venture.
They ask that this scheme should be free to all consumers to opt into so that disputes are handled quickly with fast and simple resolutions. The MPs suggest that they fund this idea by implicating a levy on housebuilders. The larger groups such as Persimmon, Galliford Try, Bovis Homes, Berkeley Group, Barratt should also be paying a much higher amount that small agencies and small to medium sized firms.
Better Redress for Home Buyers reported that this only creates awareness to the confusion surrounding landscape buying and building defect resolutions. They are adamant that the introduction of ombudsman services is not necessarily helped by the staggering amount of house building codes and complaints procedures and warranties. They say that to be effective in practice, that pay-outs of up to £50,000 should be made so that the buyers are not left completely out of pocket by the end of the ordeal.
Even larger amounts have been thrown around however, for this to now change it would need to go through the courts. The report also adds “In certain extreme situations the new homes ombudsman should be able to reverse the scale.”. All of these recommendations are the result of the general public finding out about the poor-quality homes Bovis were building at the end of last year.
Whilst Bovis are not the only companies who are guilty of doing this, they are the ones who caused the uproar of a search for justice for new build buyers. A main spokesperson for the ombudsman campaign says that “New homes should be covered by an ombudsman. People have no idea that when they buy a new home directly from the developer, they have no access to redress.”.
The report concludes by saying that “Affected homebuyers are exasperated not so much by the existence of defects but by a builder’s failure or even refusal to put them right. Submissions we received described how buying a new home had been ‘the worst decision of their life’; how it was like ‘going through hell’ as the complaint passed between housebuilders and warranty providers; and how fighting for redress was taking a toll on their health.”. Because of this, it will be interesting to see how far the venture goes.
The setting up of a NewHomesOmbudsman is NOT “the result of the general public finding out about the poor quality homes Bovis were building at the end of last year”
But are as a result of my suggestion during my presentation to the original APPG Inquiry on 23 November 2015 and my four years relentlessly campaigning for government to set up an independent new homes ombudsman!