LABC welcomes recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry into the quality of new housing in England

LABC supported and gave evidence to the Commission of Inquiry into the quality and workmanship of new housing established by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment.

Its report published today, "More Homes, Fewer Complaints", lists ten recommendations which LABC welcomes.

Drop in quality of new housing must be corrected

Paul Everall, LABC Chief Executive, comments on the Inquiry and report in general: "We are aware that consumer satisfaction of new build homes has dropped in recent years. 

"Perhaps this is understandable in that the recession badly disrupted the diverse and complex home building industry whilst at the same time higher compliance standards were introduced.

"However, the whole industry should choose to do something to correct this drop in quality.

"We also know that home purchasers sometimes struggle to have their complaints addressed and are confused by the different roles of the developer, structural warranty provider and building control.

"In our evidence to the Inquiry, LABC was able to provide statistics illustrating the extent of confusion and difficulty in documenting the volume of complaints made to local authorities that should have gone to other parties. Pressure to reduce costs, increase the speed of construction and get the product to market on time has also had an impact.

"Overall, we believe the Inquiry has successfully identified the key issues and produced ten sensible recommendations.”

Transparency and information are essential 

During the enquiry LABC advocated more transparency and better information being given to purchasers. Additionally, LABC recommended definitions of best practice, an industry commitment to effective third-party inspection and a boost for training.

Paul Everall continues: “Buyers are starved of information that is used within the industry.

"In particular, purchasers could be told the standard to which a home is built and what checks and inspections have been done and by whom.

"Even in successful developments with few quality issues, this information is still useful and would help people to understand the expensive asset they have invested in.

"As such we particularly welcome the recommendation to provide comprehensive information packs to empower purchasers and clarify complaints channels.

"We also support the recommendation to establish a minimum standard for compliance inspections."

Benefits and downsides to competition in building control

"Competition was introduced into building control over 30 years ago and it has grown. Whilst this may have had its benefits for developers, the increased choice of providers in recent years has produced price and service-based competition which some people have described as a race to the bottom.

"Therefore LABC would welcome the introduction of minimum standards for building control inspections to support consumer protection. For similar reasons, LABC also supports a review of warranties because they have also become varied, competitive and price driven.”

LABC will continue to support reviews and the development of improvements. A full copy of the report is available on the CIC website http://cic.org.uk/news/article.php?s=2016-07-13-mps-call-for-a-new-homes-ombudsman

For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, contact the PR and Communications Department on 020 8616 8120 or email comms@labc.co.uk