Campaigners are fighting for a change in the law to give owners of new-build homes greater legal protection - claiming consumers have more rights when they buy a toaster or computer.
John Gaskell, who is locked in a legal dispute with the developer of his £500,000 home, is heading a national campaign with backing from politicians.You
Mr Gaskell, who was in Whittlesford, Cambridge, has launched a campaign calling for tougher rights against developers.
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A and the Homebuyer's Fightback initiative has received the backing of Tory Cambridge MP Anthony Browne, consumer group HomeOwners Alliance, and Plymouth’s former Tory MP Oliver Colvile, who chaired the 2016 All Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment and led an investigation into the problems with the new build construction sector.
"This is not about my experience," Mr Gaskell said, stressing the campaign was about both “a lack of quality control and lack of legal protection.”
"Developers do this knowing full-well that the average homebuyer can ill-afford to fight them due to the complications and costs of doing so,” he said.
"It is a shockingly bad situation when the law generally gives more protections to someone that buys a toaster or a computer than when they invest their life savings in a new-build home.
"It is about defending the principle that all new-build homebuyers should expect defect-free safe homes, built to a professional standard which fully meet all the regulations, freeholders, and leaseholders alike.
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READ MORE ABOUT THE PROBLEMS JOHN GASKELL HAS WITH HIS NEW HOME
"When developers and housebuilders fail to deliver, they should put things right with minimum distress and delay."
Mr Colvile, who represented Sutton and Devonport from 2010 to 2017, helped produce the Parliamentary report More Homes, Fewer Complaints which called for creation of a New Homes Ombudsman, a review of warranties, and minimum standards.
Mr Colvile, who still lives in Plymouth, said he had been contacted by new-build homeowners in the city during his time as an MP, who had a range of problems including “sewage under the floorboards”.
He said he continues to be actively involved in campaigning for home-owners’ rights and still hears from unhappy householders in Plymouth and around the 海角视频.
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He recently met with housing secretary Robert Jenrick to discuss issues and said he is hopeful a bill will go before Parliament in the summer of 2021.
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“There are a lot of people around the country with problems,” he said. “Our report is now in the process of becoming law and I had a meeting with Robert Jenrick this week who said there would be new legislation in June.”
He said he wanted the legal changes to go even further than the 2016 report called for and said: “We are calling for a change so that when buying a new-build house there should be a survey, which is something a lot of house-builders do not do. And I think it should be paid for by the developer and the house-builder.”
DO YOU THINK BUYERS OF NEW-BUILD HOMES NEED MORE CONSUMER PROTECTION? PLEASE COMMENT BELOW
Mr Gaskell, who is still at loggerheads with Cambridge & County Developments over the house he bought in 2019, backed calls for an ombudsman “with teeth” to be created, and said new-builds should come with a certificate showing they are up to scratch, and with warranties that confirm to a national standard, with a system of redress when problems are later discovered.
“A massive shake-up is needed,” he said. “We want consumer protection for new-build homes to be brought into the 21 st Century. There must be legislation to significantly improve consumer protection. For the sake of all hard-working home-buyers I would be grateful if people can support this campaign.”