New Homes Ombudsman

[edit] What is the New Homes Ombudsman Service?

The New Homes Ombudsman Service exists to help customers resolve issues with their new homes, which the Registered Developer has been unable or unwilling to fix.

The remit of the New Homes Ombudsman Service covers the whole period from the Reservation and Legal Completion of a property through to after-sales and complaints management for issues during the first two years of a new home purchase.

The primary purpose of NHOS is to provide a free and independent service to customers, which can impartially assess and adjudicate on issues that have arisen that fall within the Ombudsman’s scope. This includes complaints around the Reservation, Legal Completion and complaints management processes, or issues or defects that have arisen at or after occupation and which are not major defects.

The New Homes Ombudsman Service is a subsidiary of the Dispute Service Ltd, which is a not for profit company specialising in dispute resolution work in relation to tenancy deposits in the private rented sector and tenant-landlord mediation and conciliation for issues arising during a tenancy.

The NHO Service Board oversees the work of the Ombudsman and meets four times a year. It has a majority of directors who are independent of the housebuilding industry. It has no involvement in decisions taken by the Ombudsman, but does review the operation and management of the Service.

The Housing Ombudsman is a separate organisation, approved by the Secretary of State under section 51 of and Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1996. The Act requires social landlords, as defined by section 51 (2) of the Act, to be members of an approved scheme. All local authorities and registered social housing providers are required to be members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, several private landlords and letting agents also join voluntarily.

The Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out the role, of the Housing Ombudsman service, what complaints it can consider and the obligations of its members. It is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Framework Document sets out the respective responsibilities and accountability of the Housing Ombudsman, the Secretary of State and officials within the Department.

In October 2018, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced the establishment of a New Homes Ombudsman. Legislation will be introduced that requires all new housing developers to belong to this watchdog which will ‘champion homebuyers, protect their interests and hold developers to account’.

In June 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment published 'Better redress for homebuyers', setting out proposals for an ombudsman to help provide better redress for homebuyers who are dissatisfied.

The report proposed that the Ombudsman should be independent, free-to-use and should provide a swift resolution to disputes. It would be funded by a levy on housebuilders, increasing in size according to the size of the company. The report recommended that a code of practice be drawn up by government, warranty providers, housebuilders and consumer groups which could then be used by the Ombudsman to help them adjudicate on disputes.

At the time the government said; ‘...house buyers should be confident that when they purchase a new home, they get the quality of build and finish they expected.’ Industry and consumer groups were consulted in order to develop the proposals further before publication.

Tassos Kougionis, Principal Consultant – Residential, at BSRIA’s Sustainable Construction Group, said; “BSRIA is pleased with the government announcement of the creation of a New Homes Ombudsman. We always supported the introduction of a better, more efficient and robust consumer focused redress process regarding new homes’ quality which is now one step closer from being realised...BSRIA has also advocated that ‘prevention is better than a cure’ and that emphasis must also be given to the introduction of effective quality control routines preventing new homes’ quality issues arising in the first place along with greater transparency provided to the consumer in terms of housing insurance products and warrantees. As a member of the CIC Housing Panel we will ensure that such concerns are raised and heard.”