New Homes Ombudsman NHOS
Home buyers are getting more protection
New Homes Ombusman Service.
Pre-Completion Inspections are now permitted under the new NHOS code !
- Your right to access the property and have a complete inspection carried out at the early stages allows you to enter a fully "complete" property. "a key and critical change that is expected to drive quality standards upwards"
It's about time... were excited that the complexity and difficulties often expereinced by homebuyers when moving to a new home has been formally recognised by the introduction of the New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS)by the New Homes Quality Board.
The NHOS now deals with both quality and service issues in one place, streamliing a little better the complaints and resolution services relating to New Homes.
The NHOS is expected to be fully up and running by the end of December 2022, with all housebuilders expected to have registered by then.
Are all homes covered under the scheme from Decemeber 2022 ?
Only Housebuilders who have both registered and ACTIVATED THE NHOS SCHEME following a period of training and updating literature (which may also be phased regionally) would have the scheme in place for their customers.
In order to register a complaint under the scheme, the developer will have detailed within your legal completion documents registrtaion/ and or complaince withe the scheme.
It would be wise to check at the early stages if your home is covered at the point of entry and at which point the developers commitment would become live for your particular development or home.
All offers from developers must now make reference to the customers right to a pre-completion inspection amongst many other alterations to provide benefit, critically entry dates must reflect time to carry out the pre entry inspection and time to review any findings.
- Homes Should be "Complete" at the time of handover, no incentives are permitted to bypass the home being fully "Complete" at the time of handover.
Cash payments, where for example the heating system is not fully commissioned or operational, or electrical systems not fully functioning are not permitted.
The new code is about providing practicle steps to bridge the gap between developer and homebuyer, providing a platform for reducing potential issues by creating a straightforward pathway for complaints escalation.
The two year period is still applicable under the scheme whereby defects may be raised and should be used wisely, ensuring that defcets are reported as early as possible to give the best chance of successful resolution.
Providing customers the right to appoint an inspector to carry out a pre-completion inspection of their home
stopping housebuilders from selling “incomplete” homes, as all homes must be “complete” before a customer moves in
strengthening requirements for developers to provide a strong after-sales service and complaints process, with the option of referring a complaint to an independent New Homes Ombudsman Service
Main Focus of the New Code and Ombudsman Service
- Protects vulnerable customers, prohibits high pressure selling; requires any deposits the customer pays to their builder to be protected.
- Requires the developer to provide all relevant information about the home during the sales process – including its tenure and any future management or service charges – that allows them to make an informed decision about their purchase.
- Sets out requirements for a fair reservation agreement, including a ‘cooling off’ period; and sales contract requirements.
- Allows customers to have a professional carry out a pre-completion inspection of their home on their behalf.
- Specifies that a home must be ‘complete’, preventing builders paying customers to move into a new home early.
- Crucially, and to address the biggest gap in the existing arrangements, the New Homes Quality Code requires builders to have an effective after care service in place to deal with any issues or ‘snagging’ problems customers have with their new home; together with a robust complaints process that responds to customers concerns in a timely manner and to their satisfaction, keeping them informed throughout.
If a customer is not satisfied with how any complaint they have made has been dealt with, they can refer their complaint to the independent New Homes Ombudsman Service
we strongly belevie that the changes will bring benefit to all parties concerned, though mostly to the homebuyer, and welcoome change for good.
For More Information on New Homes Ombudsman Service NHOS or NHQB in Scotland. click the link below..
https://www.nhqb.org.uk/for-consumers/the-new-homes-ombudsman-service.html