Consumer Code for Home Builders responds to NHQB consultation

The Consumer Code for Home Builders was invited to respond to the New Homes Quality Board’s latest consultation on proposed revisions to the New Homes Quality Code.

We were pleased to see their draft containing changes to some of the terms used, bringing it in line with other codes in the marketplace, including ours, which will help provide clarity and consistency for consumers.

However, we also highlighted a few areas for review, including:

• Clarifying that the transition period referred to on page 3 would likely refer to moving from one code to another, meaning that another form of protection would most likely be in place prior to the change
• Reviewing 1.2 to clarify potential confusion in aligning to National Trading Standards Information requirements where this conflicts with more stringent requirements already set out in other code schemes
• Clarify 1.3b to better protect against high pressure selling and highlighting the 14-day cooling off period
• Making the pre-completion checklist that buyers are required to use freely available on their website
  Full details of our consultation response can be viewed here.

As always, we remain open to working with the NHQB and other code schemes in helping to deliver the government’s agenda and provide support and protection for home buyers when making one of the most important purchases, as well as assisting home builders and their agents to get it right first time.