Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has announced a complete overhaul of the broken housing complaints system to ensure all residents have access to a redress scheme.
For the first time private landlords will be legally required to become members of a redress scheme, with a fine of up to £5,000 if they fail to do so, giving extra protections to millions of private renters. To safeguard the interests of homeowners who buy new homes, the Government repeated its commitment to set up a New Homes Ombudsman to hold developers to account.
Brokenshire said legislation will be brought forward at the earliest opportunity to require all developers to belong to the Ombudsman. Developers will have to belong to the new body by 2021 if they wish to participate in the Help to Buy scheme.
The Housing Complaints Resolution Service will be developed on a voluntary basis initially with a new Redress Reform Working Group made up of representatives from across the sector, working with industry and consumers. But the Government says it could put this on a statutory footing if it is not satisfied with the sector’s response.
A press release from the MHCLG says the new complaints resolution service will potentially help millions by providing a straight-forward way of getting help when faced with unresolved disputes about problems with their home, from broken boilers to cracks in the wall.
Establishing a single housing complaints service for all residents, whether they rent or own their home, will prevent people from battling with their landlord or builder to resolve issues on their own and make it easier to claim compensation where it is owed.
Redress for social housing residents is being considered separately. The response to the social housing green paper and the call for evidence for the review of social housing regulation are due to be published in Spring 2019.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said plans for a single service were very welcome. “It’s important that, when a complaint can’t be resolved directly between a landlord and tenant, it can be addressed effectively, independent and fairly,” she added.
In a joint statement, Mark Hayward, Chief Executive, NAEA Propertymark, and David Cox, Chief Executive, ARLA Propertymark, said: “We are very pleased the Government has listened and accepted our recommendation to establish a single ‘front door’. We welcome this approach and are pleased to see a holistic approach to redress being taken right across the property industry, creating the beginnings of a more integrated housing strategy rather than the piecemeal, sectoral and issue-specific approach that we have all had to deal with for too long.”
By Patrick Mooney, editor